On Sept. 22 at Sim Scott Community Center, city councilman Kabir Karriem addressed a “Men of Color” meeting organized by county supervisor Leroy Brooks to address the “crisis” facing the city of Columbus, urging the 60 men who attended to “turn this moment into a movement.”
Karriem didn’t know it, but a movement of sorts had already began. On Sept. 9, a group of eight men who had no connection to Brooks’ group met around a picnic table at the pavilion at Sim Scott, joined hands and prayed for Columbus and for an end to the violence and crime that have hit the city’s black neighborhoods particularly hard.
None of the men had any particular status in the community. In fact, some had records for past criminal conduct. There were no supervisors, pastors or councilman present at that Sept. 9 gathering. It was just a few men in their late 20s and early 30s who grew up in the neighborhood and felt something had to be done.
So the men talked for a while about the sad state of affairs in their Northside neighborhoods, shared a prayer and promised to return to the park pavilion each Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. to pray for the city.
The following Tuesday, 25 people showed up. The next week, more than 50, then 75 as the prayer circle stretched around the perimeter of the pavilion.
Tuesday night, more than 150 people showed up. Young men and women, some with babies in tow and toddlers at their feet, grandmothers and grandfathers, a local pastor dressed in his “off-duty” uniform of T-shirt and jeans.
When it was time to pray, the organizer realized the pavilion was too small to accommodate the prayer circle and it was moved to the baseball field, where the Columbus Renegades peewee football team was practicing on the outfield grass.
The group moved to the field and football practice was interrupted so the players could join the circle. Moms and kids from the playground joined the circle, too.
By the time everyone had joined hands, the circle had surrounded the base paths. At this rate, next week’s circle may well surround the entire field.
A couple of the men spoke; the pastor delivered a prayer. Two men sang songs. Then it was over and the group began to leave. The football players resumed practice, kids scurried to the swing-sets at the park. The rest of the crowd drifted toward parked cars or down the street toward their nearby homes.
From just a few men to a crowd of more than 150, it’s clear something is stirring in the city. People are afraid. They are frustrated. They are united.
While crime and violence are an unfortunate reality in poor neighborhoods, the increase in violence in the city in recent months has clearly shaken the community. Over the past six months, there have been seven shootings in Columbus that claimed three lives and injured seven.
Poverty, drugs, unemployment are the driving factors behind the violence, say those who attended Tuesday’s meeting, a belief that is shared by the group Leroy Brooks has organized.
While there is no connection between Tuesday’s group and Brooks’ organization, at least not yet, the two share a common goal. Organizers of Tuesday’s meeting say they are amenable to working with Brooks’ group, but only on the condition that they are not relegated to being simply audience members.
The effort should remain a grass-roots movement, they insist, guided by those who live in the neighborhoods and, consequently, are the most affected by the crime that is crippling the community.
Even so, Brooks’ group has specific goals and is developing an organized plan to address the problems the community faces. To date, the group that gathered at Sim Scott Tuesday appears to have no real plan other than meeting to pray and support each other.
Each group could benefit from what the other has to offer.
Brooks’ group may have seized the moment, but the steadily growing group of people who gather each Tuesday evening at Sim Scott are the movement.
It may have started with a handful of people praying around a picnic table, but sometimes a single spark can set the world on fire.
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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