PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Black clergy members on Thursday gathered at the steps of Zion Baptist Church on North Broad Street to deliver an invitation. Just blocks away from the spot where 15-year-old Devin Weedon was shot to death on Tuesday while walking to school, Rev. Gregory Holston and other faith leaders announced a citywide summit on gun violence next month.
“Here we are again, and we're still trying to figure out what to do,” said Holston, a United Methodist minister and senior advisor on advocacy and policy for District Attorney Larry Krasner.
Rev. Robert Collier, pastor of the Galilee Baptist Church in Roxborough and president of the Black Clergy of Philadelphia and Vicinity, expressed condolences to Weedon’s family.
“We are fed up. Our kids are being murdered every day,” Collier said. “And people are too complacent. People are too, too cavalier.”
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Collier’s wife, Rev. Maxcine Collier, said city officials, school administrators and community members are all invited to join the summit at Zion Baptist at 10 a.m. on April 15.
“Warm weather is coming and we have to have a strategic plan. What are we going to do this summer to keep our children safe?”
The refrain common among the assembled leaders: Something must be done about the city’s gun violence.
So far this school year, officials say, 18 public school students have been fatally shot, and 70 others have survived violent incidents.
“It's not normal. It's not normal for children to walk down the street and go to school and be gunned down. We have to do something. Enough has been enough,” Rev. Jeanette Davis said.
“And I want to talk about accessibility here for a moment. The accessibility level of guns in the city of Philadelphia. Where did the gun come from?”
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