By James Ferguson, Executive director of Career Youth Development (CYD).
Career Youth Development, Inc. is saddened by the untimely death of our student and classmate Marvin Cottrell, Jr. who was shot and killed early Monday morning on 24th & Glendale while attempting to break up a fight.
The fact that we have lost another valuable life to gun violence suggests that we have so much more work to do in terms of changing the culture of how we resolve conflict in our community. Marvin’s life was stolen from him, his family and this community.
All of the potential embodied in his person, will now forever be lost and unrealized. Another piece of our community’s fabric has been ripped. We must, as a community, do more to promote peace and to discourage the use of gun violence by all means.
Marvin’s untimely death was totally preventable as there were other options available for resolving whatever the root cause of the conflict might have been. CYD will continue helping our students and clients identify non violent means for resolving conflict.
On June 19th, 2013, at 6:00pm, CYD together with, Fred Boswell, Jr., an accomplished local recording artist, musician, and alumni of CYD’s School of Excellence where Marvin was a student, are joining forces to present “Shedding for Peace” in CYD’s Victory Over Violence Park (2601 N. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, Milwaukee, WI).
“Shedding for Peace” is a musical expo dedicated and organized to raise awareness about violence in the community and to challenge young people to lead violence free lifestyles. “Shedding for Peace” is dedicated to the memory of Marvin Cottrell, Jr. and others that have lost their lives to senseless acts of violence. The event is free and open to the public.
