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COMMUNITY
EMPOWERMENT ASSOCIATION AND THE PEACE ALLIANCE NETWORK PRESENTS |
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SPECIAL GUESTS:
CEA and the Peace Alliance Network of Greater Pittsburgh and Allegheny County would like to offer its sincere condolences to the Grayson family and the entire congregation of Wesley Center A.M.E. Zion Church, for the untimely loss of your son, Jeron Grayson. We would like to acknowledge and commemorate Jeron for the man he was becoming, what he had accomplished in giving back to his community, the dreams that he had for the future, and the many young people that Jeron touched. Rev. Grayson is a respected pillar in the African American Pittsburgh community. He continues to give back selflessly and is making tremendous contributions through his tireless efforts and work to improve the conditions for residents in our Communities. The best way that we can show our support, respect and honor to this family is to recommit ourselves to finding solutions to this epidemic called Violence. There have been thousands of young men who have died at the hands of senseless gun violence. There will be thousands more if we do not tackle this disease from its root causes, which has become A Public Health crisis. What will it take for the collective cries and prayers to be heard from the thousands of mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers and communities to see an end to the carnage that is hemorrhaging our communities every day? As we know too painfully well, the culture of youth and community violence has gripped this nation. Gun violence transcends race, class, social and economic status. The sad state of affairs is that we all are susceptible to the tentacles of social discord and conflict. OUR HOUSE IS ON FIRE! These social flames have consumed the hopes, dreams and possibilities of loved ones lost; leaving families broken with grief, and communities taking on the characteristics of war-torn third world countries, grieving the loss of child soldiers and combatants. Our youth have assumed the attributes of a death march – no hope, no aspirations – no visions for the next day, let alone a future – a perceived destiny of Dead by 21, dying with their eyes wide open. Violence has captured the minds and souls of our youth and has become a serious cancer spreading in epidemic proportions.
It is time for each church and social organization to commit to eradicating violence; adopt a school, provide afterschool programming, come out of the pews and provide opportunities to our young people. CEA along with concerned residents, families that have lost loved ones to violence, faith based organizations, and other grassroots organizations have come together under the banner of The Peace Alliance Network, of the Urban Peace Initiative – to deracinate the root causes of violence and work to mitigate it as it rears its ugly head. The Peace Alliance Network has been travelling from neighborhood to neighborhood throughout the county spreading a message of hope and empowering residents to unite as we use our collective energy to strategically dismantle these root causes by using a public health model of prevention, reclaiming the souls and transforming the minds of our youth lost in this abyss we call violence. If anyone would want to commemorate the life of Jeron or the many other youth that have lost their lives to violence, (friends, teachers, family, church members, or community at large) consider joining the Peace Alliance Network. Join this collective to recommit to addressing the issues that young people are being faced with today. Now is the time to step out on faith, work together to develop an Urban Policy Agenda whose goal is to craft Policy changes for systemic issues, fight inadequate education, lack of employment and economic opportunities, which manifest as structured community violence. Let’s work together to exterminate this plague against the African American community! If you would like to get involved, contact T. Rashad Byrdsong at 412-371-3689 ext. 14.
If you would like to get involved, contact T. Rashad Byrdsong at 412-371-3689 ext. 14.
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