MLK’s home neighborhood needs city’s help to stop violence, leaders say

Standing inside his historic Atlanta church, Bishop Bobby Graham Jr. pointed to a bullet hole in the nearly 100-year-old rondel stained glass window.

The third-generation pastor of the National Divine Spiritual Church said gun violence in the Sweet Auburn neighborhood has continued since the pandemic, especially amid the street takeovers after closing time outside Edgewood Avenue’s nightlife district.

The area just east of downtown is rich in history. It was integral to the foundation of Atlanta’s civil rights movement and draws international visitors to the sites where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. lived, preached and is buried.

But neighbors say parts of the area have also developed a reputation as a hotbed for gun violence in recent years. Just recently, four separate shootings left 16 people wounded and a man dead along Edgewood Avenue, where Atlanta police data shows much of the neighborhood’s crime is concentrated.

The chaos is fueled in part by the bustling bar scene and after-hours street parties that tend to ramp-up after businesses have closed, according to locals who say they’re fed up with the violence.

“This neighborhood has always been a beloved community,” Graham said. “But it’s gotten worse since COVID.”

Nearly a half-dozen others echoed those sentiments in recent days, calling on city officials, namely code enforcement and the police — to do more to keep the corridor safe, especially after hours.