NEWBURGH – A handful of African American men walked the streets of the City of Newburgh on Saturday to send a message to the younger generation that violence is not acceptable.
The group, led by City Councilman Omari Shakur, was in response to the street violence last Wednesday that left four teens – ages 16 to 18 – wounded when a gunfight broke out.
“We have to show our young bloods that this is not going to be allowed in our community. We gotta stop killing each other,” he said.
Ray Harvey, the president of the Newburgh-Highland Falls NAACP, was among those walking Saturday. He said the teens cannot be blamed for their actions.
“We really need to step up for our kids because we are failing them,” he said. “We can’t blame them because they only know what they know. We have to show them something different,” he said.
In the meantime, a task force of local, state and federal law enforcement is patrolling the city in an effort to prevent further violence.
