Naacp- Voices Against Violence Ii

PRESS RELEASE NAACP BALTIMORE CITY BRANCH 8 West 26th Street – Enolia P. McMillan Building – Baltimore, Maryland 21218 410/366-3300 - Phone 410/366-3304 Fax – www.naacpbaltimore.org – web FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Date: Wednesday, May 6, 2009

CONTACT: Marvin L. ‘Doc’ Cheatham, Sr. - President 410/669-8683 – [email protected]

Baltimore, MD:

Wednesday, May 13, 2009 NAACP Baltimore City Branch 8 West 26th Street (Enolia P. McMillan Blvd.) 6:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m. The NAACP Baltimore City Branch in cooperation with Faith Bocian, a sophomore at the Maryland Institute College of Art, Inc. will jointly host Voices Against Violence II - Teddy Bears Crying –Out STOP THE KILLINGS - END THE VIOLENCE. “My idea was to get a teddy bear for every murder-related death committed in Baltimore City so far this year, along with a tag that describes who the person was (name, age, death date, cause of death to show statistics for how many shootings stabbings etc, and the location. All of these tags will hang around the bear's neck and will be laminated,” states Faith Bocian. She continues to say: “I decided to use bears because every time I drive around the city I see bears tied to poles at the site where a person died along with pictures so I thought that bears would be the right thing to use. The reason why I wanted to do this project was to remind people who look past the problem and to inform people who didn't know about this problem that we can't just ignore this. Just because a lot of us haven't been touched by murder doesn't mean we should forget about the ones who have. I don't believe the memorial will stop anything from happening (even though I wish it would), but I hope and pray that it will make people take a second out of their busy lives to stop and think about what's going on.” Citizens from all over the city, all ethnicities are encouraged to come and bring teddy bears. Also, attempts are being made to make contact with family members and friends of those that have lost a loved-one to also come. A candlelight vigil will take place along with special prayers for everyone. For information contact the NAACP Baltimore City Branch at 410/366-3300. ### Founded on February 12, 1909, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is the nation's oldest and largest civil rights organization. Its half-million adult and youth members throughout the United States and the world are the premier advocates for civil rights in their communities, and monitor equal opportunity in the public and private sectors. The Baltimore City Branch, founded on April 4, 1912, is the nations’ second oldest branch. 5/11/2009 14:20 a5/p5