SUITLAND, Md. — On Saturday, mothers from across the region gathered to discuss and come up with ways to end one of the leading causes of death in our country, gun violence. The indescribable pain of losing a child is what fuels these women to carry out this mission, so no other mother ever has to stand with them.
Five mothers, bonded by trauma…all who’ve lost sons. Each woman who participated in the ‘What is My Purpose Now?’ panel discussion with local leaders, hoped their words will resonate and bridge the widening gap between families and community.
Tiffani Evans lost her son PJ when a bullet, intended for someone else, killed him while he was playing video games. “Right now, violence is an all-time high. It's just it seems like it's just getting worse,” she said.
The listening and brainstorming session was closed to the media, but we spoke with these mothers before the event. Ja’Ka McKnight said her 13-year-old son King was killed last year.
The accused killer was only 12. Too young to drive but wielded a weapon that ended the life of her son.
“I feel that if we come together and we stay in this one we can do a major we can make a major impact,” McKnight said.
Veronica Edmonds said one of the realities families must face is that parents must be more active and honest with themselves about what their children are doing. “Check our kids. They come in our house… they have guns. We act like we don't know what our kids are really doing. We know. We know. So, if we came together and stop acting like we don't know and stop being our kids friends, I think we can stop it,” McKnight said.
Lakisha DeVaughn said everyone described her son Kentrell as a beautiful soul. She never had any children before her son was murdered in Kenilworth and dedicated her life to mentoring others.
DeVaughn wants everyone to remember, it’s not just us who the killers hurt.
“When ya’ll take someone’s life, you not only kill that person, you kill us as a whole, family, community, the youth because like I said, he was saving lives. So now somebody else has to pick up where he left off at and who will except for us?” DeVaughn said.
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