Community residents will hold a press conference Saturday outside Walmart’s anchor store on the West Side demanding that it support President Barack Obama’s gun control initiative.
“Gun violence is the leading cause of the catastrophic murder rate in Chicago,” said Steve Robinson, executive director of the Northwest Austin Council, in a press release. “African Americans and Latinos have been the victims of this violence.”
In addition to being the nation’s largest seller of guns, Walmart does heavy marketing in the communities hardest hit by gun violence, Robinson said.
“That’s why it’s imperative that Walmart supports the gun control bill being introduced by the White House, or it will be perceived as a soulless corporation who doesn’t care about dead kids but only the money that the dead kids’ families spend at their store,” he said in the release.
Community groups will also unveil a comprehensive plan to quell the epidemic of violence plaguing neighborhoods in Chicago.
The plan includes efforts for living wage jobs, restorative justice programs, job initiatives and truancy programs in schools, among others.
DATE: Saturday, Jan. 19
TIME: 11 a.m.
PLACE: 4650 W. North Ave. (West Side Walmart)