{"id":13638,"date":"2023-08-28T17:49:20","date_gmt":"2023-08-28T17:49:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lawyersforcivilrights.org\/?p=13638"},"modified":"2023-08-29T15:21:20","modified_gmt":"2023-08-29T15:21:20","slug":"condemning-gun-violence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lawyersforcivilrights.org\/our-impact\/police-accountability\/condemning-gun-violence\/","title":{"rendered":"Condemning Gun Violence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Condemning Gun Violence Across the Commonwealth <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Gun violence is a plague on the United States, and Massachusetts is far from immune.\u00a0Shootings on back-to-back days this weekend disrupted Caribbean Festivals in\u00a0Boston<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Worcester<\/a>, leaving at least ten people injured and local communities of color shaken.\u00a0Meanwhile, following\u00a021 shooting incidents<\/a>\u00a0in the last two months, Springfield has\u00a0tied a 27-year record<\/a>\u00a0for homicides.\u00a0
\u00a0
The horrific consequences of this bloodshed cannot be overstated.\u00a0Young people are dying, families are being destroyed, and residents of Boston, Worcester, and Springfield are forced to live in fear.\u00a0
\u00a0
Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR) condemns this violence in the strongest possible terms.\u00a0Friends, allies, and our legal warriors live and work in these cities, and have experienced the aftermath of these incidents first-hand.\u00a0It can\u2019t be allowed to continue.\u00a0LCR calls on the Healey administration, the mayors of Boston, Worcester, and Springfield, and local law enforcement agencies to find community-based solutions now.\u00a0
\u00a0
As our thoughts remain with local victims, and those slain in another act of\u00a0racist hatred in Jacksonville<\/a>, we must prioritize this issue.\u00a0Each of us can contribute by calling our representatives, joining marches, and teaching tolerance, but elected officials are most responsible for protecting our communities.\u00a0With lives in the balance, there\u2019s no time to waste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UPDATE:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lawyers for Civil Rights sprung into action to address Massachusetts’ growing gun violence epidemic. Back-to-back shootings over the weekend disrupted Caribbean cultural festivals in\u00a0Boston<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Worcester<\/a>, leaving communities of color in both cities shaken. These events followed closely on the heels of a horrific\u00a0double homicide shooting<\/a>\u00a0in Springfield. To protect our client communities — and champion public safety in the cities where we live and work — our legal warriors have sent letters to the mayors of Boston, Worcester, and Springfield urging them to prioritize public safety issues. The letters made clear that, to\u00a0effectively combat shooting violence, local law enforcement personnel must redouble efforts to build community trust in the diverse areas they serve. Our client communities should live without constant fear of gun violence. LCR is requesting meetings with city officials in Boston, Worcester, and Springfield to help support and coordinate community-based\u00a0public safety efforts.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The letters are available here: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Click here for the letter to Boston.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Click here for the letter to Worcester.<\/a> <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Click here for the letter to Springfield.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\nBoston-Gun-Violence-Letter<\/a>\n

<\/p>\n\n\nWorcester-Gun-Violence-Letter<\/a>\n

<\/p>\n\n\nSpringfield-Gun-Violence-Letter<\/a>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Condemning Gun Violence Across the Commonwealth  Gun violence is a plague on the United States, and Massachusetts is far from immune.\u00a0Shootings on back-to-back days this weekend disrupted Caribbean Festivals in\u00a0Boston\u00a0and\u00a0Worcester, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lawyersforcivilrights.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13638"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lawyersforcivilrights.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lawyersforcivilrights.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lawyersforcivilrights.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lawyersforcivilrights.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13638"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lawyersforcivilrights.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13638\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13645,"href":"https:\/\/lawyersforcivilrights.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13638\/revisions\/13645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lawyersforcivilrights.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lawyersforcivilrights.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lawyersforcivilrights.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}