PINE BLUFF, Ark. — Leaders in Pine Bluff have come together to prevent any more gun violence from happening in the city.
“Last year, we started out as GRIP, Pine Bluff group violence, gang reduction initiative of Pine Bluff, and through some research and site visits, we transformed to GVI,” said Judge Earnest Brown.
Brown has a history of serving his community.
He once was a state representative, and secretary for the Arkansas Legislative Black Caucus. He is currently the Circuit Judge for the Juvenile Division of Jefferson and Lincoln counties, he’s also the Vice Chair of Group Violence Intervention or GVI in Pine Bluff.
“So many people involved, because people are concerned, they're concerned about the future of our youth, the future of our community,” he explained.
According to Pine Bluff police, last year there were 21 homicides in total and this year we’ve already seen 22, and it's only September.
“It's troubling, it goes through my head that they're going up instead of going down,” said Brown. “For what I do working with the juvenile population, more than half of those involving young people and it's something that our community needs to take very seriously.”
To reach the younger generation GVI has teamed up with the Arkansas Martin Luther King Junior Commission to host nonviolence youth summits.
“A combination of two years of discussions and planning to begin that movement toward reducing gun violence in the city of Pine Bluff,” said Brown.
These summits are something the MLK Commission has been doing for years, but the group said they've never been more important.
“To teach them the king methods, the six principles of nonviolence and become change agents for their communities, their homes, their schools,” said Program Coordinator of the Arkansas MLK Commission Diana Shelton.
She also said they want to provide kids with a safe space.
“Because they are our tomorrow, they're out today and time goes by so fast that by attacking it at a young age, then it gives them a foundation,” she added.
Judge Brown explained how this is a big step that he hopes will make a difference in the city that he and many others call home.
“It's not the court's responsibility, it's not law enforcement. it's not the mayor's. It's all of us together, saying that we want Pine Bluff to be a safe city,” said Brown.
The MLK nonviolence summit will begin on Thursday at Morehead Middle School and will run all day.