gun violence Archives - Brooklyn Downtown Star

Brooklyn art exhibit honors victim of gun violence

webadmin on November 2, 2022

By Billy Wood

news@queensledger.com

The Melquain Jatelle Anderson Foundation (MJAF) held the “Disrupting the Hate” art exhibit at the Central Brooklyn Library from Oct. 21-25.

The event is held on those days because Anderson was born on Oct. 21 and was murdered on Oct. 25 outside Faragut Houses at 26-years-old.

“I wanted to do an art exhibit to show people disrupting the hate through artistry because you can actually heal through art, whether you are the observer or the artist,” said Michelle Barnes- Anderson, his mother, founder, and chief executive officer of MJAF.

The MJAF is a community service organization in Brooklyn where they provide both support and comfort to victims of gun violence along with their loved ones.

Black Boy Magic by Monae Benet

There is also a scholarship and fund in support of undergraduate students at John Jay College of Criminal Studies in the memory of Anderson. He was a Brooklyn Knight and John Jay Student.

The foundation did a one day art exhibit in 2019 at the Brooklyn Museum. This year’s event had about 33 different forms of art from painting, drawings, poems, and lyrics. They received artwork from daycare children all the way to more established artists.

While all of the art resonates with her because it reminds her of her son from his early ages of drawing in grade school to him becoming a fashion designer, there was one exhibit that she felt was important and that was done by the daycare called “My King and I.”

It shows pictures of the fathers with their children surrounded by their young ones’ paintings.

“It’s really about the fathers. And I wanted to uplift our black young fathers in the neighborhood,” Barnes-Anderson said. “That was so important to me to make sure we have the daycare because they need to know that their love, they’re needed in the community.”

This year’s exhibit took place at the Central Brooklyn Library and throughout the five day event there have been over 400 people that have attended.

“I wanted the experience for people being in the art exhibit and also utilizing other things that the library has because it’s a wealth of information,” said Barnes-Anderson. “We need to exploit that with the library so people can know this is not something that you just come to for research.”

The library hosts a full slate of different exhibitions, marquee and signature programs; however, this one was unique.

“We really feel like it’s important to give back to the community,” said Cora Fisher, the curator of visual arts program at the Central Brooklyn Library.

“There’s a lot going on in the world relating to these issues, which feels very timely,” Fisher said. “I mean it’s been really a special, a special experience.”

She is always advocating that visual arts is a form of material knowledge and this exhibit is an example of that. She is excited by the whole spectrum of this showcase as it is multi-generational.

“To see babies and toddlers all the way up to elders making work in a responsive way I think is very powerful,” Fisher said.

Barnes-Anderson said she honored and blessed for the library to have hosted the event for her this year. She is hopeful that she will be able to do it again there next year if there is space available.

The MJAF will be hosting an event on Oct. 30 to celebrate their fifth annual scholarship recipients, NYPD and honorees award ceremony.

For more information on that event and the MJAF organization please visit their website at https://mjascholarship.org.

“Untitled Self Portraits” — artwork from Fort Greene Preparatory Academy

Guest Op-Ed: Lessons never learned; Protect our children

webadmin on November 2, 2022

By John J. Ciafone, Esq.

Almost weekly, we hear about gun violence in our schools.

The massacres that have occurred in our schools whether it be Uvalde, New Mexico or Sandy Hook, Connecticut – not to mention college incidents, have not raised the eyebrows of our elected officials to move forward toward action.

Gun control legislation is not enough. We need metal detectors in all our schools.

Whether you go to a sports game, a concert or any major event, you are expected to go through metal detectors as a matter of course.

Yet, why don’t we have metal detectors in our schools? Metal detectors are relatively inexpensive and extremely effective in catching guns and knives.

Gangs that prey on our children bring these weapons into our schools to further initiate and recruit naive children.

A middle school in my neighborhood, IS 126 in Long Island City, housed a cache of confiscated guns and knives in the principal’s office, under lock and key, all in an effort to keep it secret. How many more children have to be slaughtered and sacrificed by our leaders who fail to protect our most precious assets – our children and the future generation.

I proudly served on Community School Board 30 as a member, treasurer and president.

During my time, we fought for more school safety officers, security cameras and police presence outside troubled schools.

Through the devastation of the Sept. 11 attacks, we have learned the importance of metal detectors and screening within our airports that have resulted in a huge success in thwarting hijacking and terrorist attacks on our planes.

The same efforts must be employed in our schools to prevent guns and knives from threatening the lives of our children, staff and teachers.

What’s more alarming is that some City Councilmembers, who have police protection and metal detectors in City Hall, want to remove school safety officers in our schools.

I am shocked that the Teacher’s Union, which is perhaps the strongest lobbyist in New York, has no interest in protecting our children or their own members.

We have a major upcoming election ahead of us and yet no candidate is speaking about protecting our children and our schools.

At a minimum, our elected officials have an obligation and duty for the position that they were elected for and that is to protect our children, who are our future.

Elected officials need to wake up and do their jobs to be proactive and prevent any future tragedies.

Flatbush murder of 12-year-old leaves community gutted

glendaleregstg on April 6, 2022

The East Flatbush mother of a 12-year-old who was killed by a gun bullet while eating with family is asking for some kind of justice.

Kade Lewin was pronounced dead at the scene after a flurry of gun bullets struck the car where he and his family were eating. His cousin, Jenna Ellis, 20, was the driver and was shot six times but is expected to recover.

“Please somebody say something. I’m asking for justice. Please. I’m asking for justice,” Kade Lewin’s mother Suzzette Lewin, said while holding back tears. Lewin continued to describe the gun violence she has seen in the neighborhood like when a gun bullet went through her mothers car window last summer.

“But I just want the neighborhoods to know that this violence must be stopped. It is way too many of our people are being targeted. And way too many innocent people are being killed,” Jennifer Jone Ellis, the aunt of Kade Lewis and mother of Jenna Ellis, said. “My nephew. He’s gone. No more to return in this world. My daughter laid up in the hospital blaming herself. Why should she blamed herself. It was in my neighborhood. I pay taxes. If you see something say something. This must be stopped.”

Police say that the investigation is ongoing and at the press conference Monday, NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell urged members of the public to provide information by calling (800) 577-TIPS

“This is their neighborhood. This is their community. Right down the block from where the shooting took place is where the mom was there doing hair. Watching that baby in the car. We’re so sorry. Words cannot take away what you are going through. But you’re representative of the best that this city and country has to offer and your children represented that,” Mayor Adams said. “But it’s time this entire city stand with families like these because there’s only one question we have to answer if we don’t get this right. Whose child is next?

Public advocate and Gubernatorial candidate Jumaane Williams, a native son of Brooklyn, also spoke at the express conference to rally against gun violence.

“I want to make sure I was here because I know the media sometimes plays up differences. But I want to make sure New York City sees their leaders standing together on message about the urgency of dealing with gun violence in our community,” Williams said. “He’s not coming back. He will not be back. He’s 12 year old. His mother raised him as best as she could. A student not in the streets doing everything right. Just like Jenna. They paused in the community to eat something — and was shot. It’s unacceptable. By any stretch of the imagination. There has to be consequences accountability for that.”

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