One day after the armed robbery of a Morehouse College freshman, student activists are asking Atlanta politicians to play a larger hand in crime around the Atlanta University Center (Clark, Spelman, Morehouse, ITC and Morris Brown College). The Morehouse chapter NAACP is demanding to meet with the City Councilwoman, Cleta Winslow to help restructure policies that could help with crime nearby.
Morehouse chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc. and the NAACP also announced a community back to school kickoff called ‘Project We’, which is an effort to spark a restructuring of the area through communal engagement. The Buzz conducted an interview with one of Morehouse’s student leaders: senior Jeroson Williams, Biology major.
Titles at Morehouse – President of the Psi Chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc., SGA Senator, John H. Hopps Scholar, Co-Founder of Project WE
HBCU Buzz: How has the crime in the AUC hindered your educational experience?
Jeroson Williams: Crime has created an uneasy tension between the students of the AUC and the members of the community. Our library is located on the very street the past to shooting incidents occurred. That is a problem. We cannot even feel safe walking to our library. It is quite troubling.
When the freshman was robbed on campus a few days ago, was it the last straw?
The murder this summer was the last straw. The danger of the West End is omnipresent, regardless of the number of police and security checks in the AUC these occurrences will continue to happen until we band together and treat the true issues of the West End community. These people prey on us to survive and it is our responsibility to give the alternatives by doing our due diligence in the community.
How cordial has Councilwoman Wilson been with you all’s concerns?
City council is actively trying to decrease crime. They however are going about it incorrectly. We cannot continue to treat the symptoms! We must cure the ghetto. We must cure them of their poverty, end their drug culture, change the violent culture and uplift them.
