Activists speak, pray and sing for end to gun violence in South Bend

SOUTH BEND – Rose Redding attended the Community Prayer for Peace Rally wearing a white t-shirt with the words “Mamas Against Violence,” representing a local group started to support mothers who have lost children to gun violence.

Redding’s oldest son died in 1994 at the age of 15 and six years later, her other son died at the age of 18 — both a result of gun violence. She has been a part of Mamas Against Violence for 12 years but said she keeps witnessing the same violence in South Bend.

“The numbers just keep going up,” Redding said.

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Just in the past year, she had to invite her close friend Beverly Brown to join the group after Brown's daughter died from gun violence.

Redding, along with 100 others, scattered across the Jon R. Hunt Plaza on Sunday evening to speak, pray and sing for an end to gun violence during the third annual rally hosted by the community organization Let’s Turn It Around (LTIA). The inaugural rally in 2020 addressed racial injustice in the United States after the death of George Floyd and amid nationwide protests. This year, rising shooting deaths were at the forefront.

Lynn Coleman, a former police officer and founder of LTIA, kicked off the diverse list of speakers with a message of motivation for people to get involved in the movement against gun violence, saying it’s not a program but a lifestyle.

“When we love each other as human beings, we begin to fix a lot of the problems that we face in this country,” Coleman said. “We take care of gun violence and we take care of things that divide us as human beings.”

Throughout the evening, a choir consisting of roughly 10 individuals from different churches and faith denominations sang worship songs. Coleman designated the group the “Let’s Turn It Around Choir.”

Aundrea Taylor, one of the singers in the group, wore a soft blue dress and heart-shaped hoop earrings as she harmonized with the other vocalists. As a second-grade teacher at Walt Disney Elementary School in Mishawaka, Taylor feels gun violence has an impact on her because she is engaging with children every day. One of her priorities in the classroom is creating an environment of love and peace.

She says she is “always somebody’s teacher” and her being involved in public community events allows her past and present students to see that the values she teaches go beyond the classroom and into everyday life.

“I saw one of my students here today,” Taylor said, “and then they’re like, ‘Wow, she’s not just saying that because we’re in the classroom setting.’”

The rally appealed to a diverse group of religious denominations, with Christian-, Jewish- and Muslim-affiliated speakers, as well as local officials.

“South Bend is not a violent city,” First District Councilman Rev. Canneth Lee said. “South Bend is a wonderful place to live, and we declare it today that this will be a safe suburb in Jesus’ name.”

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South Bend schools Superintendent Todd Cummings noted that Sunday also was the sixth anniversary of the mass shooting at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Fla., where a gunman killed 43 people at the gay nightclub.

Cummings went on to illustrate the impact gun violence has on youth especially — as evident in two high school classes missing graduates because of gun violence.

“Yesterday, we held our collective breaths as we stopped two graduations to pass out posthumous diplomas to two of our babies who have been killed in senseless acts of gun violence,” Cummings said.

Cummings spoke to the crowd on the importance of education, asking the crowd to mentor children in the community in order to push students toward universities, technical schools and jobs, thereby changing the economic impacts that often result in the violence plaguing South Bend.

Dana Middleton, a mother of three, attended the rally with her 1-year-old son. Two years ago, her best friend died as a result of a shooting just a couple blocks away from the Jon R. Hunt Plaza. The incident pushed her to become active against gun violence in South Bend.

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“It’s just very important to be in the community, just bringing awareness and, hopefully, stop the violence before my babies get older so they don’t have to be a part of it,” Middleton said.

At the beginning of the rally, Coleman promised that the crowd would witness speeches from both a perpetrator and a victim of gun violence in South Bend. More than halfway through the rally, the crowd heard from them firsthand.

Ira White, who served in prison for 30 years before his release about 90 days ago, explained how prison made him a better man but that adults need to intervene so that not every kid “has to go through that” to walk away from violence — not toward it.

“We have to change for the kids,” White said. “We have to lead by example.”

Speaking from the other side of gun violence was victim Tyler Brown, who less than a year ago was told he wouldn’t survive after being shot when he was just 15 years old and a sophomore at St. Joseph High School.

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On Oct. 7, 2021, Tyler was accidentally shot while in the car with his dad near his church.

“The doctor said I couldn’t walk, I will never walk again, I will never talk again,” Tyler said.

But Sunday, Tyler stood tall in front of clapping supporters and spoke loudly with his final message: “Look now. I’m alive.”

Email Alysa Guffey at aguffey1@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Prayer Rally in South Bend stands against gun violence