The message was simple: put down the guns and love yourself.
Hundreds of local residents, students and anti-gun violence advocates attended the “Love Yourself Brooklyn Peace” Concert last night at Medgar Evers College in Crown Heights.
The event was a collaboration between Assemblyman Walter Mosley (D-Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Prospect Heights and Crown Heights) Council Member Laurie Cumbo (D-Fort Greene, Clinton Hill), Senator Jesse Hamilton (D-Central Brooklyn), and Democratic District Leader Geoffrey Davis in an attempt to curb the outbreak in gun violence that has been plaguing the West Indian Day Parade or J’Ouvert, over the last several years.
Mosley, along with Davis, who heads the James E. Davis Stop The Violence Foundation, organized the free community concert in an effort to educate the youth and promote peace across the borough of Brooklyn and citywide. The concert focused on the cultural aspect of J’Ouvert and it’s historical significance to the West Indian community.
Brooklyn’s own Joey Bada$$ headlined the concert, and who organizers felt was the perfect artist to reach at-risk youth and teenagers before the parade in a ploy to curb any possible gun violence going into Labor Day weekend.
“Every year there’s a spike in violence around this time, around the festivities, so we wanted the arts to lead. Last year they had just the police and the lights, but they didn’t utilize the artist. This year we said,’We’re going to put the artist in the forefront and let them lead the way,’ so that they can talk to our young people and tell them to ‘stop the violence and love yourself’,” said Davis.
In the past two years, three individuals have lost their lives to senseless gun violence including
Last year, a brazen gunman shot and killed Tiarah Poyau, 33, after opening fire into a crowd of people at the event, 45-year-old Carey Gabay was fatally shot in the head when he stumbled into a gang fight in 2015. Gabay was a lawyer in Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration at the time.
“We as a people and a community. We need to support each other and up lift each other because it’s about life, love and respect. J’ouvert is a celebration of culture, leave the guns at home. It’s illegal and it’s just not worth it,” said Trenelle Gabay, wife of Carey Gabay.
The event comes off the heels of the recent change in time of the annual Labor Day festival, which last month was officially changed to sunlight hours for the first time in its history. Traditionally, J’Ouvert begins at about 2 a.m. and runs until the start of the parade. However, this year the hours for the permitted procession will start at 6 a.m. and end at 11 a.m., J’Ouvert City International President Yvette Rennie told the New York Daily News.
Local residents and Medgar Evers students, Clemence Valery, 19 and Travis Basara, 20, were drawn to the concert for it’s headliner, but weren’t oblivious to the gun violence that has become characteristic of the Labor Day event.
Valery who is of Haitian descent, has never personally attended J’Ouvert because of safety concerns, while Basara will attend for the first time this year.
“My parents always told me not to go. Even though this event [concert] is about anti-gun violence, I feel we haven’t moved passed it yet. It’s horrible for me to say, ‘I can’t go to J’ouvert because I am afraid of putting myself in danger’,” said Valery.
But City Councilmember Jumaane Williams (D-Flatbush, East Flatbush, Midwood) noted keeping gun violence down should be practiced every day, not just on holiday.
“J’Ouvert and Labor Day weekend have unfortunately been connected to violence but what I have been trying to focus on is making sure that we deal with gun violence period. I don’t want anyone shot on any day,” said Williams.
Yesterday’s concert also featured a steel drum band and traditional West Indian music including stilt walkers and dancers.
J’ouvert City International is scheduled for between 6 – 11 a.m., Monday, September 4 before leading up to the West Indian American Day Carnival along Eastern Parkway.
