Tonight’s March for Peace in South Park was not a march to protest, complain, or oppose, organizers stressed as more than 100 people gathered outside the SP Library before it began. It was to envision what neighbors want South Park to be, to have.

The catalyzing event was what neighbors want South Park to NOT have … violence. Two nights ago, a 16-year-old boy was critically injured by a shooter who has yet to be caught. That was one week after a shooting that injured two men. The two incidents are unrelated, police told us, yet both left people in South Park determined not to go back to the way things were long ago. With that determination, hope, and love, “this is the new South Park,” organizers declared.

With bicycle officers riding alongside, and police at every cross-street, marchers walked on eastbound Cloverdale and southbound 14th.

They carried signs, some made outside the library minutes before the march began.

And when their silence was finally broken, as the march ended at the service station near the scene of Wednesday’s shooting at 14th/Trenton, first it was by music, some softly singing along to “Lean on Me”:

Then, there were words of support, urging the youth in the crowd to know everyone was there to support them – and there were many young participants there to hear the message:

Also there, dignitaries who took care not to hold the spotlight for long, if at all. Mayor Jenny Durkan and Police Chief Carmen Best had a few words before the march began.

City Councilmember Lisa Herbold did not take the microphone

Nor did Councilmember Lorena González:

Both councilmembers have worked to advocate for increased safety resources for South Park; Herbold wrote about it again in her weekly online update hours before the march. But first – a young man remains in the hospital, and before the gathering ended, organizers requested prayers and thoughts for his recovery.