An ominous rally is scheduled for the Friday, Sept. 28, opening of the new Barclays Arena, the Jay-Z-co-sponsored home of the Brooklyn Nets. Activists under the umbrella name S.A.V.E. (Support Anti-Violence Efforts) America Coalition are using the opening to highlight the year of extreme gun violence in the inner city. They plan to bring dozens of caskets outside the arena to make their point.
“This is not a rally against Jay-Z or even the arena,” said Andre T. Mitchell, founder and executive director of Man Up! Inc. and national chairman of the S.A.V.E. America Initiative.
“This is a rally to bring attention to the increasing gun violence in the urban areas. We are using this high profile event–the opening of this massive stadium in downtown Brooklyn–to make a humble plea to those in the hip-hop community and industry to help us challenge the pandemic and national health crisis that is gun violence in the inner city.”
The caskets? Mitchell said, “Our traditional trademark ‘Processional of Caskets’ symbolizes lives lost in each borough of this city. Our coalition has used this symbolism before, for example, at the National Day of Outrage at Times Square in 2009; the Tsunami of Peace at City Hall in 2010; and the Brownsville Occupy Movement at Wall Street in 2011. Now in 2012, we must take it to the streets once again and resurrect the spirit of commitment to end senseless violence.
“We will continue to demonstrate until this epidemic of violence is addressed holistically through immediate economic justice, innovative health care methods and real neighborhood empowerment for marginalized communities throughout this city. Violence is a disease, and it must first be properly diagnosed as such and then effectively treated and cured!”
Mitchell added that there would be a new twist, however, stating that the whole move was to see in Brooklyn the Resurrection of Peace 2012. “This time we are invoking the symbolism of the Underground Railroad by utilizing our underground rail system, New York City’s mass transit subway system,” he said.
Mitchell told the AmNews that the coalition plans to take several caskets on the subway to the arena as tens of thousands of concertgoers stream to the Barclays Center to catch one of Jay-Z’s shows.
“We have to remember that in many discounted neighborhoods throughout this city, hundreds of family members still mourn their loved ones,” said Mitchell.
Mitchell said that this an action with citywide support from a number of grassroots groups making up the S.A.V.E. America Initiative, including Man Up! Inc., I Love My Life, SOS Crown Heights, CeaseFire Chicago, Don’t Shoot NYC, King of Kings Foundation and the Feurtado brothers and Not Another Child.
Stressing repeatedly that this was not an action against the hip-hop icon, Mitchell stated, “We want there to be a concerted effort with industry figures like Jay-Z to work with us and to become those Ambassadors of Peace who will help us keep the youth out of this violence that is destroying our communities.”
In an open letter to Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter, published in the Sept. 13 edition of the Amsterdam News, Mitchell implored the mega hip-hop and multibusiness mogul to lend his name and finances to a coalition formed to tackle the plague of gun violence that is ravaging the city and urban neighborhoods nationwide.
The letter, which Mitchell also sent to Carter’s representatives, began: “We are humbly asking for your assistance to help save our inner-city youth, who are constantly threatened by the specter of gun violence. Man Up! Inc. is proud to serve as one of the lead organizations involved in Hip-Hop S.A.V.E. America. The S.A.V.E. America Initiative is a nationwide antiviolence coalition that consists of families and victims of violence, street and youth organizations, community- and faith-based leaders, elected officials and athletes, as well as hip-hop celebs and executives.
“We all stand united in our appeal to you and other celebrities who come from neighborhoods stricken by senseless violence to join our coalition’s peace and relief efforts by becoming one of Brooklyn’s ‘Ambassadors of Peace.’ Ambassadors of Peace help sponsor street organizations’ peace and relief efforts on the ground by raising the necessary funds needed to sustain the operations that have been proven to be effective in combating street violence.”
Mitchell told the AmNews, “We recognize and salute Jay-Z’s continued philanthropy through the Shawn Carter Foundation and other charities, but given the crucial nature of what is happening on our streets–the streets that he himself has known and grew up on–we are humbly, humbly asking him and others who are in a position to do so to help us specifically.
“All the organizations involved have a proven track record as violence interrupters and activists who have stayed in the streets, trying to save lives in some of the most violent and dangerous communities in Brooklyn and throughout the country. We prioritize and provide services for the most high-risk members of the community while utilizing innovative, successful grassroots models and approaches that are data-driven and reduce gun violence like the CeaseFire Chicago model.”
Mitchell noted that while he has not received a response from Jay-Z’s camp, he is hopeful that Jay-Z will get wind of the request,. Support from Jay-Z, the Brooklyn father and activist declared, would catapult the effort into the minds of “other celebs in hip-hop to get involved behind this very important issue and initiative.”
The Amsterdam News did not get a response from Jay-Z’s camp or the Barclays Center press department on this issue.
Meanwhile, Mitchell concluded, “We don’t want the Bloomberg administration to create two Brooklyns–one downtown where all the money and enterprise resides–and the rest of Brooklyn, where you have people struggling and trying to avoid gun violence on their doorstep. We are requesting the help of those who get the message and are in a position to help keep our youth safe and alive.”
