Cease Fire Protest Rally to be Held Tomorrow
We Pump 716 and Stevo Johnson's Matti Rouse are hosting an anti-gun violence rally on Saturday, August 1.
The gun violence in Buffalo this year, especially this summer, has been ridiculous! If we care about our community, we each need to do our part to help stop it. Tomorrow, Saturday, August 1st, there will be an anti-gun violence rally and protest at MLK Park in Buffalo, located at Best and Filmore Streets. The rally will begin at 3 pm. All attendees will need to wear a mask to help protect against the spread of COVID-19. Cariol Holloman-Horne Myles Carter Derek Middlebrooks Eddie Fisher, Stevo and others will be speaking at the rally.
Stevo Johnson, founder and owner of Matti Rouse wrote on Facebook,
"#BLM Protest, Absolutely NO #DRAMA & #VIOLENCE. Stand For Something Or Fall For Anything. #STOPTHEVIOLENCE. This is #NOT US vs #thepolice this is #US Talking To Our #community."
You can donate to We Pump 716 here.
According to data from WKBW, there has been a 48% increase in shooting incidents in the City of Buffalo. From January 1 to June 29, 2020, there have been 95 shootings, including many fatal shootings. During the same time a year ago in 2019, there were 64 shootings. When you break the numbers down even further, homicides are up 82 percent from last year. In 2020, so far, 31 people have been murdered, according to WGRZ. Last year during the same time there were 17 homicides.
Buffalo Mayor, Byron Brown, told WGRZ,
"Deeply concerned about the recent gun violence in the city, I can tell you that violent crime in all categories of crime in the city by five percent. But unfortunately, gun incidents, shootings, non-fatal shootings are up by 55 percent in the City of Buffalo, so I am very concerned about it, the Buffalo Police Department is very concerned about it."