ST. LOUIS — This year is off to a violent start in the St. Louis area.
There have been 90 shootings in the City of St. Louis since the start of 2020.
The Coalition for Peace has organized simultaneous marches in St. Louis and East St. Louis, Illinois on Monday night, both on Martin Luther King Jr. streets.
In East St. Louis, the march will begin at City Hall, and in St. Louis at the intersection of Hamilton and Martin Luther King. Both walks will begin at 7 p.m. with gatherings beginning at 6 p.m.
Organizers invite you to join dozens of clergymen, business owners, community leaders and other concerned citizens to unite against violence.
February is also Black History Month, which is why community leaders told 5 On Your Side it is time to act now to change the future.
"It's no different than what our forefathers did and Dr. King and the other organizers did in the 1960s," said James Clark with the Coalition for Peace. "They said we must stop what we're doing right now, bring the necessary attention. That crisis was external. This crisis is internal."
The events were planned earlier, but unfortunately come on the heels of a weekend in which two more children were shot in St. Louis, one of them killed.
"We as African Americans, we've gotta be able to reestablish peace in our neighborhoods and within our communities," said Clark.