Slain Choirmaster’s Congregation Makes a Quiet but Heartfelt Plea

As demonstrations go, it didn’t amount to much--about 30 people standing in four neat rows on the front steps of City Hall, flanked by a couple of Episcopal banners and an American flag.

They tried chanting for awhile: “No more silence for violence.”

But their chants, which weren’t very loud, were largely drowned out by Friday’s midday traffic.

Most of the news crews from the half-dozen vans parked on the sidewalk were inside the building, covering the City Council debate over a contract with the police union. And most of the pedestrians who wandered by scarcely bothered to look up.

But the Rev. Kirk Smith, leader of the demonstration and pastor of St. James Episcopal Church in the Wilshire district, was undaunted.

He said the demonstrators want support for Mayor Richard Riordan’s campaign for more police. The group also seeks funding for the Hope in Youth campaign, a church-supported effort to curb gang violence.

Although Friday’s demonstration was subdued, it was driven by emotion.

Three weeks ago, David John Falconer, the beloved choirmaster of St. James church, was shot to death during a holdup at a convenience store. “We need to take action together to make this a safer place to live,” said Smith, who had no delusions about the demonstration’s impact.

“It’s a small effort,” he said. “But we have to start somewhere.”