Speaking through two microphones — one for the audience on the arena floor and the other for the kids in the stands — Lil Scrappy made sure to get his message across the Pine Bluff Convention Center arena.
The message: Mental health is key in the prevention of gun violence, and everyone can check on each other for it. Those who sell guns aren’t.
“They’re not checking your mental health,” the 40-year-old rapper said at Group Violence Intervention’s Annual National Gun Violence Awareness Day. “They’re not checking what bothers you every day. Ain’t nobody even telling you, ‘Bro, you need to get some mental help. Sis, you need to get some mental help.’ You’ve got some strange things going on with you. You feel me? You’re acting kind of weird right now, you know what I’m saying?
“I don’t want to kill a community. You feel me? I don’t want to shoot up a school. It’s not just white people. It ain’t just white people killing us. But in our community, we’re the main ones killing us.”
Scrappy (born Darryl Richardson III), co-star of MTV’s “Love & Hip Hop Atlanta,” was the guest speaker for a crowd of at least 1,000 of Pine Bluff’s neighbors young and old, sharing his thoughts on how violence negatively impacts society and how parents can steer children away from the unreality of reality television.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
“I think this turnout is amazing,” said Kevin Crumpton Sr., GVI of Pine Bluff’s executive director. “I think word got out. We did a lot of planning five months ago and got the word out to the community with outreach. I’m looking at these young people. We’ve got a nice crowd out here.”
The crowd was also treated to at least 30 vendor tables, free haircuts, a trailer demonstrating the effects of fire in a home and bounce houses, among other things.
The turnout shows that Pine Bluff is tired of the violence, said Earnest Brown Jr. of the 11th West Circuit Sixth Division said.
“We’re coming out to recognize the ones who we’ve lost, but also celebrate what the future holds,” Brown said.
When talking about mental health or anti-violence, a safe space is created, Scrappy suggested. But when a “homeboy” shoots another, no one says anything.
“We don’t ever ask, ‘How did he get that gun? What happened?'” he said. “Is it mental health? We’ve definitely got to look at mental health, how we raise these kids, how we were raised.”
All attendees were asked to wear orange in honor of Hadiya Pendleton, a 15-year-old from Chicago who marched in President Barack Obama’s second inaugural parade and was shot to death on a playground a week later. Hadiya’s friends wore orange, symbolizing the color hunters wear to protect themselves and others while in the woods.
It’s reported that each year more than 43,000 Americans are killed with guns and about 76,000 others are shot and wounded. Pine Bluff, which has been saddled with gun violence in recent years, had two positive streaks of its own to celebrate Friday — 147 days since a juvenile has been killed and 51 days since an adult has been shot to death.
The city has endured seven homicides this year, one-fourth of the total from 2023.
“I attribute it to us working together,” Brown said. “The GVI initiative says that it’s a half-percent of those causing the violence. We’ve gone through the whole process, the GVI University problem analysis, and what happens is, for the consultant, they custom-notify everybody and say, ‘Hey, we want to help.’ So, here we are. I think that’s made a difference.”
Lil Scrappy reacts to the crowd as he takes the stage at the Pine Bluff Convention Center on Friday, June 7, 2024. (Pine Bluff Commercial/I.C. Murrell)
A man participates in a dance contest on stage as Pine Bluff Third Ward Councilwoman Lanette Frazier enjoys the performance. (Pine Bluff Commercial/I.C. Murrell)
Pine Bluff High School’s drum line performs a set. (Pine Bluff Commercial/I.C. Murrell)
Pine Bluff All-Stars Barber Shop offers free haircuts for young men. (Pine Bluff Commercial/I.C. Murrell)
About 1,000 wear orange for National Gun Violence Awareness Day inside the Pine Bluff Convention Center. (Pine Bluff Commercial/I.C. Murrell)
Nyeshia Aldridge and Santrice Kearney were among the sea of orange commemorating National Gun Violence Awareness Day. (Pine Bluff Commercial/I.C. Murrell)
Children of all ages gather to see rapper Lil Scrappy talk at Group Violence Intervention’s National Gun Violence Awareness Day. (Pine Bluff Commercial/I.C. Murrell)