SPRINGFIELD — State Rep. Bud Williams organized a panel discussion on addiction and gun violence hosted by the Bay Area Neighborhood Council.
A group of about 30 people listened to Williams, Springfield Police Superintendent Lawrence “Larry” Akers, Families against Violence President Francena Brown and Della Blake, a drug and alcohol counselor with Black Behavioral Health Network, examine how the issues intersect and how they affect the Springfield community.
Williams spoke about some of the work he has done in the Legislature. He filed legislation in 2023, and again in 2025, to create an Ebony Alert in Massachusetts. Similar to an Amber Alert for missing children and a Silver Alert for missing seniors, the Ebony Alert would be sent out to let people know of missing Black women and girls. The bill was sent to the House Ways and Means Committee in October 2025 and remained there until the end of the 2025-2026 formal session on July 31.
Williams also said he is advocating for a statewide publicly accessible database tracking the status of unresolved murders, including the geographical data. He said Akers and Hampden County District Attorney Anthony Gulluni are “on board,” but he also is working to get buy in from state Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell.
“It shouldn’t be 30 years and 20 years without having an answer,” said Williams. “Even if they can’t resolve it, pick the phone up, ‘We haven’t resolved it. We’re still investigating.’ Just talk to people.” He said, “They have a right to closure.”
Akers said his department has a 75% homicide solve rate, while the national average is 62%. “Understand we’re trying,” he said. “Don’t believe the Springfield Police Department doesn’t care about a certain person because of what they look like or what they sound like,” he said. “I have never seen a homicide detective in the city of Springfield say, ‘I could care less about that … I didn’t like that person anyway.’”
Akers said he was not just a member of law enforcement, but of the community. He said there is a divide between the community and the Police Department, which he attributed to misunderstanding. “We all know the history of our department, especially when it comes to people of certain communities,” he said. “I’m not going backwards. I learned from the past … We have to start moving this city forward.” He said part of his mission it to “give a voice to the people who were never heard before.”
Blake said stigma and shame continue to be barriers to education around addiction. “I just want to remind everyone that when someone dies from an overdose, that’s a loss. When our young people engage in violence and they’re not killed by a bullet, but they’re locked for life, that is a loss,” said Blake.
Blake said she is working to make naloxone, a medicine that can rapidly reverse overdose, a standard part of first aid kits. “I’ve had professionals say to me, ‘Oh, I don’t need that stuff. I don’t know anybody — you don’t know who you know.’” As an example, Blake said a neighbor’s child may be struggling with addiction. She said, “If that child overdoses and that mother doesn’t have that life-saving medication, how about she knocks on your door and you can say, ‘I have Narcan.’” Narcan is a brand name under which naloxone is sold.
“Change will not come if we wait for some other person, or if we wait for some other time,” Blake said, quoting former President Barack Obama.
One group that is not waiting for others is Families Against Violence. The organization offers counseling and support for families experiencing grief, but it has also created programs to help stop violence. Brown said, “We deal with the older kids because the older kids is what’s doing all the crime out here.” Families Against Violence is working on teaching life skills to teens because school districts are graduating them without necessary skills, she said. She said it is also working to get young people connected with jobs.
Brown, who lost two of her children to gun violence, spoke about the impact that her grief had on her. “No matter if you lost your loved one to violence, sudden death, suicide, domestic — you’ll never get over the pain,” she said. “We shouldn’t have to be burying our children.”
