Another senseless shooting: What in the name of the Lord is going on here? | Opinion
It seems that before I could get through the week after writing about gun violence, we were hit again with senseless shootings.
I was appalled when I learned that Ralph Yarl, 16, was shot and nearly died in Kansas City, Mo., because he rang the wrong doorbell. He thought he was at the right house to pick up his younger siblings.
That news had barely sunk in when I heard of the shooting of a popular Elgin, Texas, cheerleader who was shot when her friend Heather Roth, opened the driver’s side of a car, thinking it was her car. A stranger seated in the passenger seat of the car opened fire on her and her fellow cheerleaders, seriously injuring Payton Washington, 18.
Then just hours later, I learned that 20-year-old Kaylin Gillis, in the car with three other friends in upstate New York, in Hebron, was shot and killed when the driver of the car turned into the wrong driveway. They were simply looking for the home of a friend when the owner of the property they turned into, fired two shots from his front porch into the car, killing Gillis.
What, in the name of the Lord, is going on here, people? How many of us have ever gone to a house in a strange neighborhood and rang the doorbell thinking it was the right house? I have.
How many of us have ever gone to a car in the parking lot, thinking it was ours, only to find out it was the wrong car? I have.
And how many of us have used the driveway of a stranger’s driveway, thinking we had the right address? I have.
One of the shooting victims mentioned above, didn’t make it. What a tragedy. All because someone had a gun and thought it was OK to shoot first and ask questions later. The shooters in these three cases — Andrew Lester, 84, Pedro Tello Rodriguez Jr., 25, and Kevin Monahan, 65, have been arrested and charged,
The point is, any of us who have ever made such a mistake could have been the victim of gun violence. Thankfully, although I have made similar mistakes, by the grace of God I am still here to write about it.
If these incidents, along with the mass shootings that seem to happen nearly every day somewhere in our country, aren’t enough to make us stop and rethink our gun laws, I don’t know what it will take to wake us up.
We must find a way to keep our children safe. Are the donations from the National Rifle Association to some of our political leaders that much and so important that they don’t care anymore about our children’s safety? Have we come to this in America?
I was discussing the state of the careless use of guns in our country with a younger friend of mine, and she told me that she has been depressed ever since she heard about the teen who was shot for ringing the wrong doorbell.
“I just can’t get over it, Mama Bea,” she said to me. “I thought of my grandson, who is the age of the teenager who was shot. The shooting has caused me to be depressed. Our children are just not safe.”
She is not alone in feeling the way she does. The shooting of Yarl, Payton, and Gillis goes beyond racial or ethnic lines, and lets us know that too many people are allowed to carry and/or own guns who have no business with them.
I don’t have the answer to this problem. The answer lies with those we have elected to keep our children safe from gun violence. We are at the point where our elected officials can no longer turn a deaf ear to the cries of those who have lost their children and loved ones to gun violence.
Today the victim was the child or loved one of someone in your district. Tomorrow, dear Elected Official, it could very well be your child; your loved one. Think about that and do something before I have to write a condolence column on your behalf.
71st wedding anniversary celebrated
On a happier note, let’s celebrate with Deacon Arthur and Deaconess Claudia Crapp, who recently celebrated 71 years of wedded bliss.
The longtime and faithful members of the Historic Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church, 301 NW Ninth St. in Overtown, were married in a simple ceremony at the Dade County Courthouse in March 1952.
“They only paid a few dollars for the ceremony,” said their nephew Larry Capp, Ph.D. and longtime community and civic leader. “But what a return on a few dollars.”
Arthur Crapp is a retired, self-employed mechanic. Claudia worked 30 years for Sen. Bob Graham and his wife Adele, who still remember them fondly, Larry Capp said.
The deacon and deaconess have five children. Two daughters, Beverlyn and Emma Jean, are deceased. Their surviving children are Arthur Jr., Rosemary and Rhea Lois.
The deacon and deconess are also the grandparents and great-grandparents of “a bunch,” Capp said. “They didn’t want a big celebration, because they don’t like to leave the house too much since COVID,” he said. “But the family honored them in a family dinner.”
Warm Neighbors blessings to you, Deacon Arthur and Deaconess Claudia.
Honoring ‘community’ mothers at St. Matthews Missionary Baptist church
Congratulations to these “community” mothers who will be honored at a special pre-Mother’s Day luncheon at 1 p.m. on May 13, at Saint Matthews Missionary Baptist Church, 6100 NW 24th Ave. in Liberty City.
The theme of the luncheon is, “Unique Living Legends: Honoring African American Mothers”. At the event, the spotlight will be on 12, women, ages 78 to 98, and who have served the needs of countless others, expecting nothing in return, said Sharon Pritchett, an event organizer.
The honorees are: Eufaula Frazier, Louise Washington, Florene Romer, Rita Pierre, Amy Coleman, Cornelia Sands, Elizabeth Davis, Florrie Wright, Cotella Walton, Lillie Ross, Annette Rolle and Carolyn Mayes.
Bea Hines can be reached at bea.hines@gmail.com
