KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Mario Williams, owner of Klymax Lounge, held a Stop the Violence rally on July 1 with groups like Aim4Peace to preach peace to community members as Kansas City, Missouri, reaches 98 homicides in 2023.
"We all have to stand together to be able to say, 'Hey y'all, this is not okay,'” Williams said.
Williams said he’s tired of the violence in Kansas City.
“We all come from the streets," Williams said. "I come from the projects, I used to gang bang. The wrong influence, being broke and having a gun in your hand, that’s like a recipe for disaster.”
Klymax Lounge was the scene of such a disaster on May 21, when a shooting took the lives of three people. Community members used the rally as a time and place to remember the victims of the shooting.
“Before the situation happened, the community around us loved us, so we want to get back to it,” said Williams.
Now, Williams says he is working to be a role model and share his story with the community, hoping to help put an end to violence.
“I got tired of going to prison, I got tired of going to jail, I got tired of living the same life, I got tired of people looking at me like I was a monster,” Williams said.
Aim4Peace, a local violence prevention program, worked with Williams to host the rally.
“A place of peace that’s just not a physical place, but a place of peace mentally,” said Christopher Denson, street team manager for Aim4Peace. ”We gotta deconstruct the construction that has been put on us about violence.”
Hosts of the rally hope the message spreads to the community so people can enjoy a place like Klymax Lounge without fear.
“I’m here, I’m here in peace. I want people to gather in peace, you know, peace. It’s a simple word, peace,” Denson said.
—
