It ended with nine minutes of photographs of the dead projected onto a large screen in the Richmond middle school auditorium. As “Amazing Grace” filled the room, the faces of scores of murdered youth passed before the anguished eyes of the old and the young at the close of the June 4 Black-on-Black Crime Summit.

The conference organizers had called on the people of Richmond to end street violence, but the procession of the dead continued in the weeks that followed the meeting. With ten homicides, June, 2005 was the most violent month in the Richmond Police Department’s 75 years of recorded history.

The organizers, Richmond Improvement Association, Richmond Branch NAACP and the “Blessed are the Peacemakers” coalition designed the Summit as an opportunity for Richmond residents to suggest ways to make their communities safer. By the end of the day,
we had gathered a wealth of innovative, thoughtful and challenging recommendations to address the causes of street violence and hasten its end.

In the aftermath of the Summit, the organizers also gathered unprecedented attention and support from community stakeholders who are now focusing new strategies and resources on the crisis. We believe that without a Crime Summit, there would have been no such attention and support.

link to Summit news article

link to Summit news editorial #1

link to Summit news editorial #2

link to Summit news editorial #3

link to pdf of the final Summit report

link to pdf of Summit Faith Initiatives

link to pdf of Stagegic Violence Plan

link to riavision Summit video coming

link to Summit news articles coming

click to view pdf of Summit program