Church Group to Lead Anti-Violence Crusade

A coalition of church leaders has announced plans to distribute 500,000 flyers and put up dozens of billboard messages in a three-month anti-violence campaign urging residents to “Keep it Good in the Hood.”

“We want everyone to realize that violence is destroying our communities,” said the Rev. Romie Lilly of the Southern Area Clergy Council, a group of about 75 pastors and ministers. Details of the campaign were unveiled last week at a press conference at the New Mount Calvary Baptist Church in Compton.

The flyers will be distributed to homes and schools, and placed on car windshields throughout Long Beach, Compton, Lynwood and South Los Angeles, Lilly said.

Metropolitan Outdoor Advertising is donating billboard space and paying for the production of five anti-violence ads.

The campaign is aimed at discouraging domestic violence as well as gang crimes, Lilly said.

“A lot of gang violence results from junior seeing how mamma handles problems in the home and the kids then do the same things in the streets,” Lilly said.

The clergy council led an anti-violence campaign early last year during the federal trial of four Los Angeles police officers accused of violating Rodney G. King’s civil rights. The council and others passed out flyers, conducted marches and held press conferences urging residents to remain calm.