NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — We cannot let the shooting on Saturday on Jefferson Street define the area.
Yesterday, I stumbled on a church service on Jefferson where the pastor echoed this in his prayers.
"Lord, I pray that you would help us to see how our actions and our anger can impact the lives of other people who have nothing to do with why we're angry oh God," said Rev. Aaron Marble of Jefferson Street Missionary Baptist Church.
The senseless shooting happened just a few yards away from the church. I visited Jefferson Street Missionary Baptist Church on Monday.
"We are close and we do care about each other, " Marble shared with me.
Just after the street opened following a street fair for Tennessee State University's Homecoming, police say two conflicting groups shot at each other. The shooting sent ten people — mostly innocent bystanders — to the hospital. A 24-year-old man was killed.
"I think there is a clear lack of courage, a clear lack of compassion from a lot of our elected officials as it relates to enacting commonsense gun laws, and I think there is a responsibility that we have as human beings — one to another — to respect, love, and value life," Marble said.
The church wants people who were involved in the shooting or witnessed the shooting to know church leaders are there to help.
"When we write off mass shootings simply because of who the victims are, we are doing ourselves as a community a great disservice," Marble said.
For people of my generation, in our younger days we spent part of our weekends watching music shows like American Bandstand and Soul Train. That was before the age of music videos. Several years before Soul Train was syndicated out of Chicago, another syndicated R&B show was taped in Nashville at NewsChannel 5. Night Train aired in the 60s and included what may have been the first TV appearance for legendary guitarist Jimi Hendrix. Forrest Sanders has another great look back at station history.
-Lelan Statom
