LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Arkansas native and former Dallas Cowboy, Reggie Swinton, returned to Little Rock intent on stopping violence in the city.
This coming weekend, Swinton plans to bring the community together and brainstorm solutions with neighbors.
The former NFL player met with Rev. Bennie Johnson, who's a member of Arkansas Stop the Violence. The two met at the mock cemetery located on the corner of Daisy Bates & Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, honoring victims of homicide.
A cross is placed in the ground each year, representing the victims of violent crime.
So far, Little Rock has seen a total of 14 homicides for the year already.
"People know me as a football player and not really an activist. I'm not an activist, but something's got to be done. Something's got to be said and actions have got to be taken to help curb this violence in our city," Swinton said.
He hoping that those in the city will come out to the state capitol on Sunday at 2:00 p.m., where the group will meet and discuss solutions to curb violence.
"This meeting is not about what the police are doing to us, or what white people are doing to us, it's about what we are doing to each other," he said.
Swinton acknowledged that systemic issues breeds crime in minority communities, but asked at what point will community members hold themselves accountable.
The efforts were the same around the city Wednesday afternoon, where three women met on the steps of state capitol to campaign for Black lives.
One of those three women was Tanya James, who was with 99 More, an organization supporting the Black Lives Matter movement.
Every Wednesday afternoon they protest at the state capitol, holding chants on the steps of the building.
While James finds the protests important, she said the Black Lives Matter movement stands for more than that-- it means being against not only police brutality, but mass incarnations and street violence.
Despite that, a common question that the group gets when they protest is, 'what about Black on Black crime?'
"It's not Black on Black crime. It's street violence. Nobody's killing nobody because you're Black and I'm going to kill you because I'm Black and I don't like that you're Black. That would be Black on Black crime. It's street violence," Swinton said.
99 More said verbiage is important when it comes to trying to create solutions and that they will be in attendance Sunday to be a part of the conversation.
They said that they're tired of seeing young boys go down the same cycle of violence.
"Black lives are under attack and we are standing up and fighting back," James said.
This thought was echoed by activist Syrus Bolly who said that if we're going to address crime, we have to discuss other issues that lead to it.
"It's more than just people having disagreements and altercations starting and crime happening like that, there's so many other things that can be addressed on a level," Bolly said.
He said when you invest in people and not just places, it can empower a community.
Bolly believes the conversation should also be about housing, lack of education, and other issues that impact crime in communities.