11/02/2026
Stop SHOOTING! Let’s take back OUR community, let your voices be heard! Share this message, let’s display unity.
STATEMENT FROM THE URBAN LEAGUE OF ALABAMA PRESIDENT AND CEO, WILLIAM A. BARNES
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | November 2026
Urban League of Alabama Calls for Unity, Healing, and Collective Action Following Magic City Classic Shooting
BIRMINGHAM, AL — Saturday, a celebration of community, culture, and the proud traditions of our Historically Black Colleges and Universities was tragically overshadowed by an act of gun violence that left nine people shot, including one life lost.
On behalf of the Urban League of Alabama, we extend our deepest condolences to the family grieving the loss of their loved one, and our heartfelt prayers for the recovery of those injured. We also stand with the families, friends, and countless members of our community whose sense of safety and peace has been shaken by this tragedy.
Behind every headline is a human life. Behind every victim is a family. And behind every act of violence is a community left to carry the pain.
The Magic City Classic represents the very best of our community—our history, our unity, our economic strength, and our shared pride. We cannot allow acts of violence to define this treasured tradition or diminish the spirit of the thousands who gather each year in celebration.
But we must also recognize that expressions of outrage and sympathy, while important, are not enough. Our community deserves more than condolences after another shooting. It deserves sustained action to prevent the next one.
Through the Community Violence Intervention (CVI) program in partnership with the City of Birmingham, the Urban League of Alabama is working to confront violence at its roots. This critical partnership focuses on engaging individuals at the highest risk of violence, interrupting cycles of retaliation, connecting residents to resources and opportunities, and building relationships that help resolve conflicts before they turn deadly.
Our partnership reflects a shared commitment to addressing community violence through prevention, intervention, and meaningful community engagement. We recognize that lasting public safety requires more than responding to violence after it occurs. It requires investing in people, strengthening neighborhoods, and creating opportunities that offer alternatives to violence.
This work is grounded in a fundamental belief: violence is not inevitable, and lives can be saved when we invest in prevention, intervention, and people.
We also recognize that neither government nor law enforcement can solve the problem of community violence alone. Lasting change requires parents, faith leaders, educators, business owners, neighborhood organizations, public officials, and residents working together with a shared commitment to protecting human life.
Today, we are calling on the entire community to move beyond frustration and become active participants in the solution. We must reject the culture of retaliation, refuse to normalize gun violence, support those working on the front lines of violence prevention, and create meaningful pathways to employment, education, mentorship, and hope for those most vulnerable.
And to our community, let us remember that silence and indifference cannot be our response. If we know someone struggling with conflict, we must intervene. If we see someone at risk, we must reach out. If we have the ability to mentor, employ, guide, or support someone, the do it.
The Urban League of Alabama remains committed to working alongside the City of Birmingham and our community partners—not simply in moments of tragedy, but every day in the work of building safer neighborhoods, stronger families, and greater opportunities for all.
We cannot change what happened yesterday. But together, we can change what happens tomorrow.
Our families deserve peace. Our children deserve safety. And our city deserves a future where celebrations end with cherished memories, not shattered lives.
City of Birmingham Government Free Da Streetz - Birmingham Council President Pro Tempore LaTonya A. Tate Uche A Bean NAACP Metro Birmingham Branch Birmingham City Council WBRC 6 News ABC 33/40 Clinton Woods Crystal Smitherman Jefferson County, Alabama
