West Philadelphia Residents Host Peace Walk
By Molly Daly, Jericka Duncan
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Several dozen concerned parents, neighbors and local religious leaders gathered in West Philadelphia on Sunday afternoon to walk for peace.
Residents living near the Shepard Recreation Center at 58th and Callowhill streets planned the walk to underscore their disgust with neighborhood crime, homicides and shootings in the city.
The lives of many in the crowd had been touched by gun violence. Tamara Glover lost a young relative. She says it's time for the community to wake up and work to stop the killing.
"I believe 350 people gathered the other night because of dogs being burned," Glover says. "I'm a dog owner. I have two Yorkies. But we can't get 150 people to come together for the kids that are dying in our community, so enough is enough."
Glover says although the march covered just one neighborhood, she hopes the resolve she and others feel will spread.
"The city needs to wake up," she adds. "We need to save our children. We need to make saving youth in the inner city a priority that it's not right now."
So far this year, police have reported 189 homicides. Organizers of Sunday's peace walk say they're working to prevent future homicides. The want to continue to replace news headlines featuring criminals, with ones about communities that care.
