MILWAUKEE — For the first time in nearly two years, Milwaukee activists met to do violence prevention outreach in the community without one of their biggest supporters. Hamid Abd-Al-Jabbar.
"It gives me great pleasure and honor that his spirit can live on through this," said Hamid's wife, Desilynn Abd-Al-Jabbar.
"Every weekend we'd do stuff like this, and every day he would call me and say, 'What are we doing this weekend'," said David Muhammad, a member of the Muhammad Mosque #3.
The 51-year-old died unexpectedly back in February, leaving a legacy of trying to heal communities and stopping the violence behind now for his family and friends to continue.
"It's an honor to be out here in his remembrance, but also this is what he was committed to, and this is what we're all committed to every day," said Reggie Moore, the director of Milwaukee's Office of Violence Prevention.
On Saturday, dozens of violence prevention groups from around the city came together to do some outreach work within the community talking to neighbors about what they can do to help stop the violence.
"Our community needs that healing, and that's what he wanted. And I want it," said Desilynn.
The outreach also comes off the heels of a triple shooting that took place early Saturday morning that killed a 19-year-old man and sent two others to the hospital.
"It's the killing and the destruction and death in our community that has gone up in spite of the pandemic," said Muhammad.
Following the deadliest year ever recorded for the city of Milwaukee in 2020, TMJ4 decided to take a closer look to see where the city currently stands when it comes to the number of homicides in 2021 compared to last year. According to data from the Milwaukee Police Department, the number of homicides this year is currently down by 31%, but data shows non-fatal shootings are on the rise.
"It's extremely concerning, it's a direct connection that if you have high levels of non-fatal shooting's you can likely have increasing levels of homicides," said Moore.
Which is why community activists say it's critical that they continue these violence prevention outreach efforts to help stop the cycle and make Hamid's dream a reality.
