The roughly 75 people attending the anti-violence rally came also to support a nine-point platform they hope is picked up by state legislators and Gov. Chris Christie.
TRENTON — Standing in front of the Statehouse in a damp chill yesterday morning, a diverse gathering of city residents demanded that their political representatives take action against rampant violent crime in Trenton.
The roughly 75 people attending the anti-violence rally came also to support a nine-point platform they hope is picked up by state legislators and Gov. Chris Christie.
Their aims include more funding for public safety, a 10-year residency requirement for new police hires, and a declaration of street violence as a public health emergency.
“Today, the smallest street scuffle can and often does become a life and death altercation,” said Anaiya Fitzgerald, a mother of six whose cousin Craig Fitzgerald was murdered in the city last year.
Shootings and drug dealing have produced a climate of fear that needs to be addressed, New Black Panther Party youth minister Divine Allah said.
“It is not normal seeing children at one moment playing and having fun, then minutes later seeing them scatter about trying not to get hit by stray bullets.”
Speaking behind a podium emblazoned with a black and white sign reading “No More Violence,” Councilwoman at-Large Kathy McBride urged Gov. Chris Christie to deputize out-of-state law enforcement officers to fight inner-city crime much like he did in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.
“When we talk about immediate relief and immediate action … Gov. Christie behind these doors can do something today,” she said.
The gathering on the Statehouse steps included youth, members of community groups, members of the state Policemen’s Benevolent Association, and concerned citizens. Meetings of the volunteers who organized the rally produced the anti-crime platform, which also requests:
• Funding for a new Trenton Central High School or additions and renovations to the old campus
• Efforts to improve neighborhood conditions for returning prisoners
• More teaching of African-American culture, in what would be called the Amistad curriculum. Allah said this measure was approved by the Legislature in 2003.
• Strict enforcement of pedestrian and motorist curfews for minors
• Increased public safety funding
• Education and job skills for prison inmates to make them productive citizens upon their release
• State enforcement of alcohol sales and advertisement in the city
Keith Dunn, the state PBA’s executive vice president, remembered standing on the same spot on the Statehouse steps over a year ago, warning that police layoffs which took 105 officers off Trenton’s force would lead to more crime. “I’m not a prophet, but it’s come true,” he said.
As the rally began to wind down around 12:30 p.m., passionate speeches and rallying cries from those still gathered continued.
Roz White carried two large photos of smiling young men up to the podium.
“This is my son, (Aziz Darrian) slain Oct. 9, 2010,” she said, indicating one of the photos. “This is my nephew, James Turner, slain Oct. 14, 2012,” she said, about the other.
She spoke, her voice sometimes cracking, about the grief she still deals with every day.
“There is a pain that’s associated with the loss of your child,” she said. “I believed I was a good mother, a good hard worker who tried hard to raise her sons.”
Staff writer Erin Duffy contributed to this report. Contact Alex Zdan at azdan@njtimes.com or (609) 989-5705.