Mayor Ras Baraka comments on two ironically-timed homicides that he said speak to a need for a culture change in Newark.
NEWARK -- The concept is simple enough. One day in the state's largest city during which its residents celebrate community and peaceful coexistence, and gather against violence.
This year, while hundreds of residents gathered at the annual '24 Hours of Peace' rally on Aug. 28 and 29, two men were gunned down in the city.
"It is disheartening," Mayor Ras Baraka, who helped found the event five years ago, said in a phone interview about the shooting deaths.
"But, we didn't really expect that nothing at all would happen because we were holding this event...we are still in the middle of a rough summer."
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'Occupy the City,' an anti-violence march and rally on Market St. and Broad St., organized by Mayor Ras Baraka, in Newark, NJ 8/8/15 (Alex Remnick | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com) '24 Hours of Peace' was the most recent in a string of similar events that the Baraka administration has touted as community-building and anti-violence.
Thousands of residents turned out for an 'Occupy the City' rally, the culmination of a string of 'Occupy the Block' visits Baraka has made to crime-ridden neighborhoods. The events, he has said, were meant to discuss issues with neighborhood residents, and provide examples of positive, constructive behavior to youth in the city.
Later this month, the city will join NFL players, activists, and thinkers from across the state and country to host the "Summit II" at NJPAC, a one-day event that will outline a new city stance on public safety.
Do peace rallies make a difference?
While Baraka says that he does not believe that anti-violence events are enough on their own to combat violence in the long-plagued city, they will continue to be a part of his crime-fighting strategy.
"I've been watching the crime rate in this city go up and down for the past 20 years," Baraka said.
"The only consistent things have been poverty, unemployment, a feeling of helplessness, and this internal idea that violence is the answer...we have to replace those ideas with positive ideas."
RELATED: How Newark is responding to summer crime surge
In the short term, Baraka said the rallies and peace events have made some headway in the strained relationship between the community and the city's police department. Several recent arrests, he said, have been aided by tips and information from local residents.
Part of the mayor's goal in hosting the events, he said, is to help Newarkers feel empowered to take a stand against the crime in their neighborhoods.
"People need the strength to stand up and say what's happening, (and to know) that this city doesn't belong to a few individuals who choose to make violence their calling and murder their business."
The crime fighting discussion comes at a time when cities across the country are experiencing an uptick in shooting violence.
According to a Reuters report, America's 35 largest cities have experienced an average increase of 19 percent in their homicide rates so far this year. In the midst of a national discussion on police responses to urban crime, experts have debated the most effective ways to curb violence in U.S. cities.
"No one group owns the problem of gun violence, (and so) no one group has in its pocket the solution," Wayne Fisher, a criminal justice professor and director of the Police Institute at Rutgers, said in a phone interview.
Events like 24 Hours of Peace, "can only have a positive impact (on the community). The question is, how much (of an impact)?"
Changing the Culture
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Crime scene set up around one of two daytime fatal shootings during Newark's '24 Hours of Peace.' (Vernal Coleman | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com) The 24-hour long peace event featured musical performances, speakers, and organized sporting and children's events. It was held in a South Ward neighborhood that has been the location of at least five homicides over the past year.
That neighborhood was filled with residents and positive events, the mayor said.
But, authorities have identified two victims of apparently unrelated fatal shootings in other parts of the city while the event was taking place - 42-year-old Condell Walker, who was killed near the construction site of a shopping complex in the 200 block of Springfield Avenue; and Steven Watkins, 36, who was gunned down in the 300 block of 6th Avenue.
Days after the shootings, Baraka announced a move that he said will bolster the ranks of the Newark Police Department with new recruits. In reaction to a previous summer crime surge, police officials announced officer reassignments, and other law enforcement-based strategies also aimed at reducing the city's rising shooting rate.
In an announcement about the new officers, Police Director Eugene Venable included a plea to residents to work with the department on apprehending criminals.
"We cannot merely 'arrest our way' out of crime," he said in a statement at the time. "We need our residents to work with our police officers. If you see something, say something. End the silence - stop the violence."
Baraka said he feels the city's fight against violence needs to include, but go beyond, police strategy, community engagement, and peace-rallying events. The largest piece of the crime-fighting puzzle, he said, is to change the city's culture.
"We have to combat this gangster culture that has invaded our cities," Baraka said.
"It's in the language, it's in the music...we have 10,000 people showing up to a (concert) to listen to songs about doing drugs and killing people...it's the culture that's got to change."
Though he agrees, Fisher said the challenge of changing an entire culture is a massive one that will likely take a lot of time and a myriad of different strategies to achieve - if it is achieved at all. In the meanwhile, he said, events like peace rallies should not be skipped.
Changing the culture "is a formidable challenge," he said. "But, we can't stop doing these other things that may not be as expansive (but are a part of it)...It's not something on its own that can make the problem go away...but it is (a way to) take action."
Jessica Mazzola may be reached at jmazzola@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessMazzola. Find NJ.com on Facebook.