Sharpton decries black-on-black violence

By Associated Press

For the AJC

The Rev. Al Sharpton stood on the porch of his headquarters in West Atlanta, decrying community violence and crime -- something he said too often is done by blacks against other blacks.

"We must be outraged when people who look like us, live with us and claim to be us, kill us," said Sharpton, who was accompanied by ministers, Nation of Islam organizers and Yamma Brown, an activist and daughter of Sharpton's mentor, the late James Brown.

People gathered in Atlanta and more than 20 other U.S. cities Monday as part of the National Day of Outrage, a nationwide call to end violence in urban communities. The events were spearheaded by Sharpton's National Action Network, a civil rights organization, and community leaders.

Elsewhere, about 30 people gathered in the Fountain Park neighborhood of St. Louis -- a community they say has been broken by parental neglect, drugs, unemployment and escalating violence.

Fountain Park was once a proud, upper middle-class, African-American neighborhood that began to decline in the 1960s, the AP said.

Now, "every night, every day, there's a killing, a shooting, a lot of nonsensical violence," longtime resident and community organizer Anna Nicholas, 60, said. "There's no parenting in the home. These children know no other route of getting attention."

In West Atlanta, Sharpton called thugs "a disgrace and a shame to the community."  And he blamed civil rights leaders like himself for failing to rein in violence.

Nearby, youths held signs urging peace as drivers honked their horns.

Sharpton called for town hall meetings in each of the cities that were participating in Monday's event.

"None of us have done enough," he said.