This Thursday, concerned residents of New Orleans will be taking to the streets in a march on City Hall to bring attention to the appalling rise in violence in the city. The protest, called Silence is Violence, is a plea to the city's leaders to do something to stem the violence and destruction.

It's as if our country's and New Orleans' leaders are stuck in one of those horrible dreams where they can't seem to move their legs even though danger approaches. But instead of waking in a cold sweat and realizing that it's just a dream, the nightmare just goes on and on. Good people around the city have decided to take action.

"Our point of view is that we can't not do something. We must make our voices heard," says writer Ken Foster, one of the rally organizers.

Over on our Voices blog, Colleen Mondor has been rallying the rest of us who can't march to send a message to city leaders via fax. The relevant numbers are at the bottom of the post.

The blogosphere has chimed in with support, as in this post and this one.

So folks, send a fax, march, do what you can to make sure that people in New Orleans and in places of power know that we won't let American cities disintegrate before our eyes while we wage unnecessary wars in foreign lands.