Walker Institute facilitates community book read, discussions about ending gun violence

KALAMAZOO, Mich.—A community book read will focus on rooting out gun violence in Kalamazoo. Facilitated by Western Michigan University's Lewis Walker Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnic Relations, book groups throughout the community will read "Bleeding Out: The Devastating Consequences of Urban Violence—And a Bold New Plan for Peace in the Streets" by Thomas Abt.

"Both the city and the county have determined that gun violence is a public health crisis, and they've both allocated $1 million to address the gun violence epidemic in our community," says Dr. Luchara Wallace, the institute's director. "The Lewis Walker Institute is uniquely positioned to inform how we operate and work as a community, and we wanted to find a way to use our strengths to make that happen."

Book groups will convene beginning the week of March 14 and meet every two weeks. They will be hosted both on campus in the Multicultural Center and around the city. Facilitators include such community leaders as Sherry Thomas-Cloud, CEO of Family and Children Services; Jeff Getting, Kalamazoo County prosecutor; Estevan Juarez, Kalamazoo city commissioner; and Yafinceio Harris, connections coordinator for Urban Alliance.

"Bleeding Out" will be provided free of charge to any Western student interested in participating. For anyone interested, the Kalamazoo Public Library and Portage Public Library are also providing electronic access to the book, and the Walker Institute will record its discussions for its weekly podcast on WIDR-FM. More information about the community book read and how to get involved is available online.

"We're really trying to maximize the multiple ways that we can share and get the information out," says Wallace. "Anybody who wants to participate is welcome to do so, because we are all impacted by gun violence."

A large group of community leaders representing various law enforcement agencies, local government and nonprofit organizations has already read the book and met with Abt, who chairs the Council on Criminal Justice's National Commission on COVID-19 and Criminal Justice. They've taken what they learned in that discussion and convened a task force that has been meeting regularly at the Walker Institute to collaborate on potential solutions to gun violence in Kalamazoo.

"This is a great opportunity for us to come together as a community to take a look at how we can, together, collaborate to stop gun violence in our community," Vernon Coakley, chief of the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety, said at a recent meeting.

For more WMU news, arts and events, visit WMU News online.