As of today there have been 435 murders and counting. There are only 365 days in a year, therefore here in Philadelphia we have surpassed the days of the year by 62 murders.
Please multiply 427 X 2= 854. This number represents the parents of the murdered victims. Take 854 x 2 =1,708 which represents the grandparents. Take 1,708 x 6= 10,248 which represents the siblings, uncles and aunts. Now let’s times 10,248 x 50= 512,400. Sadly, this represents the cousins, friends and community. This is a rough amount of how many people that have been affected by the aftermath that one murder can cause. Let this sink in.
This has sickened me and left me in a stage of hopelessness. I say this because of the many families here suffering with grief leaving some to retaliate, which will add more families into this club no one wants to be a part of.
I also often wonder about another community that is on the rise, which is the gun shot victims who have survived. A lot are living with guilt, fear, embarrassment and survivor’s remorse. Some have extensive injuries and will have to depend on others for the rest of their lives as they lay confined to assistive equipment such a wheelchair, reliving the scene over and over again, as they take their anger out on everyone because they are now trying to adjust to their new life as a gunshot victim and survivor.
One bullet can change you from independent to dependent, for the ones who make it. I’ve witnessed fathers learning how to walk again as their child take his or her first step. A teenager fighting back the tears as she feeds her father who no longer can feed himself. A mother caring for her child as he tries his hardest to die by suicide because he survived a shooting and his friend didn’t.
The siblings are suffering in silence as they cry themselves to sleep holding a garment of their murdered sibling, asking, why God? The aunt and uncle praying for their sister and brother who is now is in this club no parent should be in, trying so hard to comfort their sibling, as they try to comfort themselves. The cousins and friends visit the gravesites in disbelief as they reminisce and smoke blunts to ease the pain.
Meanwhile, the parents walk around trying their hardest to ease the pain as they paint a smile on each day. Community activists bringing awareness to gun violence as the leaders say they will do something about it, but don’t. Is this our reality? What is the answer to this problem at hand? Is this the new normal?
This should not be the reality for anyone. We as a society are already dealing with enough. Plus, we are dealing with Covid-19, wearing masks and trying our hardest to abide by the proper protocols issued by the CDC.
There will never be one solution to ending gun violence. As we know, the guns were here way before any of us were born. If we as parents and adults take back our homes and stop allowing the children to disrespect us, that would be a beginning.
Men need to especially become more active in the home and in the community because you are needed. If your child is part of the problem, get them the help they need to turn themselves around. Stop ignoring all of the warning signs, and if your child has any weapons in your home please turn them in. Raise your child and be the mother or father you are supposed to be. Stop being your child’s friend. Enroll your child in one of the programs geared towards helping teens as a preventative action.
In closing, there is no one answer for this issue at hand. We all need to work together to save our children because they are not able to save themselves.
Kimberly Kamara is the author of “Where’s My Daddy,” a children’s book aimed at kids who’ve lost a parent to murder. The book was inspired by her family’s continuing journey of grief after her son, Niam Johnson-Tate, lost his life to gun violence on July 5, 2017. Kimberly has two daughters and lives in Germantown with her husband.
