Residents gathered at the rally hope that the rate of violence will slow.
Following a burst of violence that left five people dead in the month of May alone, Hartford's Mayor Pedro Segarra held what he called a rally for peace and progress yesterday in the city's North End.
A small crowd gathered in a school park just off Barbour Street. There were drums, there was a guy selling food from a cart, and there were politicians. But there were other people, too.
"I’m priest in charge at Christ Church Cathedral," explained Harlon Dalton. "And I’m, probably like everyone else here, concerned about violence in the city that’s so precious. There are moments in which people are much more open to seeing beyond their own self and understanding how much community matters and how much each of us are affected by something that happens to someone else. So that happens in churches around baptisms and funerals and weddings. And it happens in civic life unfortunately around moments when there’s been a raft of violence. We realize just how much we belong to one another."
Carmen Rodriguez was watching the rally from the back. She had a tattoo on her arm that said “RIP Macho.”
"I had lost my son on December 5, 2002. He was 16 years old, he got shot in front of me," she said. Then she spoke about her tattoo. "That’s his name. Carlos Macho Garcia," said Rodriguez.
When asked about the young men involved in the recent shootings. Rodriguez said, "I would say the same thing. Put the gun down."
"I see people that are well-to-do in our community and majority of them don't look like us. So that tells me that we're not reaching the right folks."
Rev. Henry Brown
Reverend Henry Brown has long advocated against violence in the city. He was at the rally with Mothers United Against Violence. He looked at the rally with a bit of skepticism.
"If you want to bring about change, you have to be in where the people are. I see a lot of people out here, man, that I guess are well-to-do," Brown said. "I don’t see any folks out here from down on the street, that are living on the street and don’t have a place to go. I don’t see people here that don’t have food on the table. I don’t see those people here. I see people that are well-to-do in our community and majority of them don’t look like us. So that tells me that we’re not reaching the right folks."
Nishia Green is 19 and brought her baby with her to the rally.
"I lost a friend to gun violence, his name was Deon Palmer and it hurt me," Green said. "I don’t want to see nobody out here being shot, being killed, somebody’s life being taken. That’s not right. I don’t want to see nobody’s child being taken from their mother, that’s not right. I just feel like it needs to stop."
Pastor Sam Saylor felt what people don't need a rally. They need opportunity.
"We lack a sense of tangible hope that we can touch. There's got to be a job that’s close enough that we can walk to, there’s got to be a job center close enough that we can get a job from. There’s got to be a place we can go and get day care centers and great quality schools," Saylor said. "You have a cesspool of hopelessness. What you get is the type of violence that you’re getting. What are we rallying for? Who are we rallying for? What are we taking these people from? At least when Noah rallied the animals, he took them on a boat...What are we rallying onto? Where’s the point of reference we’re going to? Where’s the door that allows them the escape from this kind of living?"
Saylor has his own pain. His son was killed by a gun.
"Shane Oliver," he said. "October 20, 2012 -- 20th victim in the city of Hartford."
Twelve people have died so far this year in city's violence. The residents gathered at the rally were hoping that the rate of violence at the very least would slow.
