BOSTON (MyFoxBoston.com) -- Local community leaders are closely watching what's happening in Baltimore and they're talking to FOX25 about their efforts to keep the peace here at home.
Riots in the streets of Baltimore have lead to a call for action in Boston.
"The violence must be condemned. The disrespect for law and order. The disrespect for property," Community Activist Reverend Eugene Rivers said. "There must be a zero tolerance attitude adopted by the black community."
Boston's black leaders are stunned at what they say is an escalation of unrest after a series of highly publicized deaths of young black men at the hands of law enforcement. The death of Freddie Gray was a tipping point in a community that was already on edge.
Boston NAACP President Michael Curry said, "I think this is an opportunity for us to turn this into an opportunity to do a conversation about race; do a conversation on generational abuse of law enforcement in communities of color. We're ready to have that conversation in Boston we're equally as ready to have it."
It's a conversation we've been told is happening everyday. Boston's police commissioner and chief of police call members of the city's black Clergy, the NAACP and other community groups daily to check in and work on ways to make sure Boston stays far away from the brink.
"In Boston, we're the anti-Baltimore, anti-Ferguson city. That's real. That's not smoke. There are people out here everyday working with young black people trying to make a difference," Rivers said.
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