Louisville needs prayer.

In the last 48 hours, gun violence has ended four lives and dramatically changed countless others.

Eleven shootings in two days.

We must seek solutions, but as we come together to find answers, let's steer away from racist narratives that paint a negative picture of our most vulnerable neighbors.

Anytime our city loses someone to senseless gun violence, the victim and his or her family deserve our full attention — not as statistics, not as political ploys, not as criminals, but as human beings. It shouldn't matter what neighborhood they are from.

Prayers alone are not a solution to gun violence, and they won't bring back our sons and daughters. However, prayers play an important role in keeping the love, faith and hope in people who need it the most. That's what community is about.

Unfortunately, in our "black neighborhoods" it can appear as if there is more crime than community.

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That narrative, produced and reinforced by politicians, outsiders and the media aiming to rationalize violence in black communities, is racist. A 2013 WLKY investigation of "the real impact of local violence" gives us an example.

After interviewing victims and perpetrators of gun violence in the Beecher Terrace community, WLKY claimed to capture "a stunning snapshot of the fallout from violent crime on Louisville's streets."

"Nearly everyone here is immersed in an often paralyzing cycle of guns, violence and pain," reported WLKY news.

This came three years before Louisville's deadliest year when homicides took the lives of 117 people in 2016.

Former Beecher Terrace resident Jayjuan Taylor, 13 at the time, was profiled in the first part. To illustrate his experience with local violence, WLKY narrated his lifestyle.

When asked why he deals with guns, Taylor answered, "That's because I'm surrounded by bad stuff."

Taylor’s anger was fueled by an absent father who has been in and out of prison for as long as he can remember, according to WLKY's report.

Asking 19-year-old gunshot victim Stacia Young about her neighborhood, WLKY reported it as the west side.

When asked if there is anyone on the west side who hasn’t been touched by violence, Young answered, "No. Not at all," the report said.

With that, the investigation profiled the entire west side of Louisville, where 62,000 people reside — 80% of whom are African American. If western Louisville was a city, it would be Kentucky's third largest.

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Given this report, you'd think everyone living there is exposed to violence, has animosity toward the police, is being raised by a single mother, and therefore predisposed to violent behavior.

There's no mention of the failed war on drugs, redlining, housing discrimination or the failure of public housing projects, but instead the narrative asks what's wrong with black people, why are they killing each other?

For the "it has nothing to do with race" folks, the answer is the environment. For them, black people aren't inherently inferior or incapable of being civilized. That would be racist. Instead, black people are thugs, lazy, fatherless and violent because that's all they know and it's a part of their culture.

Those who carry that narrative may understand that the local and national government historically harmed black communities with the aforementioned policies. They may go further and blame Democrats for being the party of slavery and "handouts." That's why they don't see the government as a solution.

They don't see reparations, funding or other policy initiatives as feasible solutions to end poverty and reduce gun violence. Why would they take political risks when all black people have to do is handle conflict better, pull up their pants, get a job, take prayer walks and stop living in the past?

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Arguing against reparations to Congress, Burgess Owens, a black former NFL player, testified that "every Democratic town — every Democratic community — it’s a place of hopelessness. It’s where socialism thrives, where people don’t have hope, the people don’t like each other. They don’t like other people."

That's not western Louisville.

However, I grew up with that racist idea too. I thought "the hood" made us violent, desperate and underachieving. Therefore, I thought I was an exception, a token, and that's why people tell me, "you don't seem like the type of person from that side of town."

But I am from that side of town.

I grew up in a densely populated, segregated, low-income neighborhood that lacked investment, healthy food options, green spaces and programming for young people.

I grew up in a community that valued the principles of family, Jesus and education. A community where people prayed, learned, laughed, loved and lived with one another. A community that raised me to care about other people and inspired me to make a positive difference in the world.

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Algonquin, Park Duvalle, Russell, Portland, Shawnee, Park Hill, Chickasaw, California and Parkland aren't bad neighborhoods. They are the homes of thousands of Louisvillians, including myself, who deserve the same compassion, love and faith that we should extend to all our neighbors.

Louisville needs prayer, but we also need to take an active stand against gun violence and racism. It starts with us.

Quintez Brown is an opinion writer at the Courier Journal. He can be reached at 502-582-4187 or qbrown@courierjournal.com. Follow him at @quintez.brown on Instagram and @quintez_brown on Twitter.