As Portland police struggle to keep up with each new shooting call in the city, a group of African American men are using their own skills to try to curb street violence.

Ex-gang members Roy Moore, 38, and Lionel “Moe” Irving, 40, said they’re tired of seeing yellow caution tape draped around intersections or apartment complexes when another teenager or young man gets shot. African American men account for a disproportionate number of people killed and wounded in shootings in Portland, police say.

So Moore and Irving are launching a social media campaign next week with the hashtag #WeAreTheCaution, with support from hip-hop musicians, church leaders, city officials, schools and students.

Recognizing that some of the recent shootings have stemmed from threats or, as one officer put it “instant insults’’ posted on Snapchat or other social media sites that disrespect one gang member or another, Moore and Irving hope their campaign will counter those messages.

“It’s our responsibility to put yellow tape around our community,’’ Irving said.

The effort builds on Men Building Men, a nonprofit mentorship program that he, Moore and others started nearly two years ago for former gang members.

“This is an opportunity for us to compete with the gang violence, compete with the streets,’’ Irving said. “Let’s get out in front and hold our community accountable.’’

Police have reported an unprecedented wave of violence at the start of 2020, with 23 shootings, including one homicide, in the first 10 days. Eight of the shootings occurred on New Year’s Day between 12:04 a.m. and 5:32 a.m.

That many on New Year’s Day is “remarkable,’’ said Assistant Chief Chris Davis.

At this time last year, nine shootings had occurred, police said. The police Gun Violence Reduction Team responded to 426 shootings in the city in 2019. Twenty-seven people died in shootings in Portland last year; five of those were shootings by police.

What’s troubling to officers is the number of bullet casings found at recent crime scenes: 53 at one; 46 at another, 41 and 38 at others, said Sgt. Mark Friedman of the Gun Violence Reduction Team. Police do forensic analysis on all recovered casings and bullets, and in the recent shootings, the quick tests have shown that multiple guns were involved in many of them.

“So these are gun battles,’’ Friedman said. “We’re overwhelmed right now.’’

Moore and Irving want their program to help: They’ve made yellow T-shirts that say “Caution -- Stop The Violence’’ or “I Don’t Want To Die Young.’’ They want people to wear them – or just yellow T-shirts – and post photos of themselves or others online with the special hashtag next Friday, tagging their group MenBuildingMen.

On Feb. 26, a “Stop the Violence” night of service will be held at a North Portland church, tentatively the Abundant Life Church, to celebrate life, possibly followed by a “walkout’’ or march “to interrupt the streets -- let them know what happens when gun violence happens. It interrupts everybody. It affects everybody,’’ Moore said.

Josiah Greene, 20, a 2017 graduate of Roosevelt High School, also is recording a rap song he wrote called “I Don’t Want To Die Young.’’

“There’s way too many brothers in the graveyard, or they’re locked up in the state yard,’’ Greene sang into a microphone Friday, providing a preview to police and community members at North Precinct.

Amid his lyrics, sound bites played from local news clips on recent shootings.

“We need to stop the violence in the streets … I’m going to step up and be the one to be the example,’’ Green rapped. “Shouldn’t have to risk your life, shouldn’t have to gamble. The city falling apart. The streets got to dismantle.’’

Greene is the the son of Nike Greene, Portland’s new director of the Office of Youth Violence Prevention, and local Pastor Herman Greene of Abundant Life Church. He said he wrote the lyrics a week ago, after a friend, Brandon Dean of B Knock Productions, helped produce a beat for him.

“You can’t control people’s actions,’’ Josiah Greene said. “All I can do is use my music to try to make a change and use it to inspire people my age.’’

Nike Greene said she’s proud of her son but disturbed about the circumstances that spurred him to act.

“The fact that my son has to proclaim this – as an African American male, this is real -- we have to take the lead,” she said. “We have to take a stance.’’

East Precinct Cmdr. Tashia Hager applauded what Greene, Irving and Moore are doing.

“The police are not going to resolve this issue all by ourselves,’’ she said.

Police said some of the shootings stem from an ongoing rivalry between the Hoover street gang and the Woodlawn Park Bloods. They also suspect others result from “spontaneous’’ disputes that erupt over a girl or sign of disrespect. Bullets fly because gang members are perhaps more at ease carrying guns now as a strapped police force stops them less, some veteran officers said.

The shootings are occurring across the city -- in North, Northeast, Southeast, Southwest and Northwest Portland, no longer concentrated in any one neighborhood, police said.

“It’s all over the place. We’re trying to target the people who are involved, but they’re not easy to find. They move around and stay in different locations,’’ said Sgt. Ken Duilio of the Gun Violence Reduction Team.

Irving said he and Moore are urging people to be proactive, talk to youths, redirect them into positive activities such as sports or music or art.

Moore said he had been deep into drugs, an opioid addict who was shot in Las Vegas in 2009. Now, he’s a gang outreach worker. Irving was sentenced in 2006 to 17 years for distributing cocaine and fatally shooting a 14-year-old boy, an unintended target in a drive-by shooting in Tacoma in 1999. Now Irving said he respects the police who rush out to shooting scenes, putting their own lives in danger.

“We’re asking for community accountability because all of us in here have nieces, nephews, sons, brothers, uncles, cousins and in some cases fathers who are out there active,’’ Irving told those attending a Community Peace Collaborative meeting. The gathering grew out of a city gang violence task force.

“Say something,” he said. “You might not be able to stop them from doing it but you can help them think.

“It’s our responsibility to put the yellow tape around our family members and say, ‘Gosh, caution, don’t go out there and act like a fool.’’

-- Maxine Bernstein

Email at mbernstein@oregonian.com

Follow on Twitter @maxoregonian

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