Philadelphia Weekly

North Philadelphia residents gathered Friday evening to protest two nights of gunfire -- last Tuesday and Wednesday -- that had erupted in the streets of Berks and Judson. No one was injured, but the neighborhood was left unsettled.

Yvonne Bailey -- resident had just returned to her apartment at Rowan Homes when the shooting started Wednesday night. She had attended ProjectHOME's 20th anniversary celebration of neighborhood revitalization. Eight bullets entered her home, hitting walls and nearly striking her 5-year-old daughter.

“I had just came back from having a beautiful time… and I had to come home to this,” Bailey told Friday's rally while her husband and daughter stood beside her. “I really don’t know what to say, but I’m still here.”

 On Friday, signs depicting the community’s frustration covered the wall of Rowan Homes. The complex offers 13-two bedroom and 11-three bedroom apartments to "previously homeless" families, as well as community space, a quiet courtyard and a playground. The families are offered services that include adult and youth education, job placement and retention services and access to quality health care.

 “These kids are our future,” said Renee Murdock, vice president of operations for Project HOME which runs the complex. “We have to make sure our community is safe.”

Murdock then invited the children of the community up to the mic, some struggling to hold their homemade signs, to voice their opinion on the violence that inhabited their community.

“Gunmen, you’re killing our loved ones,” read one child’s sign.

The turnout for the rally was smaller than some residents hoped.

“I would have liked to see more of the neighborhood come out,” said Helen Brown, community organizer and neighborhood leader. "This doesn’t just affect those who live in Rowan, it affects everyone. These guns are the problem, these young boys are getting access to these guns.”

“There should be everyone out here!” yelled one resident of Rowan. “This could have been my child!”

But not everybody was on board with the message to crack down on gunmen.

“What am I supposed to do, if the guns come out" asked one man in the crowd. "It’s not bothering me.”

"It doesn’t affect any of us, until it hits us in the ass," another resident responded.

Sister Mary Scullion, Project HOME's executive director, said she is saddened and shocked by the violence. Scullion lives right next door to the home that was riddled with bullets.

“It was by the grace of God that no one was hurt,” she said. “I think we [Project HOME] are going to try and get to the bottom of this with the police so that we can prevent this from happening again.”

Representatives from the group Men United was also present, promising to pass out literature and to find out what’s going on. The rally concluded with speech from businessman,Amjad Elí Nasir.

“It’s bad that we live in a time where children have lost respect for life," he said. “These streets are stained with blood; do not think that when good comes it is not going to be challenged."