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Neighbors Attend Stop The Violence Rally In N. Mpls

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A community that is plagued by violence is doing what it can to stop it.

Organizations held a Stop the Violence rally in North Minneapolis Saturday to provide resources to those who have lost family members to shootings and other tragedies.

"Every day we got something that is going on in our neighborhood; Somebody is getting stabbed, somebody is getting shot, somebody is getting beat down, but today is a day that people are coming together to say there is a lot of love in this neighborhood too, " said VJ Smith, founder of Minneapolis Mad Dads.

Mary Johnson, who attended the rally, knows about love. She also knows about tragedy.

Her son was murdered by a man she loved. But after years of hating the man who murdered her son, she learned to forgive him. Johnson thinks the community needs to find forgiveness too.

"How can we do anything if we have all this hate and animosity inside our hearts for one another," Johnson asked. "How are we going to move on, so we need to get to a place to be able to heal?"

Johnson said that the sight of people gathering at the rally gave her hope.

She hopes that the violence will stop and that the healing will begin soon.

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