The Lowell Sun

October 4, 2002

DANA WILLHOIT, Sun Staff

LOWELL A cold drizzle and a chill in the air weren't enough to discourage a couple of dozen Lowell youth from gathering for a peace vigil on Pawtucket Boulevard last night. Holding candles that flickered and sometimes sputtered out in the rain, they stood in front of a large hand-lettered sign which said "Peace Vigil," on the bank of the Merrimack River. In the wake of last Saturday night's homicide, local youth activists felt they had to make a public statement that the violence in their community must end.

"We've been trying to create a peace within the community," Lowell resident Sakeith Long said in an interview prior to the peace vigil.

Long is vice president of a group called Family Unity of Lowell that is being formed to help local youth and immigrants. The group plans to offer after-school programs, violence intervention, and assistance to immigrants in getting citizenship.

"The last person that died, we figured, time is our enemy," Long said. "We had to get out here and get the word out."

Family Unity got together with members of United Teen Equality Center, a 3 1/2-year-old non-profit organization which does outreach work and runs programs for teens.

Gregg Croteau, executive director of the program, said they were trying to get young people organized into a peace team, so they could do gang intervention and mediation. They were working on getting young people in their twenties, who had formerly been in gangs, to help them with outreach.

Bun Song, president of Family Unity, said that the recent violence started because "One gang got hurt and the other gang retaliated. And when they retaliate, they always hit the wrong person, just someone who was in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Last Saturday night's shooting victim, killed on Walker Street, was shot because he was wearing the wrong colors, Song said.

The brief vigil ended with the group gathering in a circle and Croteau and several others calling for an end to the violence.

Croteau called for people to light candles in memory of people who had died as a result of gang violence, and about six of them did so.

"There's a need for intervention, and that's where we come in," Croteau said. "We do not want to have to hold another vigil. We do not want to be here again."