Brownsville’s Firecrackers

You can hear the gunshots in the shower. Five floors up and you can’t escape the gun violence in Brownsville. Two police officers knock on the doors in the Howard Houses, early in the afternoon and ask tenants, “Did you hear gunshots? They sound like firecrackers.”

People in Brownsville hear gunshots frequently and wish they didn’t. One dad who lives with his family on the seventh floor of the Howard Houses hears the guns and wants the violence to end. “It is a very sad situation but after a while, you become accustomed to it,” he said and asked us not to use his name.

In 2019, efforts were made by NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio following a mass shooting that caused eleven injuries and one fatality. Mayor de Blasio, City Council Speaker Johnson, and Council Members Barron and Ampry-Samuel announced a $9 million funding plan that would create programs to support Brownsville. Mayor de Blasio said, “These programs will build on our commitment to end the epidemic of gun violence and lend much-needed support to the local leaders and activists who work to bring positive, enduring change to the Brownsville community each and every day.”

Gun violence has only increased since the Mayor’s funding plan. Since the summer of 2020, Brownsville’s 73rd Precinct has increased by 95.5 percent. NYPD Deputy Inspector Terrell Anderson said, “I would say we started to see an uptick in gun violence, and it has continued until now.” Anderson said that the increase began in June and spiked once people started to go outside after being on coronavirus lockdown. Police say that gangs are responsible for about half the area’s shootings.

To combat gun violence, community members organized Brownsville In, Violence Out (BIVO) The anti-gun violence program provides participants from ages 16-25 with supportive services including employment, job training, legal, and counseling and school conflict mediation.

At the end of January 2021, the NYPD and public officials launched a gun buyback campaign that asked people to turn in their guns in exchange for iPads and gift cards with no questions asked. People who turned in their guns faced no repercussions. Police collected 48 guns.

City Councilmember Alicka Ampry-Samuel said, “This is something young people in our community can actually use. It is not about just receiving an iPad; it is about being connected to the world…” she said. “Brownsville is always known to be disconnected. And this is an opportunity to be able to provide a resource people can actually use to build their lives.”

Some who live in the Howard Houses think the one-time event doesn’t solve the problem. One man we talked with didn’t want his name used but laughed and said, “That is not enough. No one is giving up guns for iPads… not in Brownsville.”

Yet many people want an end to the guns, the firecracker sounds, and the violence.

A teenage resident said, “Nobody is born bad, people are a product of their environment,” he said. “One way that can limit gang violence and activity is to increase recreational activity.”