Resolution to End Gun Violence in Euclid
Over the past two years, while Euclid, Cuyahoga County, and nationwide gun violence have reached the highest levels we’ve seen in our lifetime, three Euclid mothers have kept an ongoing text thread of mutual support and encouragement.
Chances are, we’re not the only ones.
Sometimes it’s a message to say, “Thank you for speaking up” after a public meeting or rally. “Tell me when to be there,” Emily Holody and I said when Taneika Hill launched the Bluestone Court Coalition anti-violence youth mentoring program. Other times, the messages say, “This violence is just too much. We have to do something.” That was the text message last week after two Euclid students, grades 8 and 12, were shot within days, and only one survived.
“We have to do something. We have to do something. We have to do something.”
This was all I could think on Monday, December 19, standing in front of Euclid City Council alongside my fellow community organizers, asking city leaders to join us in a city-wide resolution to end gun violence. As a Euclid Board of Education member, the most challenging part of my job is the emergency updates we receive when a student is harmed by gun violence. Superintendent Chris Papouras and my fellow school board members Kathy DeAngeles, Donna Sudar, Gabrielle Kelly, and Selina Wright are all committed to working with leaders from across the city to protect our students.
In response to my public statements, Mayor Kirsten Holzheimer Gail and Police Chief Scott Meyers echoed our concerns and voiced support for city-wide collaborative efforts to reduce gun violence. City Council members Jucavik, Steele, McIntosh, and Tolton also voiced their willingness to work together on this issue. We hope Euclid’s other city leaders will join us, along with the library, the faith community, business owners and nonprofit leaders to build a broad coalition of support for this work in 2023.
Police alone can not make our neighborhoods safer. It will take the commitment of our entire community to prioritize this work, with each group setting clear and measurable goals in their areas of responsibility as part of a citywide multi-disciplinary response. Violence reduction has to be our number one priority — or nothing else that we do matters.
“Story after story of children, teens, and young adults who are shot and killed moments from my home keep replaying in my mind. Parents are worried if it’s safe for our kids to see a movie, attend a football game, or go to the skating rink and the neighborhood pool,” says Holody, who announced her run for Ward 5 City Council last month.
Taneika Hill and Emily Holody both serve as leaders in Euclid’s Faith in the City organization and are active in voter advocacy with the Euclid Democratic Club. Hill, who is running for City Council in Ward 3, where she served previously, also joined me in public comments at the Dec. 19 meeting. “Like many before and many after me, I moved to Euclid to hope for a better life for my family, specifically for my daughter. Euclid was going to be a safe place for my husband and me to raise our family. I’ve seen that dream dissipate for families like mine, and as a public servant, I’ve spent years trying to make Euclid a safe and engaging place for young families. Now I’m begging city leadership to provide the support and funding we need to provide ‘superior services’ and a safe place to grow up for our children.”
We have to do something.