Created Equal: Advocates on addressing neighborhood gun violence in Detroit

A mass shooting at a block party in Detroit this past weekend has community activists, police and politicians all focused on minimizing neighborhood violence.

Two people were killed in the shooting on Sunday, and 19 others injured. Detroit police have released few details about the shooting, and no suspects have been arrested, though they believe there were multiple shooters involved.

BridgeDetroit reporter Malachi Barrett, community organizer Yusef Shakur, and Pastor Daryl Harris joined Created Equal on Thursday to discuss the mass shooting incident and the role police play in both responding to and preventing gun violence.

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Guests:

Malachi Barrett is a reporter for BridgeDetroit who covers public safety in Detroit. He says there were a lot of women and young people at the block party, many of whom were victims in the shooting.

“[Police] found 21 people shot — two died. There were 15 women shot, which I think has been particularly shocking for folks, and the age range goes between 17 and 27, a lot of teens and young adults, police found 100 shell casings at the scene.”

Yusef Shakur is a community organizer and co-director of programs for the Michigan Roundtable for Diversity and Inclusion. He says the different types of violence Detroit faces can be split into three areas: Downtown Detroit, Midtown Detroit and the neighborhoods.

“I challenge our leaders to stop thinking like politicians, and start thinking like change agents,” said Shakur. “Start thinking like change agents and being able to understand the dynamics. When we had this great successful thing with the NFL draft downtown, and there’s images of suburbans breaking up under the thing. That wasn’t front page news. And I’m comparing it in terms of the framing, the anti-Blackness that comes about, usually in illegal block parties, and for the rehumanizing of that conversation.”

Pastor Daryl Harris is the founding pastor of Total Life Christian Ministries and works with Ceasefire Detroit. Pastor Harris described the violence and the way it has changed over the years, and also agreed with Shakur, saying when you are in the midst of a violent breakout, it can become scary.

“I feel like everybody is reacting in oppose to responding,” said Harris. “I think that the Detroit Police Department is doing exactly what they do; they police. But when you begin to hear one of the things that was mentioned in his interview, was that the chief talked about the importance of taking level 3, which was noise complaints, to level 1, and I think that was something done in retrospect to residents who had begun to lose hope in the fact that there might be a response.”

Listen to Created Equal with host Stephen Henderson weekdays from 9-10 a.m. ET on 101.9 WDET and streaming on-demand.