Uma Ramiah Photo
In the wake of a fatal Newhallville shooting of a popular bike mechanic and “straight edge” vegan punk musician, a community group already working to break the cycle of violence in the neighborhood gathered to express the urgency of their cause.
“We see Mitchell [Dubey]‘s death as a part of a pattern, a pattern we’re compelled to break,” said Newhallville-based civil-rights attorney Michael Jefferson, after speaking at a press conference Monday evening. He and more than a dozen other community members, business owners and clergy gathered in front of television cameras at the Newhallville Community Center on Dixwell Avenue to denounce the violence.
Dubey, 23, was shot to death last Thursday on Bassett Street, prompting an overwhelming outpouring of grief, support and vocal response.
“But our initiative didn’t come about because of Mitchell’s death,” Jefferson continued. “Long before this horrible tragedy occurred, there were other tragedies — and they were victims of the same thing Mitchell was a victim of.”
And these murders resonate with each one of us, he said.
“We grieve for him because he was human,” Jefferson continued. “Not because he was white.”
Jefferson — a neighborhood attorney — is part of the Promise Land Project, which seeks to reduce violence in a six-block radius of Newhallville with one of the highest crime rates in New Haven.
After Thursday’s shooting, the goals of the project were thrown into sharp relief.
Jefferson outlined the Project’s objectives. They include:
• Creating of a violent offender registry.
• Raising the mandatory minimum sentence from two to five years for anyone convicted of carrying firearms illegally.
• Creating an “Anti-Gang” injunction that would bar “high-risk offenders” from certain activities, such as loitering in certain areas and associating with others on the list.
Jefferson said the neighborhood hasn’t had much support from other parts of the city. He said he hopes that will change. “What impacts people in Newhallville will eventually impact people elsewhere,” he said.
The Promise Land Project would also encourage Newhallville residents to speak out against the violence, and to make themselves visible, said one of its founders.
“One of the things we all have to keep in mind is we’re dealing with a very small, but lethal element in our community,” said Pastor Donald Morris, executive director of the Christian Community Commission, which started the Promise Land Project. “Most of our citizens are law abiding, want tranquility, want a place for their kids to grow up, for elderly parents to walk without the fear of being shot down or mugged or robbed. And that’s not asking a lot.”
Whoever shot this young man on Bassett Street should be taken off the streets, Morris told the press.
“A man opens his door to you, is no threat and you shoot and you fire a bullet in his chest? You are a predator.”
“We want you out of the Newhallville community,” he said. “In fact, we want you out of the city.”