CHICAGO (CBS) — Activists based in Pilsen on the city’s West Side and Greater Grand Crossing on the city’s South Side stood together Friday – issuing a plea to put down the guns this Cinco de Mayo.
Community leaders in Pilsen issued a call to action ahead of the celebratory weekend. They called for a 48-hour unity challenge – a message they’re spreading not only through a video on social media, but also to neighborhoods outside of their own.
One of them is the Parkway Gardens housing development – known locally as O-Block – at 64th Street and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in Greater Grand Crossing.
“This is a neighborhood that’s known for being called the number one dangerous hood in America,” said Damarius Langston, known as rapper Shoebox Baby. “I want to show the spotlight of the positive, not the negative.”
Shoebox Baby grew up in O-Block. He is a popular rapper with a huge social media following, and he is now using his influence to spread the anti-violence campaign.