On May 14, 2022, 10 people went grocery shopping in Buffalo, New York. They were murdered and yet more were injured by an 18-year-old white supremacist who drove four hours to a Black neighborhood with a legally purchased AR-15 automatic weapon. Less than a week later, 19 elementary school children were killed in Uvalde, Texas, targeted by an 18-year-old from their community in possession of legally acquired AR-15 rifles. Less than a week later, over the Memorial Day weekend, there were 17 mass shootings. As I write, police are managing the aftermath of a shooting in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
I remember being in elementary school, huddled in the corner of a dark classroom as my teacher locked the door and instructed us to be silent. As I observed my peers, I noticed an array of behaviors in response to practicing the most terrifying scenario we could have imagined. Some stricken with anxiety, others silently crying with their heads in their laps, and others with smiles on their faces, chuckling ever so quietly as we conducted the active shooter drill.
Our society has a tendency to create solutions for symptoms rather than stepping back and asking how those symptoms came to be. We do this with everything from health care to education to homelessness to the management of legal weapons. This puts us in a never-ending hydra loop where we deal with one aspect of an issue at a time rather than the whole. We need to stop.
Everyone lost to gun violence is someone’s beloved. Beloved is a multi-media campaign exploring gun violence in-depth in four phases: The Problem of gun violence as a symptom of illness (or infection) caused by systemic inequality; The History of gun violence, root causes, and local and national data trends. The Solutions to end gun violence including King County Public Health’s regional approach to gun violence prevention and treatments; and finally, the ideation of a world without gun violence, The Beloved Community. The Beloved project is brought to you in partnership with Seattle Office of Arts & Culture Hope Corps program, King County’s Public Health team, Converge Media, Black Coffee Northwest, Toybox Consulting, Creative Justice, The Facts Newspaper, Forever Safe Spaces, Northwest African American Museum, Presidential Media, and the South Seattle Emerald.
As a child, Tia Yarbrough dreamed that when she grew up, she would help young people — but she never imagined her dream would lead her back to the place where she’d spent hours of her childhood.
Lifelong anti-violence leader carries the torch of freedom by fighting against the disease of gun violence.
by Chardonnay Beaver
Everyone lost to gun violence is someone’s beloved. Beloved is a multi-media campaign exploring gun violence in-depth in four phases: The Problem of gun violence as a symptom of illness (or infection) caused by systemic inequality; The History of gun violence, root causes, and local and national data trends. The Solutions to end gun violence including King County Public Health’s regional approach to gun violence prevention and treatments; and finally, the ideation of a world without gun violence, The Beloved Community. The Beloved project is brought to you in partnership with Seattle Office of Arts & Culture Hope Corps program, King County’s Public Health team, Converge Media, Black Coffee Northwest, Toybox Consulting, Creative Justice, The Facts Newspaper, Forever Safe Spaces, Northwest African American Museum, Presidential Media, and the South Seattle Emerald.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, restoration is defined as “the action of restoring a person to a former state or position; the fact of being restored or reinstated.”
In the context of gun violence, restoration can be described as the process of achieving a sense of innocence that abides in freedom — an innocence that has been violated through encounters that alter an individual’s worldviews. Restoring freedom and trust in communities, advocates believe, requires a collective effort.
Everyone lost to gun violence is someone’s beloved. Beloved is a multi-media campaign exploring gun violence in-depth in four phases: The Problem of gun violence as a symptom of illness (or infection) caused by systemic inequality; The History of gun violence, root causes, and local and national data trends. The Solutions to end gun violence including King County Public Health’s regional approach to gun violence prevention and treatments; and finally, the ideation of a world without gun violence, The Beloved Community. The Beloved project is brought to you in partnership with Seattle Office of Arts & Culture Hope Corps program, King County’s Public Health team, Converge Media, Black Coffee Northwest, Toybox Consulting, Creative Justice, The Facts Newspaper, Forever Safe Spaces, Northwest African American Museum, Presidential Media, and the South Seattle Emerald.
Dear Beloved,
Did you know that in 1973, American singer, songwriter, and musician Donny Hathaway released his album Extension of a Man? The second song on the album is titled “Someday We’ll All Be Free.” The hopeful lyrics and uplifting melody marked the song as a classic, and it was later referenced as an anthem for the 1960s Civil Rights Movement.
The Emerald is a blueprint to showing, sharing, and bridging Black and Brown folks through the power of storytelling. The Emerald is what we should be truly striving for as a community. Don’t just talk about it. Create a way to practice and be about us coming together. The Emerald is setting the example. Join me in supporting the Emerald as a recurring donor during their 8th anniversary campaign, Ripples & Sparks at Home, April 20–28. Become a Rainmaker today by choosing the “recurring donor” option on the donation page!
—Sharon Nyree Williams, Artist, Orator, & Rainmaker
Everyone lost to gun violence is someone’s beloved. Beloved is a multi-media campaign exploring gun violence in-depth in four phases: The Problem of gun violence as a symptom of illness (or infection) caused by systemic inequality; The History of gun violence, root causes, and local and national data trends. The Solutions to end gun violence including King County Public Health’s regional approach to gun violence prevention and treatments; and finally, the ideation of a world without gun violence, The Beloved Community. The Beloved project is brought to you in partnership with Seattle Office of Arts & Culture Hope Corps program, King County’s Public Health team, Converge Media, Black Coffee Northwest, Toybox Consulting, Creative Justice, The Facts Newspaper, Forever Safe Spaces, Northwest African American Museum, Presidential Media, and the South Seattle Emerald.
When a gunshot is fired in King County, Khalid Adams finds out through an alert on his phone. Then his time as a violence interrupter begins.
Everyone lost to gun violence is someone’s beloved. Beloved is a multi-media campaign exploring gun violence in-depth in four phases: The Problem of gun violence as a symptom of illness (or infection) caused by systemic inequality; The History of gun violence, root causes, and local and national data trends. The Solutions to end gun violence including King County Public Health’s regional approach to gun violence prevention and treatments; and finally, the ideation of a world without gun violence, The Beloved Community. The Beloved project is brought to you in partnership with Seattle Office of Arts & Culture Hope Corps program, King County’s Public Health team, Converge Media, Black Coffee Northwest, Toybox Consulting, Creative Justice, The Facts Newspaper, Forever Safe Spaces, Northwest African American Museum, Presidential Media, and the South Seattle Emerald.
I have more experience at the complex intersections of gun violence and the criminal justice system than most. Both my twin brother and I were shot and involved in the criminal legal system before age 21. My son was killed by a neighborhood friend. I have been the victim of interpersonal violence. And finally, the moment that jolted my family into action, and my life into activism: police killed my brother Che’ Taylor.
Everyone lost to gun violence is someone’s beloved. Beloved is a multi-media campaign exploring gun violence in-depth in four phases: The Problem of gun violence as a symptom of illness (or infection) caused by systemic inequality; The History of gun violence, root causes, and local and national data trends. The Solutions to end gun violence including King County Public Health’s regional approach to gun violence prevention and treatments; and finally, the ideation of a world without gun violence, The Beloved Community. The Beloved project is brought to you in partnership with Seattle Office of Arts & Culture Hope Corps program, King County’s Public Health team, Converge Media, Black Coffee Northwest, Toybox Consulting, Creative Justice, The Facts Newspaper, Forever Safe Spaces, Northwest African American Museum, Presidential Media, and the South Seattle Emerald.
For Chamel Simmons and her extended family, Thanksgiving 2012 is remembered not for its food, but for its incalculable grief.
