Cambridge Youths March To Protest City Violence

Nearly 300 students from Cambridge Ridge and Latin School (CRLS) marched on City Hall Friday to protest violence and inequality in the city.

The march was organized by Students Against Violence and for Equality (SAVE), a student organization recently formed at the high school in response to the murder of one of its graduates.

"We are students who have joined together to make our community better and to end violence around the school," said Lotty Divens, a sophmore member of SAVE. "Violence has been here and no adult has done anything to stop this. Now it is up to us."

The students marched from CRLS down Mass. Ave to City Hall. They cast off the traditional "Hey, hey. Ho, ho," in favor of chants "The people united will never be defeated" and "End the silence, stop the violence."

After gathering in front of City Hall, the crowd was addressed by the Rev. Jeffery Brown of the Union Baptist Church and several CRLS students and graduates.

"Nobody was doing anything because they were waiting for someone else," said Ebony B. Mitchell, a sophomore. "We have realized that it is not enough to stand by and hope for change. We are not helpless. Youth is our advantage. Help may come from outside but it must come from within us. United we stand in cause and determination."

SAVE was formed last January in part as a response to the murder of CRLS alum Jesse McKie. McKie was stabbed in Area Four, a primarily minority neighborhood near Central Square that has experienced increased drug dealing and violence in recent years.

Question of Leadership

"The group came together because they were very concerned with violence in our community and accross the country," said John Daley '86, a faculty advisor of SAVE and a history and social studies teacher at the school. "Students have taken the responsibility to be leaders where adults have failed."

Many of the speakers told of the cost of mounting crime and violence to the Cambridge community.

"We gathered here today because we are tired of the violence that is destroying the moral fiber of the community," said David Benzin, a senior and one of SAVE's founders.

The students read resolutions from the School Committee and the City Council and letters from Mayor Alice K. Wolf, Councillor Jonathan S. Myers and Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy II (D-Mass.).

Other CRLS students not affiliated with SAVE applauded the groups efforts.

"This is the first time that people are doing something about the violence," said John Ferriera, a junior. Ferriera added that while there is not as much violence in Cambridge as in neighboring Boston the problem is serious.

"Violence is a problem no matter where you live," Ferriera said.