Local leaders share 'Outrage' at crime

HAMPTON, Va. - It's a national call to action: community activists are fed up with the growing rate of crime in our neighborhoods and Monday local leaders are answering that call in a National Day of Outrage.

For the emotion it sparks, crime is infamous. First comes pain, then outrage."Im outraged everyday," Dawud Muhammad exclaimed.

"This is not going to be just a discussion, this is not even a discussion, this is a call to action'," community activist Gaylene Kanoyton told WAVY.com. She said her focus is deeper than just crime itself.

"Our young black men, our young black boys, they're the ones being murdered out here, at a rampant level at the hands of another black person," she said.

Often it's bullets that have ended lives, shot from guns lawmakers often target. "Ive been introducing gun bills that inevitably die in committee," 2nd District State Senator Mamie Locke added.

It's led some to use guns to head in a dangerous direction.

"Legislators from rural areas see a gun in a different light than those of us who live in urban areas and see guns."

What Muhammad sees is crystal clear. "It should be an everyday outrage," he said, "homelessness is 24-7, poverty is 24-7, hunger is 24-7, we got to be fighting 24-7!"

It's why he helps at the Moton Community House on Jefferson Avenue in Newport News' east end. "This is like a home everyone finds their niche here."

They're also finding ways to avoid three simple letters: R.I.P Three times WAVY.com cameras found R.I.P memorials on Jefferson in just one block.

"They need to see us as a united front, not one group, one aspect, its a united front," Kanoyton said.

She hopes the unity lasts more than a day, and builds a legacy. "To show people we are really serious about moving to action not just talking."