Munir Bahar, Organizer of Baltimore's 300 Men March, rallying the men gathering to "bring the energy of love" before marching in a show of support to encourage black boys to stay in school. Timothy Christmas

Baltimore, MD -- On the last Friday of a particularly murderous summer, and with the first day of school on the other side of the weekend, the men have come out for the boys. They will walk 75-strong through Park Heights, one of the city's distressed neighborhoods, as dusk gives way to darkness (and often death) in an effort to encourage black boys as they return to the classroom to attend, to excel, to thrive.

Women have been asked to stay behind, not out of disrespect, but because this is something the men believe they need to do alone.

It's the men's absence – particularly as fathers – that march organizers see as the primal wound that leads so many of the city's young black boys to fail to realize their potential. And when the boys fail, it fuels the violence, which many eventually fall victim to themselves.

This summer's staggering body count led Baltimore residents – often accused of being numb, if not apathetic to the city's plight – to come out from hiding and claim a role in trying to fix this.

Munir Bahar, who rallied the men tonight, is one of them.

At the end of June, after a killing spree in which 40 people were shot (20 in a single weekend) and 16 killed in less than two weeks, the 32-year-old social entrepreneur, community organizer, and martial arts instructor called for 300 men – an homage to Sparta – to join him in a march against gun violence down North Avenue. His message struck a nerve and 600 men showed up, including the mayor. They walked 10 miles for two hours. Since then, Bahar has been capitalizing on the momentum generated that night. He has trained and organized smaller units of 20-30 men to go onto the roughest corners and engage men and boys about their lives, their options, and the "beefing" that in turn leads to much of the violence. His efforts have been joined and supported by two young black city councilmen, Brandon Scott and Nick Mosby.

But if that first march in July was reactive, tonight’s in Park Heights is proactive.

"Black boys need to see strong men and know they care about them and have faith in their abilities," Bahar says.

The men on the march say they are trying to fill a void that is often taken for granted. Because fatherless children and adults are so common in their communities, not having a dad carries little stigma. Several men say that the absence of a father, or of strong male figures in general, led many of them down their own criminal paths before they found their way out.

This includes Bahar, who says that despite having a present and loving mother, he still went wayward. He first served time at the age of 15 for assaulting another minor. Then, while a student at Morgan State University, he turned himself in on an outstanding warrant related to drug charges. He gave away all his clothes before going to jail and served a few months on a suspended five-year sentence. When he returned to school, he founded Brother to Brother, a mentoring program that ran for five years and served approximately 200 men. He tracked his own father down through a Google search in 2004, when he was 23. Bahar says he was hoping to feel a connection, but didn't.

In 2007, Bahar opened COR (Committed Organized Responsible) Fitness, a for-profit community training center that works to improve the health and lives of the people it serves. In 2012, COR moved into the old 19th century Walter's Public Bathhouse No. 2 in East Baltimore. At the entrance, the word "MEN" is engraved in large capital letters into the limestone trim.

Bahar and others walking with him tonight admit that the systemic issues in Baltimore are real: there aren't enough living wage jobs, many public schools are failing, addiction rates are high, and the criminal justice system is rife with inequities – all of which contribute to the breakdown of black families.

But the men insist that they can no longer be left out of the solutions, especially when they have tread this path themselves and know it well. Engaging them only through the criminal justice system or for child support fails not only them and their families, but also entire communities.

While the discussion of black fatherhood is sometimes seized on as a way to place responsibility for the breakdown of the black family entirely on black men, Councilman Mosby – who has also been organizing weekly “Enough is Enough” marches in his district – says there is no reason to be shamed into silence.

"I'm ok talking about the breakdown of the black family," he says, "Because a lot of it was intentional – from slavery, to urban renewal, to certain social welfare policies to the war on drugs."