Residents Gear Up For Sunday March Against Gun Violence

In the wake of three shootings at Fort Greene Houses in March, community leaders and tenants planned a demonstration against the scourge of gun-related crime.

at Whitman Houses on Carlton Avenue, with Councilwoman Letitia James, D-Fort Greene, Ingersoll Tenants Association president Ed Brown and Whitman Tenants Association president Isabella Lee planning to attend.

The march comes in response to the , and who was taken to Kings County Hospital after being shot three times in the chest and groin on March 21.

With all three victims African-American males in their early 20s, the recent spate of violence highlighted the fact that, despite gains made in crime reduction elsewhere in the city, being a young black man at Fort Greene Houses was still a dangerous proposition.

"We have lost too many of our young African-American men to senseless gun violence. We can no longer ask why. It is time for us to unite and take action," said James in a statement urging residents of public housing and beyond to join organizers in sending a message to would-be wrongdoers.

Participants in Sunday's march also hope to highlight other urgent matters for pubic housing residents—with the continued closure of Whitman House's Community Center at the top of the list.

The death of Cherry on March 5 and Webb on March 20 marked the first two homicides reported for the year in the 88th Precinct, which covers Fort Greene and Clinton Hill.

In response to the shootings, the New York Police Department beefed up patrols at Ingersoll and Whitman Houses.