I responded to a notice in our church bulletin about a "walk and pray" event to highlight the street violence in Baltimore city. I was directed to go to St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church on Edmondson Ave. to join the event. About 20-25 participants gathered at this church near the front steps. The leader, a member of the church and a volunteer for the CeaseFire movement of Baltimore city, greeted us.
We started with prayer and then a reading of a large list of those who had been killed through street violence during the 2018 year. Last year, 2017, some 342 people were killed on the streets of Baltimore. Through Oct. 2018, 259 victims had fallen.
We moved on our walk down Edmondson Ave. in Edmonson Village and stopped at a Presbyterian church, meeting some new participants on the walk. Here we sang and prayed, reciting another long list of names of fallen victims, ages ranging from 13 to 82. We progressed further on to several other churches on our route, following the same routine. We were not able to recite the full list of names, as was intended, because of limited time. We passed through Edmondson Village where, just in this year, 24 persons had been killed, one recently gunned down within 24 hrs. of our arrival.
I'm glad I took some time to walk and pray on this day. Usually I pick a natural trail and enjoy the peace and beauty of the day outdoors when on my walk with/for Megan. But I thought I wanted to support this attempt to draw attention to the rampant violence in our city. I'm pretty sure Megan would have joined in, but I'll let that be up to her review.
Previous 74K
Current 3K
Total 77K (Goal 100K)
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| Our first stop at the Presbyterian Church with some young people holding up their banners. |
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| A look down Edmondson Ave where we stopped and prayed |
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| The banner supplied to us to display as we walked in the community |
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