Pastor Bruce Wall has been calling for a State of Emergency in Boston since 2005, and this year is no exception. Today, the Roxbury clergyman brought together other faith leaders and local politicians, like city councilor and mayoral candidate Tito Jackson.
Wall called on Gov. Charlie Baker, state officials and Boston Mayor Marty Walsh to, as he put it, work to create a citywide and community plan to stop the violence.
“Politicians have good intentions,” Wall said, “but they’re not feeling this [violence] the way that we’re feeling this. They’re not going through the same trauma. The mayor and the police commissioner drive through this city with armed escorts in their SUV’s. So yes, they have good intentions, but they’re not doing the job that needs to be done.”
Wall pointed to more than two dozen homicides and many more shootings so far this year, most of them in the Roxbury and Dorchester neighborhoods.
“If residents in Newton, Wellesley or even South Boston experienced 25 homicides in seven months, the elected officials would be called on the carpet,” Wall said in a statement.
The pastor especially criticized the mayor’s office for a lack of preparation and for not involving people who have the greatest stake in ending the violence — pastors like him and other local activists and politicians.
Wall likened the recent summer spike in violence to Groundhog Day. Every year, he said, homicides go up when school lets out, and officials wring their hands but do little else.
“The city calls the black pastors together. The pastors come out, three-quarters of whom do not deal with the population that they're concerned about, but it makes a good photo op and after the meeting the community applauds and says, ‘You're doing a good job,’" Wall said.
The mayor’s office said nothing can be further from the truth. They pointed to an anti-violence plan released this year with a host of different programs. They include a Junior Police League, sporting events, movie nights and activities like block parties and “coffee with a cop.”
A city hall spokesperson also said the mayor has reached out to the Massachusetts Association of Minority Law Enforcement Officers, known as MAMLEO.
On its website, the organization commends Mayor Walsh and Police Commissioner Bill Evans for taking time out of their busy schedules to attend a round table with the group. “We hope that this will open up dialogue between all parties,” the May 2017 posting says. “We may not always agree, but at least come to the table to work things out.”
