Mothers Who Have Lost Children March For Peace
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The recent outbreak of violence in Minneapolis has left neighbors outraged and demanding change. The community gathered there on Sunday for a "Northside Prayer Walk and Vigil."
Community members from north Minneapolis along with the mothers who've lost their children to homicide, prayed and sang loudly. They did whatever they could to tell those responsible that they simply won't take it anymore.
It's no coincidence that the mother taking the lead in singing "We Shall Overcome" is perhaps the mother who's overcome the most.
"Twelve years after my son was murdered and the day I went to Stillwater (Prison) to meet with him, I was delivered and set free from all the hatred in my heart," said Mary Johnson.
The man standing next to Johnson at Sunday's vigil is also the man who murdered her only child -- it happened on the streets of north Minneapolis in 1993.
"We're still going around sharing the story of forgiveness and reconciliation," Johnson said.
Oshea Isreal was released from prison in December 2009.
"The violence and the youth, and I was once there and that's what put me where I was. To know that someone can forgive me for that act, the one word I can come up with is liberated," said Isreal.
Moving forward is what Sunday was all about; this community took several steps forward.
Also on the front lines was Angel Cradle who lost her son to homicide four years ago
"These kids today don't realize their parents did not teach them to go out and shoot somebody. So where is it coming from? Where are the guns coming from? Where are they getting them and why are they shooting these babies?" asked Cradle.
Each of the pictures the mothers held during the vigil represents one of their babies -- victims of homicide.
The message written on the sidewalk with chalk marks the bold print of a community with kickback far stronger than that of a gun.
There were also a lot of parents from the neighborhood at vigil who chose to bring their young children. These are parents who say they want a neighborhood where they don't think twice before sending their kids to the playground.
They say they do have hope that their showing of solidarity could be the start of change.
