Bullets flying. Mothers crying. Brothers dying in the
capital city. A second effort aimed at squelching the outbreak of
what are believed to be gang-related shootings in Springfield will take
place this evening in Municipal Building West. Earlier this month, hundreds of residents showed up at
the Capitol on a bitterly cold night to support the city’s first
“Stop the Violence” march and prayer vigil. Now, Pure News USA publisher T.C. Christian — the organizer of
tonight’s town-hall meeting, titled “Stop the Killing”
— hopes to build on the momentum created by the march and vigil. “I’m not running for office or looking for
a job,” Christian says, “but when you’ve been blessed, an
extra hour of effort is worth our time.” Speakers will give presentations of three minutes or
less before the floor is opened up to citizens, Christian says, who may
speak or ask questions of the panel, consisting of Springfield leaders. Panelists include local NAACP president Ken Page,
Mayor Tim Davlin, Police Chief Don Kliment, District 186 School Board
president Judith Johnson, Sangamon County Board member Doris Turner, the
Rev. Silas Johnson, Ald. Frank McNeil, and the Rev. Wesley Robinson-
McNeese, Ministerial Alliance president. Christian, whose twin teenagers write a column for his
paper, says he shuddered when he heard the news that a young man had been
shot in the forehead over the weekend. “That could have been one of them,” he
says, referring to the victim. The forum, Christian emphasizes, is a town-hall
meeting — not a black town-hall meeting. The shootings and gang violence, he says,
“might be on the East Side today, but what about tomorrow?”
The “Stop the Killing” town-hall meeting
begins at 6 o’clock tonight, Thursday, Feb. 23, in the City Council
chambers, Municipal Center West, 300 S. Seventh St.
This article appears in Feb 23 – Mar 1, 2006.
