Baltimore native and BGE Field Support Assistant Val Jenkins was lounging on the beach in Cancun, Mexico, when she read a story on Facebook about another murder in her hometown.
Baltimore has a high crime rate, and Jenkins immediately reposted the link, adding what she thought was a simple statement: “We need to start hugging and stop shooting.”
That night, she checked Facebook again. Forty-six friends had responded, saying they wanted to sign up to hug people.
Although that wasn’t what she originally planned, that response made her stop and think. Then she thought, “Let’s do it.”
On Aug. 5, 2017, Jenkins and other “hug dealers” stopped traffic, walking from Druid Hill Park to North and Pennsylvania avenues, a neighborhood notorious for drug transactions and the site where, in 2015, Freddie Gray was arrested. He later died in police custody, an event that sparked riots and an increase in violent crime in the city.
For four hours that day in August, the group hugged everyone from drug addicts to police officers—they even boarded three buses to share hugs with anyone who wanted one. “The next day, the governor’s office called, and the following Tuesday, the mayor’s office,” Jenkins said.
The “Hug Don’t Shoot” movement was official. Today, Jenkins can’t count how many hugs she has given out. There have been hugs for mothers who cried on her shoulder after their child died from violence; for men and women who had planned to commit suicide but didn’t because of the love and support Jenkins and her group gave; for families who lost everything to disaster; and for families during happy times, too, whether celebrating a new baby or opening a new business.
The COVID-19 pandemic has transformed the hugs to what Jenkins describes as a virtual hug: meeting with arms outstretched to touch fingertips. And the movement is strong as ever: Since incorporating as a nonprofit in 2017, Hug Don’t Shoot now has hug dealers in Winston-Salem, North Carolina; Waco, Texas; Atlanta; New York; New Jersey; and Virginia.
BGE has been the group’s No. 1 sponsor and supporter, said Jenkins, who often speaks about her nonprofit during work events. In addition, Hug Don’t Shoot is in the process of collaborating with the Trauma Advocacy Group so it can work directly with the police department, “To go under the yellow tape,” Jenkins said, to help victims and their family members.
“I never realized how powerful hugs were,” she said. “I’m no longer Val Jenkins—I’m ‘the hug lady.’”