An ancient message will be deployed Tuesday in Washington, D.C.’s Anacostia neighborhood in hopes of stemming a rising tide of gun violence that resulted in 203 homicides in 2022.
Posters bearing the words “Thou Shalt Not Kill,” taken from the Ten Commandments as recorded in Exodus 20, will be distributed at the Busboys and Poets restaurant on Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SE starting at 11 a.m., said Phillip Pannell of the Anacostia Coordinating Committee.
The first 1,000 posters will be paid for by the office of D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, with restaurateur Andy Shallal funding the printing of 2,000 more, Mr. Pannell said.
Police said one man was killed and an “unintended victim” was shot outside the Anacostia restaurant on Dec. 28. In February 2022, armed men entered the K Street NW restaurant and demanded money, but fled without taking anything, police said.
“The D.C. Office of Gun Violence Prevention says it wants to be part of this movement,” Mr. Pannell said. “It launches here in Ward 8, east of the [Anacostia] river, where most of the homicides have occurred, but we want this to be a citywide movement.”
Using the biblical phrase to spark conversations about violent deaths isn’t new, he said.
“Around 30 years ago, there was an at-large D.C. Council member named William Lightfoot, and he printed several hundred of the ‘Thou Shalt Not Kill’ posters at the height of the crack epidemic, when we were also experiencing a high number of homicides. And it really just sparked conversation,” Mr. Pannell said.
He said the community is “still dealing with a persistent problem with violence and murders,” but “some people have basically become numb to it because it’s so routine.”
He said he hopes displaying the message will “spark conversation” in the community.
“One thing it definitely does is that it visually pricks the collective consciousness of the community,” Mr. Pannell said.
A spokeswoman for Ms. Bowser did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Correction: An earlier version of this story misidentified the D.C. Office of Gun Violence Prevention.
• Mark A. Kellner can be reached at mkellner@washingtontimes.com.
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