"We need the resources now": Boston pastor calls for state of emergency after another fatal shooting
BOSTON - After the fourth fatal shooting in the city in less than a week, community leaders in Boston are saying enough is enough.
Pastor Valerie Copeland is joining the list of other religious leaders who are calling on the city and police department to do more to stop the violence.
"Without the proper intervention, resources or solutions applied over a period of time then we get these cycles," said Copeland. The pastor was born and raised in Boston and has spent years preaching in Dorchester. She knows this neighborhood well and better yet, knows how people are thinking and feeling here.
Copeland echoed an idea that she said has been pitched to city leaders since 2005: declare a state of emergency in Boston over gun violence.
"Respond when we say we need the resources now," said Copeland. "It should not require the murder of a well-known and beloved young man in a barbershop."
Copeland laid out specific systematic failures she believed were leading to discrepancies in quality of life from one Boston neighborhood to another.
She wants to see the city to invest in closing the wealth gap, providing affordable housing, and equity in educational resources.
"We are not listened to, and the sad part is you begin to feel like it requires Black trauma before there is any response from the city," Copeland said.