Pine Bluff, Arkansas – 11 killings have been reported in Pine Bluff so far in 2023.
On July 11, a 17-year-old was killed close to Orlando Street, which marked the city’s most recent homicide.
This murder implies that six of the 11 people shot dead in the city died before turning the age of 19.
Since he founded his boxing organization Gloves not Guns 20 years ago, Albert Brewer has been driven by a commitment to end violence.
Since then, he has continued, with the exception of this year due to health.
Brewer’s leg went out on him during a boxing match in June, necessitating a hip replacement and forcing him to take a break from Gloves Not Guns.
Brewer says he can’t wait till he’s fully recovered to compete in the sport of overcoming violence.
“I’m not going to let this chair hold me down,” he said.
Brewer welcomed visitors to Family Church in Pine Bluff, where his boxers practice, for the first time since January.
Several of Brewer’s boxers have perished in jail or from other causes.
Brewer exclaims, with rage in his voice, “Why are we burying our youth at such a young age?” He reflects on his earlier years.
“We used to fight it out,” Brewer said. “You lived to see another day!”
Brewer, who is confined to a chair and has little movement, needs assistance from the neighborhood, and happily, The Village is providing it.
Martin Scott is the head coach of The Village, a Pine Bluff youth sports league for children ages 4 to 12.
Football, basketball, baseball, and even boxing all require players to be able to think, according to Scott, the founder of The Village.
The Village and Gloves Not Guns have teamed up to offer youngsters a variety of sports to play.
“If you don’t keep them occupied with something positive, something negative is going to consume them,” Scott said.
Brewer is pleading with the neighborhood and the city to support efforts to alter youths’ perspectives in order to prevent another from departing from us too young.
“If we don’t sponsor these kids, the gangs are going to sponsor them,” Brewer stated.