Some Danville men known as the ‘Three Kings of Peace’ hope a meeting set for this evening (Friday, May 19th, 2017) will help stem violence in the city. Ed Butler is one of the ‘Three Kings of Peace’ and says they want gang leaders and members to attend a meeting at Garfield Park.
‘’We’re trying to get those gang leaders together to try to bring some kind of truce. You know, to just get into the minds to see what’s going on with them. I mean, why the shooting? Why all this violence that’s going on?
You know, innocent people are getting shot and killed, and they’re shooting through houses and stuff. So we’re just trying to get closure, to bring Danville back to where it used to be, to where we all got along and was peaceful with one another,’’ said Butler.
Butler is also the President of the Danville Branch of the NAACP, and he says he does not know whether any gang members will show-up.
‘’No, we don’t know if anybody is going to show up. But somebody has to step in the gap. We have all these pop-up meetings about ‘we need to do this’ and ‘we need to do that’. Talk is cheap. We need to put our talk to work. Come on out with us and join our marches for peace and non-violence, and let us all work this thing together.’’
Butler says the meeting is scheduled for 5 o’clock at Garfield Park’s basketball courts, ‘’so that we can talk and reason with you. So that we can just kind of see what’s going on. Just to try to see if we can have some truce. And if any parents know that their kids are involved – parents bring your kid if he’s part of any gang around Danville.’’
Although the meeting is taking place at a public park, Butler is asking the general public and the news media to allow the ‘Three Kings of Peace’ to meet privately with the gang members.
