- [Group] No justice, no peace!

No justice, no peace!

(drum beating) No justice, no peace!

(drum beating) - My son died 10 years ago.

He was actually murdered, mistaken identity.

So I'm just making sure families have what they need, and especially those surviving siblings.

- Growing up, I've seen a lot of violence.

My dad was sentenced to jail for a violent gun crime.

And just all around in my environment, I've seen people getting robbed, hurt, and killed.

I felt like there was nobody to protect me.

I felt endangered.

I felt like being outside was just hard.

My mama didn't like me riding bikes and doing a lot of kid stuff just because there was a lot of violence going on.

(audience chattering indistinctly) - I am a parent who lost children to gun violence at the hands of my abuser.

Gun violence is in our home, our schools, our neighborhoods, and in our communities.

Though we experience so much heartache, we do not walk alone.

Our unity is our greatest strength.

And our voices, when joined together, are louder than any act of violence.

- Today as we declare to silence the violence, we stand in solidarity with the survivors, with grieving families, with community leaders, and with every resident who believes our city can be safer, stronger, and more united.

Behind every statistic is a name.

Behind every name is a mother praying, a father grieving, a child waiting for a sibling who is never coming home.

And that is why we cannot afford to be comfortable.

We cannot afford to be silent.

We cannot afford to be bystanders.

We cannot afford to be spectators.

The best way to stop violence is to prevent violence.

The best way to prevent violence is to build peaceful communities.

(audience applauding) - I want to say, God is good!

(podium pounding) - [Audience] All the time!

- And all the time... - [Audience] God is good!

- When we do our chants, make as much noise as you possibly can.

We're gonna wake up the entire city of Detroit.

- Pastor Barry.

- Yes, sir.

- With Silence the Violence and what you and this congregation have been doing, God has definitely answered those prayers.

Violence in the city of Detroit, gun violence in particular, continues to go down.

Last year, we closed out 2025 with the lowest number of murders, homicides in the city of Detroit in over 60 years.

(audience cheering and applauding) You know that it's about gun violence awareness each and every day, not just the month of June.

We gotta keep up the fight.

Thank you.

(audience applauding) (marching band music) - We have a very combatitive generation.

To be conflicting is positive.

To be negative is in trend.

To be violent means you're in style.

So we have a whole culture mindset that we have not been able to address because of the infiltration of music, video, food, community, poverty, absent fathers.

So there's so many reasons that our mindset has been transformed to literally, it's a method of defense.

If you are not violent or you're not carrying a gun, then you're a victim.

The main thing that people really have to do is that we have to start caring.

People don't care.

- I think we lack self-love.

We don't value ourselves, right?

So it's hard.

I mean, it's easy to take a life when you don't value your own life.

- I was arrested for gun violence.

I was caught with a gun charge, CCW.

And I ended up getting in this program called The Peoples Action, and they helped steer my path a different way.

I know that's crazy to say, but I am actually glad that I did get arrested so that I could actually get my head on straight, because deep down, I knew I wasn't that type of kid.

Kids younger than us really need us, 'cause I feel like a lot of kids look up to us.

So I feel like none of that is worth it, you know what I'm saying?

Live your life, start a family, get a good job.

Chase your dreams.

- We just gotta understand that we are all in this together, you know what I mean?

Regardless for the people that commit violence, for the people who have violence committed against them, right?

It all hurts us the same, because we got family, you know what I mean?

And you know, it's undeserving for a kid or anybody to not make it home at night to their loved ones.

- If you see something, say something.

Nurture those who are going through.

A lot of the mental health issues are underlying grief that are not addressed.

So make sure they have resources.

Make sure they need, you know, have what they need.

And put the guns away.

Lock them up.

Make sure they're in a safe place, and just support those who are in need.

- Ricochet.

Where will it land today?

In the sacred space of schools where children carry tomorrows in their backpacks.

We declare their futures are not targets.

We answer together, "Not here."

Not another child, not another family, not another community.

We rise in love.

We stand in unity.

We act with urgency because the question has answered, has echoed long enough.

And today, we stand together.

Today, together, we change where it lands.

- [Leader] Silence the violence!

- [Group] Silence the violence!

- [Leader] In nonviolence!

- [Group] In nonviolence!