Rally against gun violence held in Lanett
BY JOHN BRICE
THE LAFAYETTE SUN
LANETT — In the wake of an onslaught of deadly shootings over the past several weeks, months and years in Lanett, a rally was held against gun violence at the L.B. Sykes Community Center on Cherry Drive on Friday evening, June June 26. Council Member for District 4 Charles Bagley organized the event and welcomed the attendees by addressing them in regards to the pressing matter plaguing the community.
"I want to thank all of the families, residents, elected officials, law enforcement representatives, faith leaders, community organizations and guests from all across our region for being here," he said. "Your presence matters. It shows that we are willing to come together, listen to one another and take shared responsibility for the safety and future of our communities. This rally is important because gun violence does not only affect one person or one family. Its impact reaches communities, neighborhoods, schools, churches, businesses, public safety personnel and entire communities. Too often people only come together after a tragedy has occurred. Tonight we are choosing to come together with a purpose. To promote healing, strengthen relationships, discuss prevention and move forward toward meaningful solutions."
Bagley was joined by law enforcement officers including Lanett Police Chief Denise McCain who remarked on the gun take back program recently initiated by her agency.
"We asked the community, we were not asking legal gun owners, we were asking those people who know their children have guns and know their children are gang bangers and hanging out with the wrong crowd [to turn in guns]," she said. "Those are the people who should have brought those guns. They are the grown adults. They know [underaged residents] are not 21, they are not able to legally buy a gun. They see it in the home, they see it in their children's waistbands. That is when the parents, or the grandparents [should turn in the guns]. Those are the guns that we wish we could have gotten today. We didn't get a single gun. We know that there are guns out there. Where are they? Everyone wants to complain when everybody is shooting at each other. We have gangs getting bigger and bigger, wannabe gangs. We work very closely with Lee County. Every time they cross from Troup County, LaGrange, West Point, Opelika, Lee County. We are getting together, working hand in hand trying to stop this gun violence."
President and Founder of Empowerment 3D Inc. Jerome Cofield was joined by several of the young men from his youth mentorship program in LaGrange while addressing the topic of gun violence.
"We have been doing this approximately for 10 years and we have seen some tremendous change in our youth. Normally when we have an event we have 50 to 60 young men in a room," he said. "When I started this program in 2015, I asked 12 young men if they would wear a necktie with me. I work in a school. All 12 said yes. The second week we met there were 48 students in the room. The third week we met there was 76 students in the room. The fourth week we met there was 176 students in this elementary school. I asked fifth grade students that stood about this high but as the days went the students got shorter and ties got longer. Therefore we went from the necktie to the bowtie and it has become our signature for what we do. We have seen many students and we have heard stories of young men that have guns in the house and they don't know how to get them out. They come to our breakfast that we host once a month and to the best of our ability we try to answer those questions."
Senior Pastor at Goodsell United Methodist Church Kelsey Barnes closed out the rally with stirring remarks that put a spotlight on the issue of popular music that glorifies gun violence.
"There is indeed an epidemic in our community and there are some hard truths that we have to address," he said. "The African-American community, we are the only community that genres of music lead us down a road of destruction and death. Music has an impact on the human brain. These playlists are shaping our young people's future. If you don't know what drill music is, I want you to go and google and research what it is. It is poisoning these young minds that are yet to be formed. I am not sure if it is psychopath or sociopath. This music is shaping our kids minds in such a way that they can blow your brains out and go home and play playstation. They can shoot at random. Listen you all, it is so sickening and demonic that the number one draft pick in this week's NBA Draft sat on one of these so-called podcasts, did an interview and admitted how much he loves murder music."
