How An Eastside OKC Organization Advocates For Peace Amid Gun Violence In Community

A string of gun violence in the metro has advocates standing up for peace. The message comes after two people were shot on Tuesday leaving one injured and another dead. Two people have been arrested for Tuesday’s shooting. The person who died was 17 years old. 

Leaders on the east side of OKC said their community has suffered from a lack of resources and generational trauma. Leaders at Live Free OKC take on these challenges and advocate for people, because of their own experiences. 

“[Gun violence] is really a public health crisis,” said Jabee Williams, the executive director of The Peace Team at Live Free OKC, a community-based violence intervention program. 

Inside Live Free Oklahoma’s office on 23rd Street, a poster rests on one of its walls with the number of people killed over the past four years due to violence in the community. 

“I’ve had friends and family who’ve been killed,” Williams said. 

Williams's Peace Team works to end this pattern of pain. 

“We’re able to empower each other to do it ourselves,” Williams said. 

The east side of OKC holds a rich and proud history — but it also carries decades of trauma and economic hardship.

“There is a lot of gang violence,” said Lyn Jackson, chief operating officer at Live Free OKC.

Following Tuesday’s shooting, Jackson and other members of Live Free OKC helped support the family and friends of the victim at the scene. She also advocated for a proactive response.

“We have to gather the community in peace, and we have to be intentional about a peaceful response,” Jackson said. 

News 9 has reported on at least nine OKC shootings since the beginning of August. 

“It’s not just about two people who decided to just throw their life away,” Williams said. “It’s way deeper than that.” 

Williams said the issues rest beyond the headlines and require a different perspective. Live Free OKC has called on state leaders to increase funding for programs geared to end violence and support people in need. 

“There’s a community who lacks resources; there’s a community that is desperately hurting for more,” Williams said. 

Williams lost his late brother to gun violence — a man he misses every day. 

“Just wishing that there was something like [Live Free OKC] around when we was kids,” Williams said. 

Williams honors his brother by advocating for other families. 

“ … be there so that these types of things don’t continue to happen,” Williams said. 

Williams said one person losing their life to violence is one too many.

“That’s why we do it,” Williams said.