DORCHESTER, MASS. (WHDH) - Community members met Wednesday night to create a public safety plan following recent violence in Dorchester, Roxbury and Mattapan.
“I felt so galvanized, so brave tonight, because people thought, ‘Wow, I’m not by myself, there’s things we can do,” said community member Edwin Sumpter.
“The community showed up,” added Dr. Charles Mentos, another community member at the meeting. “A lot of times, people just talk, but we had a good crowd.”
The meeting follows another weekend of violence in the city. Three people were wounded in a shooting early Sunday morning on Hancock Street in Dorchester. Another person was shot Saturday night on Erie Street, just around the corner from where a barbershop manager was shot in his workplace just days earlier.
“We recognize what we’ve lost: community really being a community, and not just people living beside each other,” said community member Linda Solomon
Some community leaders have called the situation in Dorchester, Roxbury, and Mattapan a “state of emergency.” They posted flyers for meetings to bring people together to come up with solutions to the violence. Sessions in the meeting included violence in schools, youth violence, elderly safety and trauma. This was the first of three planned meetings.
No city officials or politicians were allowed to attend Wednesday’s meeting – giving people the chance to speak freely about their concerns and ideas.
“It was just incredible to be in an environment where people felt safe enough to share,” Solomon added.
“A lot of times, we wait for law enforcement to do things, that is their job,” Mentos said. “But us as a community, we need to take part and take action.”
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