Community gathers to discuss growing violence

Community leaders in Hamilton Hill organized a “Light the Street” ceremony Saturday night to draw attention to what many feel is a growing epidemic of violence in the community.

The event took place on Schenectady Street, where 17-year-old Medina Knowles was shot and killed Sept. 15 inside her home by a man who told police the two had been dating. Raekwon Stover, 19, turned himself into police last Saturday and has been charged in her killing.

Knowles’ killing was the fourth homicide in the city so far this year, with the other three occurring just blocks from where she lived at 524 Schenectady St.

Taquan Foreman, 29, died in May after being shot during what police said was a home invasion attempt at 410 Paige St. Two other men, Andre D. Lee, 30, and Marquel E. Fallen, 22, were shot and killed on Germania Avenue in March and January, respectively.

But Schenectady Street appears to be at the epicenter of the violence. Since July 2015 there have been four shootings on the street, two of which, including Knowles’, were fatal.

Over a hundred people attended the ceremony at the Hamilton Hill Arts Center, which organizers named “Light the Streets” because all of the street lights on Schenectady Street are out. Indeed, a light tower rented by another community organizer named Kanema Haynes appeared to be the only source of light on the entire street.

Pierre Thompson, who helped organize the event, said he’s visiting City Hall on Monday to meet with Mayor Gary McCarthy about getting the lights turned back on. McCarthy was out of town and could not make the ceremony, said Thompson, who runs the Young Urban Leaders initiative that aims to educate youth about financial investment and management.

“Schenectady Street is one of the darkest streets on Hamilton Hill,” said Thompson. “So no wonder it’s one of the most violent.”

But, said Thompson, the community’s violence problem is more than broken street lamps.

“I think we’re lacking unity, and once a community is divided, you get all sorts of violence,” said Thompson. “So I’m hoping to unite the community tonight.”

Thompson and other organizers said poverty and a lack of resources are too major reasons for the violence.

“We’ve been impoverished for so long that the way a normal person thinks, it’s not normal for my community,” he said. “I think it starts with the poverty, that’s what leads to crime. Because they want things, they see things and they want things and they don’t know exactly how to get them.”

Thompson said Knowles’ mother contacted him and asked if he could organize an event drawing attention to the violence problem.

“We put this together on the fly, but I think it’s going to come together so well because people are tired of all the violence,” he said.

Kanema Haynes said members of the community are the ones primarily responsible for its safety.

“I think it’s time for us as a community, as black people, to come together and start taking care of our community,” said Haynes. “We can’t allow these kids to keep dying and for this violence to keep going on, and we’re just sitting around and letting it happen.”

In addition to poverty and a lack of resources, Haynes said kids in the community don’t have an outlet to discuss what they’re going through or their needs.

“It just builds up and these kids resort to violence because there’s no out, it’s always coming in and there’s not enough going out,” she said. “We need to stay together and help one another when we see help is needed. They say it takes a village to raise children, and we need to be that village and start raising these children.”

Haynes said she didn’t know Knowles, but as a parent of four children she “can only imagine what her mother is going through.”

“It seems like almost every month someone is dying from some type of violence, whether it’s guns, whether it’s getting stabbed, it’s just horrible,” said Haynes. “It’s not a place where people would generally want to come to raise their children. If I wasn’t already living here and I was looking for somewhere to go, Schenectady wouldn’t be my place.”

Catoria Pittman lost her brother Alphonso Pittman to gun violence in the neighborhood in 2010, and said she was adamant about coming to the ceremony to talk about solutions.

“I just feel like our community needs to come back together and make a difference, and change it,” said Pittman. “We used to have a boys and girls club, a Carver [Community Center], a Quest, an art center, we don’t got nothing no more over here. What are our kids doing? Killing each other.”

Pittman said increasing the amount of community programs would go a long way to stemming the violence.

“Absolutely, something to do. Bring them together. We grew up together and our kids don’t even know our kids. It’s depressing. If we don’t give back to our community and make a difference, it’s not going to change,” she said.

After various speakers addressed the crowd from a podium at the Hamilton Hill Arts Center, Catoria Pittman held her and Alphonso’s mother, Sheila Pittman, in a long embrace on the stage before she addressed the crowd.

“Alphonso died back in 2010, and these have been the worst six years of my life,” said Sheila Pittman. “I was raised on this hill. I was able to walk up and down these streets free, not looking over my shoulder, not worrying about whether I was going to die, my parents didn’t have to worry about me.”

Sheila Pittman said it’s up to the community’s parents to stop the violence.

“We can’t watch every move they make, but we need to be accountable for what we allow to go on in these streets,” she said.

Shawna DuBoise said she was ecstatic about the turnout of the ceremony, which was attended by over 100 people. DuBois lost her son, Jerome Cannon to gun violence in 2008.

DuBoise said her son was known as a peacemaker.

“My son died in 2008 to a senseless murder because he was trying to keep peace between two people that he thought were his friends. He got shot, and he died the next day. Me and my family have never, ever, ever healed from that.”

Lt. Brian Bienduga with the Schenectady Police Department said after Knowles’ murder he reached out to the department’s domestic violence unit and they’re looking at ways to keep something similar from happening in the future.

Bienduga, who was one of several police officers at the event, also said Thompson makes a good point about the street lights.

“You know what, when he said that up there, I turned around and said, ‘There’s a light right there that’s out,’ ” said Bienduga. “His complaint is not inaccurate. It’s certainly helps to have a well-lit area.”

Reach Gazette reporter Dan Fitzsimmons at 852-9605, [email protected] or @DanFitzsimmons on Twitter.

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