MPS and other groups call for end to youth violence



MILWAUKEE -- Parents, students, teachers and activists from across Milwaukee gathered Saturday to call for peace. They say too many of the city's young people are dying violently.

"This needs to stop now. The community is not safe. We need a better future, for students, for everyone," high school senior Jaylan Love said.

Love spoke Saturday on behalf of "Men2Men." It's a student group at Bradley Tech High School that encourages students to focus on their education and stay out of trouble. "You think better of things. You look at the big picture or you think of more ways to prevent something from happening," Corey Sanders with Men2Men said.

It's been an especially rough time for the group and its school. In January, two Bradley Tech students died in separate shootings. "It's very tough. Students are walking around with other students who are friends one day, then would just have to come to school the next day and just realize they're gone, and you can't ever talk to them again. It's just sad," Love said.

Faculty from school across Milwaukee came together to stage the event. Darrell Williams, the principal at Pulaski High School, says everyone has to be involved to affect change. "It must be a collaborative effort between the community and our schools. We do not function in a vacuum. It has to be everyone working together to improve the conditions in our school so we can improve the conditions outside in the community," Williams said.

Along with Milwaukee Public Schools, the Peace for Change Alliance along with 1 Mic, Many Voices helped stage the event.