This is another installment in Birmingham Times/AL.com joint series “Beyond the Violence: what can be done to address Birmingham’s rising homicide rate.” Sign up for the newsletter here.

Amid anger, grief, sorrow and tears, gun violence victims’ family members gathered in Birmingham Saturday to honor loved ones taken too soon and to demand action to combat the rash of killings that have plagued the city in recent years.

The Birmingham Urban League hosted a National Gun Violence Awareness Day program Saturday at Kelly Ingram Park, gathering together those who’ve lost family and friends to gun violence with government, law enforcement, and civic groups that are working to fight back against an epidemic of violence.

“We’ve got to come together as a community, separate and apart with any government that oversees us,” Birmingham Urban League CEO William Barnes told the crowd of about 100 people.

Barnes urged attendees to talk about violence within their families and to be more vigilant about situations within their neighborhoods that could spiral into violence.

“Take our community back,” he said.

Several community organizations also participated, including What About Us, a Birmingham-based nonprofit that provides support for those who have lost children.

The group set up a tent displaying photos of those lost to gun violence in recent years.

Founder Sheree Kennon said she started the group after the death of her son Detraio Deshawn Whorton, 27, on Feb. 25, 2021.

“A lot of people hear about the cases, the deaths in the city, but they don’t know the faces,” Kennon said. “They don’t know the mothers, they don’t know what the children have been through. They just see what they hear on the news.

“They are more than just a number. They are our babies.”

Also present was the Birmingham-based Offender Alumni Association, a group that provides support for those impacted by incarceration and violence. Many of its members were previously incarcerated themselves.

“No one can help a person who’s coming out of incarceration, like someone who’s come out of incarceration and successfully transitioned,” said Carmone Owens, the group’s violence intervention supervisor.

Owens is leading a new effort in collaboration with the city of Birmingham to reduce violence among gunshot victims, as they’re recovering from their injuries, hoping to break the cycle of violence.

“We know that one in five that are shot are going to be killed in five years, and one in four get re-injured again,” Owens said. “It could be substance abuse, it could be life choices, risk factors, the need for a living wage, the need for retooling and going back to school.

“Whatever those factors are, we work to mitigate those, work around those and show them a bridge from where they are to where they’re trying to go.”

While the program is new, Owens said he believes it will have a positive impact.

“Being shot and in a hospital bed is a great place to talk about change,” he said.

Also participating in the program were Jefferson County District Attorney Danny Carr, as well as representatives from the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, Birmingham Police Department and Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin’s Office.

As of June 3, there have been 56 homicides in Birmingham in 2023. Of those, one was an officer-involved shooting by an outside law enforcement agency. Four others have been ruled justifiable and therefore aren’t deemed criminal.

In all of Jefferson County, there have been 76 homicides, including the 56 in Birmingham.

Last year was Birmingham’s deadliest since 1933, with 144 homicides taking place in 2022.

For more stories in the series, go here.