Community members in Little Rock banding together to oppose violence

Little Rock, Arkansas – A neighborhood is banding together to protest city violence.

The 65th homicide of the year was reported by the Little Rock Police Department this week, matching the total from the previous year.

Now, the city’s residents are saying enough is enough.

People from the neighborhood got together on Saturday to talk about potential fixes for lowering crime rates.

The organization, “Residents in Action,” claims that the first step in bringing about change is strengthening community ties.

“There are no solutions to crime, there are no solutions to many things without residents being involved, and that has really been the missing ingredient,” attendee at the meeting, Sky Brower said.

On Saturday, residents of the Reservoir Road neighborhood gathered for a historic meeting.

“We’ve got folks here with the Little Rock Police Department and also with the city who are here to talk about public safety opportunities for the community resources for the community and ways that we can engage together to make this city a better place for everyone,” Chair of the Racial and Cultural Commission for the City of Little Rock said.

Scenes like this are occurring increasingly frequently in the capital city as crime rates rise.

Residents of Reservoir Road said it was time to find a solution, and that it begins with getting to know one another.

“It is important for residents to get involved and active in the community because when we come together, we can do so much more. When we can come together and collaborate on what we want to see in our city, what we as residents want to see in our neighborhoods, we can accomplish that,” Brown said.

With one goal… to build community.

“Bringing folks together, to work together for a better future for all of us,” stated Brown.

Meetings like this, according to one participant, are essential.

“We tend to rely on government to solve all of our problems for us, crime is one of those things. We need to get to know each other in our communities. We need to know our neighbors. We need to know people on our street, not just next door, several houses down. We need to know people on the street past us. We need to know people in the neighborhood past us, and we need to know people all throughout the city,” Brower stated.

Although the change won’t happen immediately, group leaders claimed that the gathering gave them hope for a brighter future.

“It’s just been, it’s been phenomenal. There’s a lot of interest in making some change,” Brower stated.

The event’s organizer expressed their want to hold other gatherings like this in different parts of the city and expressed their happiness at giving people a space to come together and work for a brighter future.