02/04/2022
Virtually all of the gun violence in 2021 Cincinnati, Ohio was perpetrated by black people:
Big picture, Smitherman said there needs to be more opportunities, better access to education and more jobs for urban communities.
Looking at this yearâs statistics, the average homicide victim is a 33-year-old Black male. Of those killed, four were white. The suspects range in age from 21 to 52. Three are white and 16 are Black.
âEach of those lives matter and the majority of those who have lost their lives this year, last year and the year before that are African American,â Smitherman said. âItâs unfortunate to say it is at the hands of other African Americans.â
He said the community needs to take a stand and cooperate with the police. He said criminals must know they will be turned in and sent to prison.
âWe have to be very outspoken with our disgust with a personâs decision to pick up a gun and take the life of another,â Smitherman said. âAre we going to have this apathy about so much bloodshed in our community?â
Why mention this fact, which is replicated in any city across the United States with a black population approaching 10 percent (Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington both are cities where the black population is responsible for the majority of gun violence, despite being below 10 percent of the population)?
Because signs are going up across Cincinnati in black peopleâs yards begging blacks not to kill each other.
Mom who lost son to gun violence puts âTeach your son not to kill my sonâ sign in yard, Cincinnati.com, December 27, 2021
Itâs been two months since Jackie Randolphâs son, Javeir, died in front of her.
Her 16-year-old child was shot in October on Jonathan Avenue in Evanston while walking to a store.
Sheâs cried a lot since that day, but the overwhelming emotion she has is anger.
Sheâs angry that a life was taken from her and sheâs angry that so many other Black moms lost their sons to gun violence this year alone.
âItâs devastating. Itâs something as a mom you will never, ever get over,â Randolph said.
Inside her home, there are many pictures of Javeir. She wants his memory to live on and people to remember him as a bright, funny kid who had a beautiful smile.
At his funeral, his teachers from Western Hills University High School described him as a fun-loving, silly kid.
âThatâs all he was. My son was just a kid. He was so young. He was just a kid,â Randolph said looking at one of his pictures.
Outside of her home sits a yellow yard sign that reads, âTeach your son not to kill my son. I already taught mine not to kill yours.â
Her heart skipped a beat when she first saw the message on the sign. She immediately wanted one in her yard because the bold words werenât something that could easily be ignored.
âI want people to see it, really see it. So many Black kids, they were just kids. They have died,â Randolph said. âIt has to stop.â
A sign of the times in Cincinnati
She asked the man making the yard signs, local activist Stefan Pryor, for one.
16-year-old Javeir Randolph was shot and killed in October walking to the store in Cincinnati, OH.
His mother, Jackie, is bringing awareness to youth gun violence. No parent should ever have to deal with this pain.https://t.co/c08VbzxaSL
â Team ENOUGH đ„„đŽ (@Team_Enough) December 29, 2021As Pryor drove to deliver the yard sign to Randolph, he called her. She asked him to pray with her for her son as they spoke on the phone.
âWow, it touched me. When you lose a loved one⊠I mean⊠you could feel her pain,â Pryor said.
He said the immense pain the community has felt after what seemed like a year of never-ending tragedies motivated him to create the signs.
âSo many kids are dying. It needs to stop, and it starts by teaching your son that you arenât born to die. There is more to your life. And you arenât born and go out and kill somebody else,â Pryor said.
So far, he has given out 60 yard signs to be placed around town. He calls it a campaign against gun violence.
He is in the process of making additional signs, which will have a phone number on the back that people can call and ask for a prayer or be connected to resources.
For now, he will be the only one answering that number and helping connect the callers to help. He hopes to eventually get volunteers to help with the effort.
Pryor said it is worth devoting so much of his time and resources into this project as long it makes a difference in someoneâs life.
âI just have to try and go out in the streets and do something. I want this to change,â he said.
So far, many people have been receptive to his efforts, Pryor said. People honk in encouragement as he places signs around town or they ask to get one for their yard.
Randolph said she wants to help distribute the yard signs around the community, along with pictures of her son.
âSo many kids have died, and no one caresâ
âI want the city to see him. Whoever did this, theyâre gonna have to see him everywhere,â Randolph said. âI want justice for my son. Thatâs exactly what I want. And thatâs all I want.â
She said it is hard not to feel hopeless sometimes. Sheâs worried she wonât get justice for her Javeir. And sheâs worried that more Black children will die as the gun violence continues. Itâs just not right, she said.
Randolph said stopping gun violence needs to begin with creating stronger family ties and community relations.
But thatâs only part of the problem, she said, adding that the city needs to invest in neighborhoods such as Evanston that she believes have been neglected for far too long.
âYou only see this happening in certain neighborhoods. When my son was killed there were so many other shootings here that week. Why is this happening? So many kids have died, and no one cares. Itâs like no one flinches when it happens,â Randolph said.
Black Lives Matter, right?
Itâs all such a joke.