Violence and killings in African-American communities dominated the conversation yesterday at the 5th annual Black Family Reunion, at Shadyside's Mellon Park.

A panel discussion among local black leaders touched on a variety of topics -- including education, economic development and health care -- but talk kept coming back to the spate of homicides in the city, where 47 people have been killed so far this year.

Talk centered on the pros and cons of working with police in inner-city neighborhoods, the positive role models -- or lack thereof -- for young males in those neighborhoods, and the need to work with government leaders to stem the flow of guns into the city. One of the gunmen in the double homicide Thursday in Homewood was carrying an AK-47 assault-style rifle.

"That type of weapon, there is no reason for that to be sold. We have to push more efforts for gun control," said Rashad Byrdsong, executive director of the Community Empowerment Association, which hosted the event.

Five men have been killed in the past week, with no arrests -- raising the common complaint that many people who witness or have information about killings do not speak to police, for fear of retaliation. But retaliation can come in many ways, said B.J. Samson of Lt. Gov. Catherine Baker Knoll's office.

"You are jeopardizing your family" by not speaking up, she said. "Your family can't come visit you, your children can't play outside, due to violence in your community."

"Black people are more cooperative with police than any people on earth," countered Jasiri X, a Nation of Islam minister in Wilkinsburg, but get turned off by bad experiences with them, such as when police fired Tasers at youths illegally playing with an East Hills fire hydrant last week.

"When you call police, they do harm to you and harm to people in your community," he said.

Others pointed to different ways to stop violence before it occurs, such as more active leadership from African-American churches. Austin Davis, 18, the junior mayor of McKeesport and vice chair of the Mon Valley People's Action Committee, said churches "can open their doors all day long. Nothing will come in except flies if you don't engage the youth and keep them there."

Some called for activists, agencies and governments to work more closely together. That has been the case in the Hill, said Daniel Lavelle, chief of staff to state Rep. Jake Wheatley, D-Hill District, where groups are cooperating on getting more funding for after-school programs.

If people had jobs they might not have to look to crime, noted many others, but there are roadblocks there, too. A recent Allegheny County workshop on building-trades jobs attracted some 700 people, noted Mark Jones of County Chief Executive Dan Onorato's office, but most of them found they would be disqualified by requirements that they have a high school diploma, a driver's license and be free of drugs.

Getting at jobs another way, Peter Speaks, Gov. Ed Rendell's special adviser on African-American issues, said the state is trying to emphasize "re-entry" job training for those leaving prison, as well as other job programs by and for minority-owned businesses.

None of those problems is new, of course, so the leaders agreed yesterday to meet again in coming weeks to follow up on some of the recommendations -- perhaps targeting more after-school programs to help keep youths off the streets.

"I'm sick and tired of the same issues and not being able to solve any of them," said Ms. Samson. "When we come back for the sixth picnic, I want somebody to say 'We solved that issue.' "