Community organizers hold drive-in vigil to honor gun violence victims

By Savannah Tranter on Carolina News and Reporter

A Columbia pastor led a brief ceremony Wednesday to remember the 20 Columbia residents who lost their lives to gun violence in 2019, placing roses upon 20 empty chairs and asking people in the crowd to observe a moment of silence for those killed.

The Rev. Carey Grady of Reid Chapel AME Church and co-president of Midlands Organized Response for Equity and Justice, known as MORE Justice, held the drive-in vigil ceremony to educate the public about gun violence in the Midlands and talk more about a new proposal to reduce violence in the capital city. 

Grady said gun violence in Columbia is most prevalent in the 29203 zip code, which covers neighborhoods near Two Notch Road “We want to press our city officials to do something, and we found a program called Group Violence Intervention. (GVI).”

“What is so powerful about this is that the faith community represents such a broad spectrum of our community, and that’s what makes our work so special,” Grady said. “When we say that this is affecting all of us, we know it based on our research.”

…