GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — There’s a plea to stop the violence in the southeast side of my Grand Rapids neighborhood.
It says, “STOP SHOOTING - WE PLAY HERE!"
A few of my neighbors who live on Umatilla Street. tell me they’re committed to protecting kids, no matter what it takes.
“I was afraid because it got too close to my house,” Mattie Mosley told me.
Two teenagers were shot and killed a year apart in this neighborhood. 17-year-old Niles Murray was killed at an October 2025 memorial for 15-year-old Amillier Penn, who was killed in June of 2024.
"The second shooting, I had just come in the house and went to bed, and then the shooting happened again,” Mosley said.
Mosley has lived here since the 60s. Across her neighborhood are several signs with the simple, but a powerful message.
“I think they need to stop the violence. They need to stop this violence,” Mosley said.
Grand Rapids Cure Violence, which is part of the Urban League, made the signs.
“So the idea that we have to pass them out to begin with is heartbreaking, because the sign states, ‘WE PLAY HERE - STOP SHOOTING!’ But the great side of that is that the neighborhoods that we have been in, have been very responsive to it,” Cure Violence Site Director Jeff Ridgeway said.
Ridgeway and his team have handed out over 100 of these signs since the summer, before the most recent string of shootings this past week.
“We're trying to change norms within the community, but also mediating, making sure retaliation doesn't occur,” Ridgeway added.
Their hope is to see change.
“If we notice a decrease in violent crime in the area where the signs have been placed, will we stop it completely? I'm not sure about that, but a decrease will start if it's a ground swell of community activism that's connected to the sign — that's a win,” Ridgeway said.
As for my neighbor Mosley, she hopes the signs stay up because, according to her, they might be working.
“Since the sign has been up, it's been nice and quiet,” Mosley said.
Cure Violence has more of these signs to pass out. If you are interested in getting one, contact the Urban League of West Michigan at 616-245-2207.
