State Rep. Sánchez holds gun violence forum

Local state Rep. Jeffrey Sánchez, who represents Mission Hill and grew up in the Mission Main housing development, convened a forum last month to discuss gun violence and ways to prevent it. The event was also meant to draw attention to several gun control bills moving through the State House.

About 100 people, including anti-gun activists, attended the forum in the Anna M. Community Center at Jamaica Plain’s Bromley-Heath housing development. Several elected officials spoke or attended the forum, including local state Sen. Sonia Chang-Diáz, Suffolk County District Attorney Dan Conley and Suffolk County Sheriff Steven Tompkins.

Kim Odom, who works with Citizens for Safety (CFS), a nonprofit aimed at reducing gun violence, spoke about losing her 13-year-old son Steven in a case of mistaken identity during a gang dispute in Dorchester in 2007.

“That night changed the direction of our family,” she said.

Odom talked about how when her son attended the Timilty School, he was in a peace program. Months after he was killed, his journal from that program was found. Odom said her son had written in the journal that “It’s a shame somebody gets killed or shot every day. That’s why we seriously need peace.”  She said her son, without realizing it, was writing about a public health epidemic.

Odom discussed the work she had done with CFS, including a program called “LIPSTICK,” or “Ladies Involved in Putting a Stop to Inner-City Killing.” The program teaches about women who often buy or store guns for boyfriends, husbands or acquaintances who can’t buy or possess them legally because they are felons. LIPSTICK educates women about the dangers of doing so.

“We need to understand the deeper depths of what is going on,” Odom said about gun violence. She said the community needs to raise “our moral consciousness.”

Sánchez spoke about growing up in the Mission Main housing development during the 1970s and 1980s and witnessing gun violence. He said that is “still going on here and now.” He said that the state has some of the strongest gun laws in the country, but gun violence is “still a huge problem,” noting that 143 shootings have occurred in the last three months.

“This meeting is about all of us coming together,” Sánchez.

He said he wanted to make the forum about the attendees and said they should tell elected officials what legislation to support.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.