Will Smith Marches Against Violence

PHILADELPHIA (July 23, 2006) — Will Smith returned to his hometown to participate in a march against violence Saturday.The actor and rapper said he wanted to do something about the violence in the city, which had 380 killings in 2005 and appears likely to top that number this year.“We’re going to take this walk, hopefully draw a little attention to the problem and get some solutions,” Smith said as he walked with his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, in West Philadelphia, along with local officials and members of the community.The level of violence last week prompted the Philadelphia Daily News to call for the National Guard to patrol city streets.Gov. Ed Rendell gave Philadelphia a $7.5 million grant for 166,000 hours of police overtime to help deal with gun violence until state police free up 70 city officers by taking over highway patrols.

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