In Philadelphia alone, there were at least 50 local organizations involved in anti-crime politics in the early 2000s. Mothers in Charge, for example, was started in 2003 by Dorothy Johnson-Speight after her son, Khaaliq Jabbar Johnson, 24, was killed in an argument over a parking spot. One of the organization’s main goals is for Congress to declare homicide a public health crisis.
“We continue to support any bills that can help take the guns off the street,” Ms. Johnson-Speight said at a 2004 City Council hearing on gun violence. “We are working very hard with all faith-based initiatives, with the community, churches, other organizations.”
Although Mothers in Charge is relatively small, it has hosted national conferences on the costs of violence; held rallies at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington; and has appeared frequently in local news media like The Philadelphia Inquirer. It has grown into a national organization, opening chapters in Los Angeles, St. Louis and other cities.
Read the full story in the New York Times: Black Activists Don’t Ignore Crime