More than 400 people swarmed the Ark Church on North Avenue Monday night, one of the largest community rallies in recent memory as residents and public officials mourned the loss of Milton Hill, a 70-year-old slain in an apparent robbery of his scooter.
Hill's senseless death, on the heels of the fatal stabbing of a Johns Hopkins researcher days earlier in a robbery in Charles Village, seemed to awaken - at least for a day - a city often known for its apathy to crime as its stubborn homicide rate. The murder remains unsolved.
The rally attracted community leaders and residents from across the city, and the crowd continued to swell as people along North Avenue streamed in to see what the commotion was about. The eastbound lanes of the street had to be shut down because the sidewalk could not contain the overflow crowd. [Here's Sun reporter Jonathan Pitts' account, which appeared in the print edition.]
Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III generated the first big applause when he turned to the victim's daughter and said, "I'm sorry for your loss... But I didn't come here to pray. I came here to demand justice for your father ... and the hundreds of other young men whose cases are open because people won't talk."
He implored residents to come forward with information about criminals in their neighborhood ("The evil is here," Bealefeld said, "and we must strike it down in our community"), a message that became a theme among the speakers.
"Don't snitch - tell," City Council President Bernard "Jack" Young said. "If it was your relative, you'd want someone to tell. Only we can fix the community; the police can't do it."
Added state Sen. Joan Carter Conway: "It's about saving your child's life."
The crowd got energized as state Sen. Nathaniel McFadden, in apparent allusions to witness intimidation and dropped cases, that the criminal justice system needed to do its part if residents were to feel comfortable cooperating. "Once we tell, once we snitch, something has to happen," he boomed. "Something's wrong with this criminal justice system," he said, calling for officials to "Get to the bottom of it." Both State's Attorney Patricia Jessamy and her chief challenger, Gregg Bernstein, were in attendance.
The Ark Church pastor Dr. J.L. Carter also turned the focus back on to public officials. He said the city's "gameplan" is "not working." He chastised City Hall and the elected leaders.
"When you cut rec centers, when you close pools, you create these kinds of situations," he said to cheers. "It might be a piece of legislation for you, but our lives are on the line."
He concluded: "We can place blame on City Hall - and we will do that - but we are not off the hook ourselves."
The event was supposed to conclude with a walk through the community, but most people lingered as Charlene Ames Bourne and a small group of volunteers walked through the Oliver neighborhood handing out packets of information listing various job placement, drug treatment and other services. "It's one thing to show up at a big event, but getting out here and connecting," she said, handing a packet to a young man, "is what is going to make the difference."