MINNEAPOLIS — Amid a rise in violent crime across the country, Minneapolis is seeing a jump in gun violence that has community leaders pushing even harder for change.
On Thursday, the second annual Stop Violence Cookout was held at Peavey Field Park, which was put on by T.O.U.C.H. Outreach and Corcoran Neighborhood Organization. Corcoran Neighborhood Organization Executive Director Alicia Smith says getting neighbors together is healthy for the community.
"We really gotta think about how do we start with our children? To teach them to resolve conflicts they have with one another without being physically violent," Smith said.
The event fell on the same day that Minneapolis reached a grim milestone of 50 homicides in 2022. It's up 18% from the three-year average of this time year-to-date. In 2021, Minneapolis recorded 96 homicides and 84 in 2020.
"In countries that have much stricter gun laws, we are not seeing very many homicides," Senior Researcher, Dallas Drake, Center of Homicide Research.
He says Minneapolis is one of the many large cities seeing more violent crime. Drake believes "COVID anxiety" has contributed to the jump, citing concerns for income, food and mental health following the pandemic.
He also says there is less trust between the public and police.
"Minority communities are less likely to call the police during disputes," Drake said, "which leads to more shootings."
Drake says urban cities get a lot of attention and people forget about crime that happens in rural communities. He says Minnesota reported 75 homicides last year outside of St. Paul and Minneapolis.
When asked about people focusing only on inner city crime, Smith said, "What happens is it perpetuates and it tells you — this is what crime looks like. So, you no longer associate pain for those individuals, it only associates fear."
She added, "Instead of getting to get to know one another, you're afraid because they don't look like me."
Smith grew up in north Minneapolis, and is focused on eliminating violence in the neighborhoods she loves.
"Community caring for community is the solution to what we are facing in terms of the violence that our city is being run over with," Smith said.
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