At an election-season gathering in the name of spirituality, crime-fighting and neighborhood unity, Georgia gubernatorial candidate and Attorney General Thurbert Baker on Friday said, in the wake of three recent slayings in Macon, residents must come together to combat violence.
“If we are gonna challenge the crime that we see in these communities, we’re the ones who have to do it,” Baker said. “We will turn these tragedies, we’ll turn them into triumphs.”
Baker spoke to an audience that included several area church leaders as well as Macon’s mayor and law enforcement officials at St. Peter Claver Catholic Church. Congregants there invited Baker to town to address Friday’s “Making Pleasant Hill Safer” forum.
“The city of Macon is one of Georgia’s finest cities,” Baker said. “It is the heart of Middle Georgia. It is what makes this state click. ... We must not tolerate violence that has beset this community in recent weeks ... and wreaked havoc in this community for far too long.”
So far this year, according to police statistics, of the nine homicides in the city, eight have been victims of black-on-black crime. One of Bibb County’s two slayings this year was a black-on-black incident.
Before Baker spoke, the Rev. Dan Melaba of St. Peter Claver, said, “Our vision is for a Pleasant Hill that is safe and prosperous, but it will require all of us, all of us, working together to bring that dream about.”
The Pleasant Hill community straddles Interstate 75 north of Vineville, Hardeman and Georgia avenues. On May 20 near the church, the community was the scene of a shooting death that has spurred parishioners to action.
“We recognize that individuals and associations are already involved in laudable programs in our neighborhood, but we believe that by joining forces we can serve our neighborhood better by cleaning it up not only on the outside, but working for renewal that begins within,” Melaba said.
Baker drew applause when he told the churchgoers on hand by taking up the cause, through “bold and innovative leadership,” they were “sending a message to every community in this city, in this county and throughout this state that enough is enough. We simply won’t take it anymore.”
Said Baker: “Today we reach out ... to those who are caught in the crosshairs of violence. ... We reach out to those who are caught in the crosshairs of criminal activity. We all know that violence begets violence and the cycle of violence must be broken so that our neighborhoods can recover.”
To contact writer Joe Kovac Jr., call 744-4397.
