BALTIMORE — Young drummers and cheerleaders marched in celebration outside the Arena Players on McCulloh Street on Thursday night for Save Another Youth, a program to keep kids in Baltimore away from violence.
Rev. Willie Ray is the founder.
“We have demonized them. We have cast them away to be corpses and convicts. We are here to bring some hope and some life and a ray of hope, I might add, because they’re in darkness,” he told WJZ.
Baltimore has seen almost daily shootings, with six Wednesday alone. The victims include a 79-year-old man: A bullet struck him in the shoulder on E. Lanvale Street. He will survive, but so many others have not.
Gov. Larry Hogan addressed the continuing bloodshed Thursday.
“I’ve been focused on getting the leadership in Baltimore to take it more seriously. I hope they come up with a real crime plan and start arresting more, prosecuting more and putting them in jail,” he said.
From Friday to Monday, at least 15 people were shot, including a brazen daytime double shooting on Edmondson Avenue Monday afternoon.
Baltimore’s police union blasted what they called “weak and ineffective” leadership and called crime in the city “out of control.”
Recent high profile cases include a 14-year-old squeegeeing for money near the Inner Harbor now charged with murder, accused of killing a driver who got out of his car and approached him with a bat.
Ray believes now more than ever, he must reach Baltimore’s youngest residents before tragedy strikes.
“You think about the kids on the corner. You think about violence. They get younger and younger,” he said while trying to stay upbeat. “In my 50 years of ministry, this is one of the times I’ve felt the most excited about youth getting alternatives. I call it eternal optimism.”