Increase in gun violence among youth in Gulfport

With the recent increase of gun violence among the youth in Gulfport, one community leader speaks about the steps that need to be taken to stop the violence.

Extend a Hand, Help a Friend CEO Jeffrey Hulum III said, “This lawlessness has to stop. It has to stop. It must stop. And it needs to end. A young man was killed in broad open daylight. This is not Compton. This is not Jackson, Mississippi. And it damn sure isn’t New York City.”

Over the last several months, the Gulfport community has experienced an uptick in violent crimes including two shootings in the last three weeks in which juveniles were arrested.

Hulum grew up in Gaston Point, a historically crime-ridden area of Gulfport, and knows what it takes to turn a community around. “You said ‘what does it take to get the violence to stop?’ You know what it takes? Everybody. It ain’t your kid, it ain’t my kid. It ain’t the youth. It ain’t the old. It’s everybody got to come together. All these people got to stop grand standing. They actually got to get out there and do something.”

A few ways the community has attempted to help decrease violence in the area has been through town hall meetings, block parties, and other gatherings or activities. Hulum believes there’s a better approach to reach the youth. “The youth you need to reach, they’re not coming to these meetings. They’re not coming to all these different events. You’ve got to go to where they’re at: in the corners, in the nightclubs, and hiding out.”

After getting involved in the streets and eventually getting beat up by Gulfport narcotics, Hulum got a second chance at life. Now he preaches this simple concept that he believes could help change the place he calls home. “If we start doing three things. There’s three things that will solve this problem. We need to hold everybody ADR: accountable, dependable, reliable through the process of consideration for others.”