Lil Scrappy spoke through two microphones, one for the arena crowd and one for the kids in the stands, making sure his message reached the entire arena at the Pine Bluff Convention Center.
The message is: Mental health is important to preventing gun violence, and everyone can check in on each other’s mental health. Those who sell guns can’t.
“They’re not checking in on you mentally,” the 40-year-old rapper said at Group Violence Intervention’s annual National Gun Violence Awareness Day. “They’re not checking in on what’s bothering you every day. Nobody’s saying, ‘Brother, you need mental help. Sister, you need mental help.’ There’s weird stuff going on with you, you know? You’re acting kind of weird right now, you know what I mean?
“I don’t want to kill our community, you know? I don’t want to shoot up our schools. It’s not just white people. It’s not just white people that are killing us. But in our community, it’s mainly ourselves that are killing us.”
Scrappy (real name Daryl Richardson III), a co-star on MTV’s “Love & Hip Hop Atlanta,” was a guest speaker to at least 1,000 Pine Bluff neighbors, young and old, where he shared his thoughts on the negative effects of violence on society and how parents can insulate their kids from the unrealistic nature of reality TV.
“I think the turnout is incredible,” said Kevin Crumpton Sr., GVI executive director of Pine Bluff. “I think word got out. We started planning it five months ago, we did outreach and got the word out to the community. We’re looking at these young people. We have a great group of people.”
Spectators were also entertained with at least 30 concession tables, free haircuts, a trailer demonstrating the effects of a house fire and bounce houses.
The large turnout shows people in Pine Bluff are tired of the violence, said Ernest Brown Jr. of the 11th West Judicial Circuit, 6th Precinct.
“We’re here not only to commemorate those who have died, but to celebrate what’s to come in the future,” Brown said.
Safe spaces are created when talking about mental health and anti-violence, Scrappy suggested, but when a “buddy” shoots another buddy, no one says anything.
“We never ask, ‘How did he get a gun? What happened?'” he said. “Is it a mental health issue? We definitely have to look at mental health, how we raise these kids, how we were raised.”
All attendees were asked to wear orange in honor of Hadiyah Pendleton, a 15-year-old from Chicago who walked in President Obama’s second inaugural parade and was shot and killed on her school grounds a week later. Hadiyah’s friends wore orange, which symbolizes the color hunters wear to protect themselves and others in the woods.
It’s reported that more than 43,000 Americans are killed by guns each year, and about 76,000 are shot and injured. Pine Bluff, a city that has been plagued by gun violence in recent years, saw two positive events on Friday: It had been 147 days since a minor was killed and 51 days since an adult was shot.
There have been seven homicides in the city this year, a quarter of the 2023 total.
“I think it’s a result of us working together,” Brown says. “The GVI initiative says it’s 0.5 percent of people who are causing violence. We went through this whole process of the GVI University problem analysis, and then our consultants notified everyone individually and said, ‘We want to help.’ And so here we are. I think that’s what made a difference.”
Lil’ Scrappy takes to the stage at the Pine Bluff Convention Center on Friday, June 7, 2024, to interact with the crowd. (Pine Bluff Commercial/IC Murrell)
A man takes part in a dance contest onstage while Pine Bluff Ward 3 Councilwoman Lanette Fraser enjoys the performance. (Pine Bluff Commercial/IC Murrell)
The Pine Bluff High School drum line performs. (Pine Bluff Commercial/IC Murrell)
Pine Bluff Allstars Barber Shop offers free haircuts to young men. (Pine Bluff Commercial/IC Murrell)
About 1,000 people wear orange for National Gun Violence Awareness Day inside the Pine Bluff Convention Center. (Pine Bluff Commercial/IC Murrell)
Nyisha Aldridge and Santrice Carney were among the orange crowd marking National Gun Violence Awareness Day. (Pine Bluff Commercial/IC Murrell)
Children of all ages gathered to hear rapper Lil Scrappy speak at Group Violence Intervention’s National Gun Violence Awareness Day. (Pine Bluff Commercial/IC Murrell)