A nineteen year old teenager wakes up to the dawn of a new start. He goes and works till midnight to support his family. As he returns home, his future explodes as a bullet digs through his brain and exiles his soul from his body. Now lying in a grave, he leaves behind a grieving mother whose hopes and dreams are all shattered. Such is the fate of many youth in Philadelphia and throughout America. Statistics show that approximately, 380 people in Philadelphia were killed by gun violence in the year 2005. What is being done to end this trend of bloodshed? One group which is helping to annihilate this pattern of violence is Mothers in Charge ( MIC).
The MIC was founded in 2003 by a mother name Dorothy Johnson Speight who lost her son to this kind of violence. It is an organization made up of women who seek to eliminate violence in the Philadelphia community and provide support for families who have lost a child to street violence. According to Mrs. Speight, the MIC provides counseling for mothers and families who lost a child through support groups, group meetings, and telephone counseling. In fact, Mrs. Speight herself is a licensed professional counselor. One of the successes with the MIC is that, “we were able to help grieving parents and siblings cope with the lost of their child and provide for them,” said Mrs. Speight.
Besides providing support for grief stricken families, the MIC was successful in leading a boycott against a red T-Shirt which had words boldly imprinted on it saying, “ STOP SNITCHING. Mrs. Speight stated, that this T-shirt gave out the message that when people saw something that was not right in their neighborhood they should not tell.
Other successes in their war against violence are school programs which teach children alternatives to solving problems. Therefore a child can learn what to do when someone is picking on them without picking up a gun. They can also learn to let self defense be their last alternative.
Though the MIC had many successes in its three years of existence, it still faces one major challenge. That is “getting everyone in Philadelphia to work to stop the violence” said Mrs. Speight. I guess it is like people turn a deaf ear to the plea for peace. For no one notices the destruction of violence until it attacks them. So, the MIC is seeking the support of youth and even children to take a stand against violence.
Perhaps it is hard to stop violence because it is a vile part of human nature. From the days of ancient empires mankind has solve its problems through carnage. Yet, the end result is always the same. A mother, a father, a brother, a sister, is emotions are left shattered by Death's secret weapon called violence. Organizations like the MIC, remind us that violence does not always have to be a necessary evil. So we must work hard to end it.
