THE GUN VIOLENCE HAS TO END…

BY: George Addison

“We lose eight children and teenagers to gun violence every day. If a mysterious virus suddenly started killing eight of our children every day, America would mobilize teams of doctors and public health officials. We would move heaven and earth until we found a way to protect our children. But not with gun violence.”
― Elizabeth Warren,

For years I have worked to inspire kids to pursue good lives and to be great people, expecting all the love and opportunities that life affords them. Never ever expecting to see their lives cut short due to gone violence.

24 year old Nubian M. Muhammad and 18 year old Kavonia McLain were both the victims recently of senseless gun violence. Although killed under different circumstances they were two positive, bright, intelligent and talented young people whom I watched grow up into young adults with tremendous potential and limitless possibilities to contribute to their community and society as a whole.

As a parent and friend of the families I’m profoundly sorry for their loss and I can’t begin to understand their grief or find the words to feel the space in their hearts. Nubian was laid to rest today and Kavonia will be laid to rest October 2nd. Something is tragically wrong in Louisville and the nation when young people cant wait at a bus stop, sit in a car or walk home without becoming victims.

This is evil at its worst…. please join me in sending prayers up for the parents and families of the victims. We as a community must uplift there spirits and celebrate the legacy of our fallen angels. We must double and triple our efforts to remove the guns out of our communities and the hands of the young. Our crisis goes beyond COVID… it’s extermination from within and that’s unacceptable people! We’re at the precipice and our future, our children’s future are at stake…

Nothing happens in our neighborhoods without someone knowing whose child or family is connected to the incident… no guns, no drugs no vice. Our neighborhoods do not manufacture guns or drugs! The silence is killing us all. Courage dictates that its time to make a change if “Black Lives” truly matter! You know what needs to be done… we can do it collectively or continue to watch our children die individually, the choice is yours!

Journalist, Ezra Klein sums it up this way “Only with gun violence do we respond to repeated tragedies by saying that mourning is acceptable but discussing how to prevent more tragedies is not. But that’s unacceptable. As others have observed, talking about how to stop mass shootings in the aftermath of a string of mass shootings isn’t ‘too soon.’ It’s much too late.”