The recently formed group The Weeping Time Coalition, largely made up of community and faith leaders and concerned residents, held their first event Thursday night to raise awareness of The Weeping Time Grounds and a recent mass shooting in Savannah.
Speakers during the event called for a number of actions — first and foremost the preservation of The Weeping Time property, site of the largest single sale of enslaved people in American history, as well as better policing and allocations of American Rescue Plan funds toward community-oriented programs.
"When anyone suffers, we all suffer," said Rev. Leonard Small of Litway Missionary Baptist Church, referring to the victims of last week's mass shooting. "That's not 'them', that's 'us.'"
"We are the progeny of The Weeping Time," said Small, who, along with other speakers emphasized unity.
The event dubbed "Present Crime and Weeping Time" consisted of about 30 people marching from the Weeping Time marker to the Jasper Springs marker. Attendees included Alderwoman Kesha Gibson-Carter, Alderwoman Alicia Miller-Blakely, Savannah NAACP president Chad Mance and supporters of area nonprofit Hello Neighbor.
Small and Pastor Larry J. Gordon of Solomon Temple Church of God in Christ led the event with impassioned speeches that touched upon policing issues such as transparency and community engagement. They bookended the night with urges to make The Weeping Time property, located at 2305 Augusta Ave., a memorial and not a homeless shelter.
The Salvation Army plans to build a transitional facility on the site.
Gibson-Carter spoke about the state of crime in Savannah in general.
"We are essentially in a state of crisis in our city. ... We've had multiple shootings and homicides in our community. Now we are dealing with increased violence and officer-involved pursuits," she said. "Our community is not healthy. ... We have a sick Savannah right now."
Gibson-Carter also made mention of the investigations related to the in-custody death of William Zachery Harvey, which resulted in the firing of five Savannah Police Department officers.
Gibson-Carter and Miller-Blakely endorsed the demands made that night by The Weeping Time Coalition, which included earmarking American Rescue Plan funds for revamping the End Gun Violence Program, reinstituting the Police Athletic League (PALS), creating a retired police mentor program for street monitoring, extending community center hours and programming and engaging the faith community in vulnerable neighborhoods by providing resources for evening programs.
The group also requested that the zoning of The Weeping Time property remain residential and voiced a commitment to take the necessary steps to make it a landmark designation catalogued on the National Register of Historic Places.
"We're going to put it before our council colleagues and I'm going to ask that they look favorably on this request as we are in position to receive $57 million dollars from our federal government through the American Rescue (Plan) fund," said Gibson-Carter.
Shillinda Theogene, Savannah resident and member of the Solomon Temple Church of God in Christ, said she came in support because of the recent events and because she believes more needs to be done for minority communities, Black neighborhoods in particular.
Crime "has to stop," she said, "It just has to. And I feel like the best way for it to stop is to have an environment where we come together, build something for our community, where the kids can feel safe in the community."
"A lot of us don't have that environment to help us grow. ... We're too busy trying to survive."
Theogene, originally from Miami, said she saw the same things going on in neighborhoods there.
"We need to build a community where we can learn to just enjoy and live, so people won't be so focused on just surviving and hurting each other," said Theogene.
Nancy Guan is the general assignment reporter covering Chatham County municipalities. Reach her at nguan@gannett.com or on Twitter @nancyguann.
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Weeping Time Coalition holds first march, addresses Savannah mass shooting and policing
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