BALTIMORE — When you're behind the wheel and you lay on the horn, it’s usually because you're angry.
On busy Edmondson Avenue in West Baltimore Friday, it’s just the opposite: a group of peace advocates asked for honks for peace.
"We want to see peaceful communities. Because our children, our elderly and even we, we deserve that," said Lynn Forman, a mother and ambassador for Baltimore Peace Movement, formerly known as Baltimore Ceasefire, putting on an anti-violence weekend.
Forman told WMAR she works with the group because she wants her kids to grow up in a community free of violence.
"I wanted them to understand what it takes to be peaceful," said Forman. "I wanted them to see an example in me of what peace looks like. So it was really about my kids.”
So far in 2023, homicides and nonfatal shootings are lower than they were this time last year. According to Baltimore Police, this year, there have been more than 160 homicides year-to-date, as of August 4th. Last year, that number was at 213.
Non-fatal shootings are lower, but closer to last year, with just over 400 this year and 432 last year.
The problem, however, is still not mended fully. On Friday afternoon, police said an 18-year-old was shot and killed in northeast Baltimore, another teen victim of gun violence.
There are fewer total gun violence victims this year than last, but Forman notes there’s still more to do.
Forman says the down-trending numbers come down to better decision-making.
"It’s a choice you make when it comes to violence," Forman said. "And waking up every morning, and making the choice to say, i’m not going to let the littlest thing trigger me, or the littlest thing get to me, that’s a choice."
It goes without saying that one homicide, one shooting is too many. And so, this message of positivity: pushing back against violence, one honk at a time.
