WASHINGTON — A D.C. citywide campaign to raise awareness surrounding the many facets of gun violence and the wreckage it leaves in its wake is kicking off Friday.
All are invited to engage in the critical campaign 202forPeace, which features education events, service projects and activities as well as community re-engagement.
The grassroots initiative is primarily designed to raise awareness about the services and support available to District residents who are vulnerable to violence or violent activity, as well as increase community buy-in with messaging and activities targeted to keep youth safe.
The campaign also intends to share survivor stories and experiences in order to "humanize violence and challenge our community values toward a shared and common vision of peace," organizers describe.
Campaign creators share that 202forPeace is a grassroots collaborative effort of agencies across the District to build community-based support to prevent gun violence and other violent crime.
Residents are encouraged to get involved with the movement through volunteerism or community service and posting in the Virtual Memorial.
Planned events, from a speech by D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser in Southeast to a talent competition in Northwest, welcome the public. Find a full list and details here.
Watch the kick-off event below
The inaugural Friday event happened on the same day that three out of four men were sentenced in the shooting death of 11-year-old Davon McNeal, who was killed on July 4, 2020, at an anti-violence cookout his mom organized in Southeast DC.
All four of the total men initially charged pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter while armed.
Crystal McNeal, his mother and a local violence interrupter, spoke at the event just after charges for her son's killers had been announced. She spoke while wearing her son's football number on her shirt.
"Today was so hard for me," she said while choking back tears. McNeal went on to speak about the loss of her son and her ongoing work; from helping with resumes to instigating ceasefires in the community in an attempt to curb the violence that ultimately stole her son's life.
"No mother should endure this pain . . . no one can explain why he is not walking," she said.
"I'm still questioning, how much do Black lives matter? And how is it that no child is left behind? Despite my pain - my family's pain - I never stop supporting the same community where my son took his last breath."
"I'm out here supporting all the mothers - we have a voice," McNeal cried. "To know you all still care about me and my son - it means a lot to me."
202forPeace also plans to highlight the DC Gun Violence Reduction Plan as the campaign goes on, which D.C. Mayor Bowser created with her team in 2016 in order to make the city safer and stronger.
The plan involves the creation of community crime prevention teams, a victims' services agency establishment of a homicide reduction task force within MPD, stop and frisk and crime data collection, as well as officer retention and recruitment.
Learn more about this plan and the progress that has so far been made by clicking here.
Mayor Bowser also spoke at the Friday event.
“This is about our community coming together to say enough is enough,” she said. “We still believe that gun violence is a solvable problem. But it will take all of us working together — to connect people to opportunity, to get and keep our young people engaged in safe activities, and to send a message that we will not tolerate nor normalize gun violence. I am incredibly grateful for people like Crystal who have gone through the unimaginable and are still using their voices to advocate for peace.”
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