Media

St. Louis Activist Blasts Black-On-Black Crime: ‘We Cannot Fight Racism And Each Other At The Same Time’

Virginia Kruta Associate Editor
Font Size:

Activist James Clark addressed the recent rash of gun violence in St. Louis on Wednesday, telling CNN that part of the problem is “what we do to each other.”

Clark, who works in the community with Better Families St. Louis, argued that the only way to tackle the problem was “one house at a time.” (RELATED: Another Study Confirms Criminals Break Gun Laws)

WATCH:

“We shoot each other dead in the street, every day of the week in every major city. And we’ve got to give it the attention that it demands,” Clark began, then went on to call out professional athletes who were willing to protest police brutality against minorities but not the problems within the community.

“I can appreciate professional athletes taking a knee for what police do to African-Americans, but what athlete is going to have the courage to take a knee for what we do to each other? That’s what time it is right now, we cannot fight racism and each other at the same time,” he said.

CNN went to St. Louis after a particularly deadly weekend raised the total number of children under the age of 16 killed by gun violence to 12 since April. The city of St. Louis has offered a reward of $25,000 for information leading to an arrest in each of four cases involving shooting victims under the age of ten.