Peace flier outreach aims to curb violence

The Rev. Michael Wheeler of the Boston TenPoint Coalition handed a flier urging a peaceful holiday season to Paris Alston outside of Stop & Shop in Grove Hall yesterday. (Yoon S. Byun/Globe Staff)

The young man was walking into the Stop & Shop in Roxbury yesterday afternoon when the minister approached, handing him a colorful card emblazoned with a peace sign.

"If you could pass this around to your friends," the Rev. Michael Wheeler said. "We want to have no killing for the season."

The young man paused and looked at the card that called for peace between Thanksgiving and New Year's. He sighed ruefully.

"I like this," he said, walking away. "But nobody is going to listen."

"We got to try anyway," Wheeler called back.

Wheeler was one of several ministers and street workers who canvassed the city yesterday, armed with thousands of post-card sized fliers calling for a holiday without bloodshed.

Their objective is to place the cards in the hands of every young person across the city whom they believe is either involved with violence or knows someone in a gang.

And they are enlisting the help of other agencies to help spread the message, said the Rev. Jeffrey L. Brown, cofounder of the Boston TenPoint Coalition.

Boston school police will distribute the fliers to students, Brown said, and the Department of Youth Services will let ministers into their holding facilities to pass out the cards, which feature a young man holding a candle as he stands in front of a makeshift memorial of teddy bears and flowers.

MBTA buses will also carry placards bearing the image on the back of buses that run through Dorchester and Roxbury.

"We're optimistic it will make a difference," said acting MBTA Police Chief Paul MacMillan. "We're hoping that by making people aware that this has been a time when murders have been commited, maybe we can make an impact in lessening them."

Brown launched the effort Friday night, when he and several other members of the Boston TenPoint Coalition walked through Blue Hill Avenue, Codman Square, the South End, and Grove Hall, looking for young people they believe are affiliated with gangs.

The pitch, Brown said, was simple.

"On behalf of your friends who have fallen, can we honor them by having peace this holiday season," he recalled telling them.

When they looked at the card, they suddenly became more interested.

The flier was designed to look like a "club card," leaflets usually handed out to promote a party or dance. On one side, was the image of the young man.

On the other, was the peace sign, made up of baseball hats bearing the letters that represent many of the city's gangs.

"One person said they thought it was hot," Brown said. "The conversation kind of turned. They asked, 'OK, what is this really about. Tell me more about it.' "

The point was to attract their attention so they read the message: Between Nov. 25 and Jan. 1, 2004, there were six homicides in Boston. In 2005, there were nine and last year, there were seven.

"End this year with peace," the card read.

Yesterday, Wheeler and Manny Tikili, a program manager at TenPoint, handed out the cards to shoppers filing into the supermarket and met with mixed results.

Tikili quickly gave dozens of cards to Michael Hall, who runs a youth basketball league in the city, and promised to help.

"I'll hand this out to my little ones out there," Hall said.

Wheeler, a minister at Holy Tabernacle Church in Grove Hall, cheerfully called out to teenagers and young men.

A young girl in a fur-trimmed jacket breezed passed him with a dismissive, "uh-uh."

But most took the cards. Paris Alston grabbed one and said she is so worried about violence in the city, she plans to move to Atlanta.

"My son is locked up" in the Department of Youth Services, she said. "I'm sad he's going to be there during Thanksgiving, but I'm glad, too, because I know he's safe. It's sad to say . . . at least he's not on the streets."

Ibrahim Shaheed, 22, took a card but said he did not believe the effort would curb the violence.

"This ain't going to work. Half the kids are doing what they're doing because there is nothing for them. They don't have jobs," he said.

Then, he looked down at the design and reconsidered.

"It'll probably work a little bit," he said. "I'm definitely going to give them to my friends."

Maria Cramer can be reached at mcramer@globe.com.