Concerned citizens and community leaders have been walking the streets of Oakland with a message of peace almost every Friday for ten years. A celebration walk and program took place Friday, September 16, at St. Elizabeth’s Catholic Church, Oakland.
Featured speakers included Friar Juan Jose Juaregui; retired OPD Officer Ersie Joyner; Councilmembers Treva Reid, Loren Taylor, and Dan Kalb; Pastor Billy Dixon, Jr.; and Rev. Damita Davis-Howard. The event was dedicated to the memory of Terri McWilliams, a visionary community leader who led hundreds of walks over the years until her death from cancer on June 29, 2022.
In 2012, local clergy and community members decided to start walking the violence-afflicted East Oakland neighborhoods with a message of peace. Their strategy was simple: to counteract the prevalent gun violence with a presence of peace. The movement took off with programs that address root causes of violence and crime, and the cycle of mass incarceration that disproportionately affects the lives of young people of color.
The Ceasefire strategy includes regular call-ins and follow-up services with individuals caught in cycles of violence as well as justice trainings with Oakland Police Department (OPD) to build police-community relations. Ceasefire became the number one violence reduction model being employed by the City of Oakland. By 2019, ongoing organizing and leadership to support Oakland’s Ceasefire Initiative reduced gun violence in the city by 52 percent.
Gun violence in Oakland spiked during the pandemic and concerned citizens responded by resuming the Night Walks. Call-ins continue with a partnership between Faith in Action East Bay, local clergy, and OPD.