‘Shoot the Books’ gives back

CLINTON — Shoot the Books progressed their mission in fighting back against gun violence this past Saturday at Royal Lane Park, boasting a sizable turnout for its “Back 2 School Bash” event that aimed to help while raising awareness.

“We started Shoot the Books after the gun violence shooting death of my cousin Kaleef Jonathan Johnson,” Alisha McBride, Shoot the Books vice president, said. “We just realized that the children are supposed to be our future and without the children we won’t have a future.”

“So with this event we tried to find what we could do to get the community involved and to give the kids something to do,” McBride said.

People from all over were in attendance for hours enjoying music, food, games and more. Even with a blazing sun beating down on them throughout, a crowd, including numerous youths, were out in full force.

McBride highlighted the many young students in attendance, pointing out that helping the youth get involved to avoid a fate like her cousin bring a reason for the event.

“We thought of Shoot the Books because we want to get kids back into education and doing fun things since kids don’t play outside anymore,” McBride said. “Since they’re always on their phones we wanted to give them community events that can keep them away from the idle things that get them in trouble.”

As part of their effort to help drive youth back towards education, they also handed out backpacks full of school supplies. It is an McBride and others hope to continue as the event grows bigger.

“We started in 2019 but had to slow down in 2020 because of COVID, but here we are in 2021 and we’re just getting stronger,” McBride stated. “Not as many people came out to receive their backpacks as we’d hoped, but plenty of people did participate based off the amount of names we called out that were registered.”

“I thank them for doing that but we are going to keep moving forward and doing more events to inspire the young ones and keep the community together,” she continued.

“We just want them to put the guns down and to love each other because we’re only oppressing ourselves so it’s time to make a change on that,” McBride added. “That’s what I’m hoping this event did.”

Other nonprofits also came out to show support and lend aid. Members included Grace Helping Others, who partners with Toys for Tots, and Voices for Change, which also advocates against gun violence. McBride also noted they plan to hit all 100 counties.

As the president of Shoot the Books and the one who lost her brother Johnson to gun violence, Michelle Loftin expressed her thoughts on the event’s success.

“It feels real good — we still have plenty of bags to give away but I’m glad everyone enjoyed themselves,” Loftin said. “So I think it was a pretty good turnout. It was a lot a stress on me, but for the most part it was a very good turnout.”

“It brings happiness to my heart to honor my brother and I’m going to continue to do this as much as I can as long as I can,” Loftin said. “This is for everyone that died of gun violence, not just my brother, but for everyone especially within our youth.”

For more information about how to get involved with Shoot the Books or the outreach itself, Loftin and McBride can be reached at 910-309-3871, 910-751-7747 or on the group’s Facebook page, www.facebook.com/shootthebooks.