BATON ROUGE – Five fatal shootings in just three days. People in Baton Rouge say they’re tired of seeing communities torn apart by gun violence and are ready to take action. It’s why 100 Black Men Executive Director Dadrius Lanus hosted a town hall meeting for people to discuss and plan for progress.
“The crime that is happening around East Baton Rouge Parish has to stop and it starts with talking to the people, understanding their needs, understanding where these things are persisting so that we can put an actionable plan together to make sure we get them involved,” Lanus said.
Plenty of people were involved in Tuesday night’s discussion, including BRPD and Councilwoman Carolyn Coleman, who represents the district.
“With the police, I’ve given them a list of where these cameras need to be, they need to be there y’all. We got some folk out there that aren’t doing the right thing and they need to be dealt with,” Coleman said.
Lanus says that his organization is working on a number of programs that would propel the message he’s trying to send. One is focusing on re-integrating first time non-violent offenders into society, while the other called “Not From This House” focuses on families and children in the community.
“It is a full level commitment across the board letting families know if you enroll your child in this program you’re saying not in this house will we tolerate violence, not from this house will my child be disrespectful, not from this house will my child not participate in what’s happening at school and not from this house will my child not be successful,” Lanus said.
It was a purposeful meeting with a powerful message that Lanus says needs more people to fully achieve what they’re trying to accomplish.
“Help is here but we need you to join in on this fight, we cannot do this alone. No singular organization, no singular elected official can do this work alone, we need you.” Lanus said.
“You are the change! So if it doesn’t happen, it’s because we dropped the ball again. Let’s not drop the ball again,” BRPD Lieutenant Ira Roberts said.
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