Consider This: Stop the Violence

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - Jackson State had an amazing day for Homecoming.

The weather was beautiful, the crowd was impressive and the Tigers took home the W. Sadly the enjoyment came to a tragic end early Sunday morning at a post-game celebration when three people were gunned down, including a Jackson State student.

The city is on track to have a record number of murders this year.

You would think after every killing or major crime, there would be an uproar from city leaders calling for peace. Instead, we rarely hear from the mayor, chief of police or most council members.

When we do, they rarely share action items on what they are doing to fight this battle.

Instead, they tout the Real Time Command Center, which is an important tool, but it is only good in catching the criminals after the murders happen… it does little to prevent crime.

One person, however, did speak out this week: Coach Prime.

“We have to stop the violence. If we can come in here with over 50,000 people and reside with one another, White, Black, Hispanic, Asian, and whatever, and cheer for one purpose just to see a football game — if we can cosign with one another — we should be able to do the same thing in the streets. We really need to make a valued effort to stop the violence in Jackson. Let’s start one day at a time with no killing, just no killing. I am serious about that.”

WLBT is in the heart of downtown Jackson. We want our employees to feel safe when they are here at work, and we want to help make the entire capital city safe again.

The best way WLBT can help is spreading the message using our powerful TV, digital and social media platforms. Coach Prime, we offer to you and other community leaders free access to our services.

We will produce the messages and share them with the hundreds of thousands of people who engage with WLBT each week. We’re ready to start immediately.

Let’s work together and help stop the senseless violence.

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