The 24th annual Stop the Violence march will be held on Jan. 15 at the Songs of Selma Park.

The march begins at noon on the steps of Brown Chapel AME, goes to Songs of Selma Park and finishes with a walk across the Edmund Pettus Bridge on the Martin Luther King, Jr. (MLK) holiday.

Rev. Michael Bowen of the Safe Haven Center, who organizes the event,  appeared at the Selma City Council Work Session on Jan. 4. City Council President Billy Young said Stop the Violence is an important event in Selma. Bowen asked the council for donations, which council members agreed to take from their discretionary funds. Bowen said any donation would be accepted and appreciated.

“We are actually having the rally on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday this year,” Bowen said. 

Bowen also told the city council that the Islamic and Jewish Communities will participate.

“The Islamic and Jewish committees are coming together,” Bowen said. “We will be wearing t-shirts with ‘Word of Peace’ written on them. This is something that has never been done before.”

Bowen said that officials from New York City plan to attend the event.