Marchers protest rising crime and violence in St. Louis area

ST. LOUIS -- Tens of thousands of black St. Louis residents took to the streets Sunday in a unity march against violence that has plagued some city neighborhoods.

On a steamy afternoon, throngs of black ministers, Black Panthers and other black men hungry for change marched through the historically black Ville neighborhood of north St. Louis as black women cheered them from the sidelines.

Crowds that organizers estimated at 50,000 walked to Tandy Park, across from Sumner High School, the first black high school west of the Mississippi River. It was there that one of Sumner's famous graduates, the late Arthur Ashe, honed his tennis skills.

"It's really awesome to see the black community come together for a peaceful purpose," said Shannon Malone, 27, of suburban University City as she held her toddler. "There's an urgency to stop all these homicides."

The day had a festive feel with street-corner entrepreneurs selling sno-cones and bottled ice water. Most of the neighborhood's grocers and other businesses closed or moved away long ago.

Marchers and residents watching from doorsteps said they are tired of black-on-black crime and the social ills that feed it. They said that together in this "Call to Oneness" initiative, they can work for improvements.

Black ministers, businessmen and community leaders have been working behind the scenes since February on the plan to reduce crime and violence and resurrect struggling neighborhoods in St. Louis.

They have called it nothing short of a "state of emergency" that demands immediate attention. The hard work, they have said, begins today, and the days, weeks, months and years ahead.

"There is no better time than now to pick up the little brother," said Sheldon Scott, 51, of suburban Jennings. "We are letting our children get away from us."

He reflected, while marching with childhood friend, Gilbert Davis, also 51, on their upbringing in a public-housing project.

There, at least, "we had a village raising a baby," Scott said. "Your mom would know [from the neighbors] what you did by the time you got home."

John Wright, 68, also a product of the projects, said "there's so much violence going on in the black community.

"Every time you listen to the news, another black person is getting killed," he said.

City dweller Harvey Collins, 50, riding his bike with his 8- and 10-year-old sons, said the violence makes him worry for his children.

"I look at my boys and think, what's going to happen to them?" he said. "We're sick of this."

As of Thursday, the city had 61 homicides so far this year, 15 more than the same period last year. There were 138 homicides in the city last year.

A 70-year-old woman watching the march from her doorstep said children run astray for lack of a father in the home.

"These kids need a big brother," said the woman, identifying herself only as Sylvia. "There's no man in the home. I wish things would change. These guns are pathetic."

As the march neared Tandy Park, where organizers challenged the crowd to be accountable to one another, 56-year-old retired carpenter James Bailey said the solution is simple.

"We need to show young people we have to learn to love one another," he said. "We need more community activities. We need to take back our society as men. And we need to pray a little more for one another. There's only one race, the human race."