In Liberty City, town hall serves as a ‘United Cry’ to combat gun violence
Wednesday night, at a small Liberty City theater just a stone’s throw from where a police officer was fatally wounded three weeks ago, community activists and students gathered to discuss the gun violence that they say is plaguing the community.
The activists — artists, teachers and retired police officers — told their stories. The students, most in middle school and all part of a basketball youth camp called Stark’s Elite, soaked in the narratives, at times breaking into applause.
“I’m a mother of five, who lost two. I’m a mother who sold drugs. But I’m not ashamed of it, because I came back,” said Leatha Bush, who began a nonprofit that helps provide services to the survivors of gun violence with the help of Miami-Dade Commissioner Kionne McGhee’s office. “You can become anything you want to be.”
At one point, one of the speakers asked the students to stand and raise their hand if they’d lost a friend or family member to gun violence. All but two did.
“I can’t sit here and honestly say what the answer is because I’m not sure,” said Laquette Padgett, a community organizer who now works with the Community Collaboration Exchange. “Be prescient. Be intentional and don’t be afraid to get help.”
Wednesday’s program, titled the “United Cry for Togetherness,” was the idea of Dr. Robin Starks, who worked her way up at the Miami Police Department, before finishing her career as a major in Miami Gardens. She now runs a consulting business. Starks said she hopes for as many as seven similar workshops around town in the coming months.
At the forum, Starks sat alongside Padgett; teacher Tawana Akins, who said she’s lost six family members; retired school teacher Nicole Jackson; and artist Marvin Weeks, founder of Reimagine Liberty City.
The group spent the majority of the evening speaking about parents and the importance of them taking part in their children’s lives. Akins described the typical profile of a student most likely to be affected by gun violence: A below-grade reading level, poor attendance, a single parent and little experience with the world outside their home or classroom.
Akins said she taught middle school for two years and if parents had not paid their children enough attention by then, it could be too late.
“We need to be more involved in what our kids are doing,” she said. “Some people don’t do anything with their kids. And that’s sad to me.”
This story was originally published September 8, 2022 at 5:58 PM.
