Toekies residents protest against gun violence

Residents of Toekomsrus stood up against the gun violence plaguing their community by embarking on a march recently.

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Not even the rain could stop the community from coming together in protest. They started the march with a prayer before they set off to make their voices heard.

A member of the Toekomsrus Men’s Empowerment group, Chris Curtis, stated, “It has been too long now that we’ve had to deal with random gun violence.”

He explained that just two weeks ago, a 15-year-old boy was shot, and the day after, there was another drive-by shooting. He noted gun violence is never-ending.

A resident and one of the organisers of the protest, Rashida Abrahams, said they are tired of having to give condolences to all the people losing loved ones, especially mothers losing their children to gun violence.

She noted that two years ago, they lost six young people who were killed. Recently, there were also several stabbings, robberies and shootings, and they once again had to give their condolences to people who lost loved ones.

“We cannot stomach it anymore. It brings tears to all parents’ eyes; every week, we have to give condolences.

Our children can’t walk around. Gangsters are controlling our community,” Abrahams said sadly.

She added, “We’ve had enough. Not even the rain will stop us now. We are taking our community back.”

They called for law enforcement to have a better response time and be more visible in the community. Abrahams noted they feel the police are failing them by not playing their role. She noted it has become so bad that they now need the Armed Forces to step in.

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Curtis stated they believe the shoot-outs are between rival gangs and might be drug-related. He added that people openly walk around with guns in the street. They hear gunfire at night, and they don’t know where it is coming from. They also fear they might get shot by stray bullets. Curtis noted that both adults and children are left traumatised by the violence.

We are too afraid to walk in the streets at night. It is absolute madness!

“The worst part is people are too afraid to speak out about the gun violence as they are being intimidated by the perpetrators,” he stated.

The biggest concern, according to Curtis, is the lack of people speaking up. He noted that the victims of these shootings who survive have to see the shooters walking free in the streets, without consequences.

They hope that with the protest, they could create awareness to put an end to the violence and convince those with information to speak up, even those with children causing this violence.

“They should be in jail than in a grave, because those are their options, the only other option is being left crippled,” Curtis concluded.