On Sunday afternoon, a “Unify the Streets” rally was held in Dallas in nearly 100-degree heat. The walk was organized by A Steady Hand, a non-profit group that provides mentorship, educational exposure, and leadership development.
According to the organization’s website, the purpose of the Juneteenth rally was to take a stance against gun-related violence and make known that “enough is enough, and collectively we, the citizens, will no longer stand for it!”
Donald Parish Jr., founder of A Steady Hand and assistant pastor at True Lee Missionary Baptist Church, and a few dozen other committed individuals made the trek from Yvonne A. Ewell Townview Magnet Center to Downtown Dallas.
Joining the group was the Reverend Robert Price of Saint Matthew’s Episcopal Cathedral, who expressed the importance of faith communities coming together and taking a stance on issues concerning the community, whether it be a crime, education, or how people treat one another.
“The difficulty of the walk, in many ways, is just simply a symbolic with our brothers and sisters in their struggle,” Price said. “We are called to be one people and one community and to be looking out for each other – and it takes all of us to do that.”
Parish is not a stranger to taking a stance and committing to rallying for change.
In 2017, Parish was concerned about whether enough men would attend the first-ever “Breakfast with Dads” program along with staff and organizers at a middle school in South Dallas.
The majority of the boys who expressed interest in taking part did not have a father or other father figure in their lives who were involved.
Fearing the worst, organizers appealed to the neighborhood to enlist 50 more men to come and support these students.
The school was surprised to see over 600 volunteers on campus the day of the event. Because of the heavy website traffic, many more men wanted to join but could not do so because the online system handling the volunteer background checks crashed.
The event’s media coverage inspired many people across the country to begin volunteering in their local school communities for the first time and develop similar student-focused initiatives, the organization’s website states.
