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Police Join West Side Residents For 'Keep Peace In The Streets Prayer March' In Face Of Summer Gun Violence

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Stands against violence. This weekend, Chicago's top cop has been hitting the streets for peace walks, just weeks after facing ire from aldermen over his handling of the violence in Chicago this summer.

CBS 2's Marissa Parra has been tracking the different events across the city.

It's no secret that everyone has different ideas for how to stop the complex issue that is gun violence; on a federal, local and street level.

But the message today was clear: breaking the cycle of violence will take a village.

On streets that have seen blood, sweat, and tears, police officers, Supt. David Brown, city leaders, and West Side residents joined the "Keep Peace in the Streets Prayer March," with a message for the community: "put the guns down" and "we love you."

It's a message that hit home for mom Laquesha Guider as she drove past the crowd.

"It gives me hope that one day the community will be back to normal, and that my son won't have to worry or be in fear when walking down the street," she said.

Rev. Walter Jones said the decision to walk in sidestep with Chicago police officers was to show a united front.

"A people united can never be defeated," he said. "It's easy to point fingers at the superintendent, it's easy to point fingers at the Police Department, but the Police Department didn't bring guns into the community."

Attacking the root of violence is a shared goal, with branching ideas of how to get there.

For the city, that means a focus on gun trafficking with a new federal strike force.

Jones, who leads the community group Fathers Who Care, has a different approach: going block to block, addressing families touched by violence, and connecting them with resources.

"We have to let folks know we understand them, we hear them," Jones said. "We've got to let folks know, despite what they're going through, somebody cares."

"Don't talk about it, be about it," he added.

On the South Side, different tactics with the same goal on Saturday.

"We're here to promote peace," said Bemani Obadele, director of community and civic engagement for community organization Acclivus. "We're just occupying hot spots on corners up 75th Street."

On a street that has seen its own share of blood spilled, activists were taking a more holistic approach

"We need to treat violence as a disease, and how do you treat it? You treat it with a job. You treat it with investment," Obadele said.

When asked which way is the best way to stop violence, he said all of them.

"That means residents, that means the businesses, that means law enforcement," he said. "It's an all-hands-on-deck approach, right? And there's no wrong solution, as long as it's a positive," he said.

For several hours, volunteers stood at hot spots all the way down 75th Street from State Street to Rainbow Park on the lakefront, where they have a chef cooking and giving free food and free family fun.

The shared theme is to show support for Chicagoans who have been traumatized by the cycle of violence, and perhaps enlist their help in stopping it.

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