Community unites in anti-violence oath

Yesterday marked one year since 8-year-old Liquarry Jefferson was accidentally shot to death in a Dorchester apartment. A week ago Monday, a 6-month-old girl was shot in her father’s arms in Mattapan. And last week ended with the shooting deaths of two young men on city streets.

Such incidents, and worries of another summer spent with too many guns and too few jobs, prompted yesterday’s call for a community-wide 40-day reprieve from illicit acts.

Engineered by a growing group of ex-offenders attempting to stop the flow of young men into prison, the reprieve will run from July 1 to Aug. 8. It will involve five notable actions, starting with a community commitment to cease violent behaviors.

“Nobody taught our children to be killers,” said Rev. William Dickerson of Greater Love Tabernacle, pounding on a podium aside Franklin Field. “When blood is running down the street, that’s when we decide to do something?”

As part of the reprieve the community will hold at least two town hall meetings and cookouts will take place in the heart of the “hot spots,” beginning Saturday on Castlegate Road in Dorchester. There, at-risk youth can be connected to religious or social service groups through a network referral list.

At the heart of the pledge is a push for jobs, which brought an impassioned City Councilor Chuck Turner to the forefront.

“We’re taking an historic step today by launching a plan to work together for the next 40 days,” Turner said, screaming from the podium. “But there’s never been a people in history who could develop unemployed.”