CINCINNATI — A group of residents, business owners, faith leaders and police officers gathered in Cincinnati’s Evanston neighborhood Wednesday evening for a show of solidarity in the fight against gun violence.
What You Need To Know
- A peace walk took place in Cincinnati's neighborhood to promote an end to gun violence
- There've been four shootings in the neighborhood so far this year, including one two weeks ago not far from where the march took place
- Residents organized the event alongside the Cincinnati Police Department as part of a community-led violence reduction strategy
Elizabeth Blackburn was one of a few dozen participants in the Evanston Peace Walk for a Gun-Free Community. The group marched about a half-mile along parts of Blair, Woodburn and Dana avenues and Montgomery Road before finishing at Blair Market.
“I’m tired of it,” said Blackburn, 45. The mother of two young daughters moved to Evanston about a year-and-a-half ago in search of a culturally-rich and diverse neighborhood to raise her two young daughters.
Evanston is an urban, predominantly African American community about five miles northeast of downtown Cincinnati.
Blackburn loves the neighborhood for the mix of people and characters who live there, and she appreciates nearby amenities, like the recreation center and swimming pool on Woodburn Avenue. There are also festivals and family-friendly events she can take her children to year-round, she said.
But she thinks “all that good” in Evanston, and several other Cincinnati neighborhoods, gets overshadowed by gun violence.
The march came fresh on the heels of a late-night shooting last weekend in Over-the-Rhine that left one woman and eight men wounded.
As of Wednesday, there have been 160 shooting incidents in Cincinnati this year, according to city data. Four of those shootings occurred in Evanston, including three near Blair Avenue since May. One person died.
“Evanston is much, much bigger than what gets shown from a media perspective,” Blackburn said. “When it comes to gun violence, it’s a problem that we need to address. We have so much to offer as a neighborhood, but, unfortunately, that’s what we are becoming known for.”
A shooting two weeks ago had police searching for the suspect just a few doors down from where Blackburn lives on Blair Avenue, just a few blocks from Walnut Hills High School. Representatives from the school and nearby Xavier University were at the peace walk.
Blackburn’s 2-year-old is too young to understand what’s going on, she said, but her eldest daughter, 6, saw police officers running around with their “high powered guns trying to find the suspect.”
“She was really scared,” Blackburn said.
“To me, it’s unfathomable that we’ve accepted this in our country, in our communities,” she added. “When you see it happening literally next door, if you don’t wake up at that point, I don’t know what’s going to make you wake up.”
At a national level, many of those in attendance Wednesday voiced a need for lawmakers to come up with sensible gun reform.
Blackburn doesn’t want guns taken away; she grew up around guns in Kentucky, she said. She does, however, want to keep guns out of the hands of the “just a few bad guys out there” she warned her daughter about.
For the past few weeks, Evanston’s community council has been working with city leaders and the representatives from the Cincinnati Police Department to address the issue, Blackburn said. She’s part of the council’s executive team.
CPD has officers patrolling known “hot spots” or trouble areas around the city, such Blair Avenue, according to Sgt. Linda Sellers. The 22-year police veteran said the idea is to heighten police visibility in those areas to both reassure residents and scare off anyone who may be up to no good.
While extra police patrols may help, Blackburn said, she doesn’t feel the city can police or legislate its way out of this issue. It’s going to require buy-in from residents, she said.
Sellers, a community liaison officer, is one of the officers who’s been working with Evanston residents to create a neighborhood-specific strategy to address gun violence, crime and other issues.
“We’re coming into the communities and asking residents what they’re seeing and what they want to see change,” she said. “The police don’t live here. However, we want to come out and we want to work with residents to stop things like gun violence.”
One of the first things that came out of those meetings, Sellers said, was the idea for the peace walk.
With support from CPD, the community council saw the march as a way to drum up support from residents who agree “enough is enough.”
“We’re fed up and we’ve got to do something about it,” she said. “We got together and decided the community can start doing something while we try to engage city leaders and help us out.”
James Stallworth has lived in Evanston since 1963. He’s seen a lot of “good periods and bad periods” in the neighborhood over the decades. Right now he feels the community is on the upswing. He pointed out “new, fancy houses” being built and businesses coming into the area. But he fears the recent surge in gun violence could “undo all it” if it continues.
Stallworth was glad to see such a broad coalition of stakeholders gathered Wednesday to ensure it doesn’t continue.
“I hope this sends a message to those people who aren’t out here this afternoon that we take this seriously,” said Stallworth, the president of the community council. “I hope this sends a message to downtown that we couldn’t get in touch with before.”
Vice Mayor Jan-Michele Lemon Kearney, who took part in the march, praised Evanston residents for their commitment to the upkeep of their neighborhood. She noted their strong community council that organizes ongoing cleanups, programs for youth and neighborhood events, such as concerts that bring neighbors together.
“Residents are not sitting back and letting guns take over their neighborhoods. Evanston is a prime example,” she said. (The) Walk for Peace is another example of residents taking control of their neighborhood.”
Blackburn knows that solving an issue like gun violence isn’t something fixable overnight, but she hopes Wednesday’s show of force sends a loud message that the community will put in the work to address gun violence.
“I love Evanston. I won’t let fear convince me to move because I know I can do something,” Blackburn said. “Until I exhaust all my efforts, I won’t allow myself to go there.”