Lee Styslinger III: Reducing Gun Violence in Birmingham Requires a United, Communitywide Front

(An Opinion) Lee Styslinger III Since our founding in Birmingham in 1929, Altec has seen the city go through a few turbulent times – times when our citizens were wracked by poverty during the Great Depression, times when our citizens were subjected to violence in response to their peaceful push for basic human rights. We persisted through those times, and Birmingham today is a much stronger community as a result. We learned from our past and are still building a better community where all people can be happy, healthy and fulfilled. We are making progress on so many levels, but we are all troubled by the violence we continue to see in our community. There are too many young people killing and being killed, too many children caught in crossfire, and too many senior citizens afraid in their own homes. This is a nationwide problem that requires a local communitywide solution. Mayor Randall Woodfin’s team recently met with businesses to discuss these issues, and it is great that our city leadership is doing as much as possible to combat violence and crime. These efforts are having an impact: Property crimes and violent crimes overall are down.  Unfortunately, homicides have increased....