Harlem Anti-Violence Activists Applaud Judge's Plea to End Gang Violence

Harlem Anti-Violence Activists Applaud Judge's Plea to End Gang Violence

December 1, 2011 9:16am | By Jeff Mays, DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

Alleged gang members Tyrone Gibbs (L) and Jaquan Layne (R) at their arraignments Feb. 16, 2011. (DNAinfo)

HARLEM—Members of Harlem's anti-violence community applauded the comments of Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Edward McLaughlin when he urged Harlem residents to step up and stop the shootings and gang violence that have plagued the neighborhood.

McLaughlin's speech came Tuesday as he was sentencing members of the "2 Mafia Family" and "Goons on Deck" to stiff sentences for dealing drugs, carrying guns and shootings.

"If your relative is not doing homework, if you are not going to school and talking to their teacher, then you contribute to your child's and your community's destruction," McLaughlin said. "If you do nothing, you are complicit," he said.

McLaughlin also urged parents and other adults to search out the guns that may be hidden in their own homes.

"Unless a person acts to make certain that their home is gun-free, there is no other way to guarantee that police, armed with a search warrant, will not arrive at your door early some morning to remove it," said McLaughlin.

Jackie Rowe-Adams, co-founder of Harlem Mothers S.A.V.E.., said McLaughlin's comments resonate with what she has been saying for years.

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