Increased youth mental health counseling, vocational training and better electronic monitoring in the criminal justice system were just a few ideas to prevent gun violence at the 4th annual Memorial Brunch on Gun Violence at Chow Time Buffet.

Community members joined state Rep. G.A. Hardaway, Shelby County Juvenile Court Judge Tarik Sugarmon and District Attorney Steve Mulroy to remember those lost to gun violence and brainstorm potential solutions Saturday, Sept. 24.

Two weeks of violent crime trauma sees uneasy mix of calls for change

Members from the nonviolence organization Freedom From Unnecessary Negatives (F.F.U.N), including President Stevie Moore, and members of the Ettaro Theatre Company and Fine Arts Foundation were also in attendance.

The luncheon opened with a poem and video both written and co-created by Florence “Flo” Roach, Director of Ettaro.

“Raindrops. Raindrops represent the tears of mothers whose children’s blood is spilled,” recited Roach. “By the hands of some violent sons, decided they will die by the gun. Please, turn this thing around, ‘cause Momma’s tired of putting her children in the ground.”

The video was titled “Momma’s T’ied,” was a 30-second montage featuring mothers who had lost their sons to gun violence, even showing a mother crying over her deceased son’s grave at his funeral service.

Community leaders urge action on gun violence after high-profile murders

Roach lost students to gun violence in the span of one week during her years as a schoolteacher, an experience that left her devastated.

“I called those boys my children,” Roach said. “And it shook me to my core.”

Roach decided, as a coping mechanism, she would write a song about the incident. Over time, Roach also recorded the song in a studio but said she felt she could do even more.

“I went to the board of directors of Ettaro and said, ‘I think I want to do a stop the violence video,’” Roach said. “They said, ‘Let’s do it.’”

With the help of Moore and Ettaro, Roach created the video and is also developing a “stop the violence” curriculum to go along with it, with hopes of implementing a nonviolence program in local schools.

Opinion: We need to fix our broken state criminal justice system

“It kicks in, doesn’t it?” said Rep. Hardaway after the video. “It kicks in because I know that those scenes are art imitating life. That really happens.”

Hardaway said he feels the problem for people dealing with loved ones lost to gun violence is that the realities of such tragedies and their impact are not broadly communicated. 

“It’s not merely about the child that’s lost, it’s about the lives that are lost for the survivors,” Hardaway said. “We want to leave here with some type of structure in place with how our individual families can be under the same umbrella with our elected officials. We work for you.”

Steve Mulroy said he feels those impacts each time he speaks with families who lost loved ones to gun violence.

“Every time I speak to a victim’s family, it’s impressed right here,” said Mulroy as he held his hand against his heart. “It’s the kind of pain that violent crime gives people.”

Sanford: A caring lawyer, a ruthless youth offender and, 22 years later, a heartbreaking homicide

Mulroy said violent crime has risen over the last decade, and part of his plan as DA is to establish a conviction review unit to ensure wrongful convictions are corrected and make the system less racially discriminatory.

“We want to restore confidence in the fairness of our justice system so people will cooperate with law enforcement in a way they have not been in recent years by providing tips, reporting crimes and serving as witnesses,” Mulroy said.

“That type of cooperation is what we need most of all if we’re going to bend the curve on violent crime.”

Mulroy agreed with Hardaway that uniting all community nonviolence organizations to develop an umbrella organization against violence would aid law enforcement in combating violent crime.

Tarik Sugarmon relayed an anecdote about a juvenile in the court system who ended up reoffending.

New poetry program helps incarcerated youth put feelings into words

Sugarmon says this happened due to a lack of response to the immediate urgency of mental health issues, particularly on those in juvenile court.

“The first week I’m on the bench, I am hearing a petition of a young man who they want to transfer to adult court and try him as an adult,” Sugarmon said. “The crime did not involve having shot and killed anyone, but he employed a weapon in the carjacking. He had just turned 15.”

Sugarmon said a mental health evaluation proved the child did have a mental illness and treatment was recommended.

“The ages 9 to 17 is the largest demographic of children committing suicide,” Sugarmon said. “These are children.”

After the child was that the mental health agency did not have the resources to assist him, he was taken to another two agencies, totaling three.

Sanford: As Sugarmon assumes Juvenile Court judgeship, a different history begins

Within that four-month period of seeking mental health treatment options, the child reoffended.

“This time, he used a weapon,” Sugarmon said. “Thankfully, no one was killed, but we failed that child because we didn’t provide him with mental health treatment.”

Sugarmon added that truancy, the combination of low socialization for kids during COVID, along with the personal difficulties of experiencing adolescence, can lead to a lack of self-control and potentially violent behavior in children.

“These are children.”

Tarik Sugarmon
Juvenile Court Judge

“It’s this convergence of anger, pent-up rage and economic need,” Sugarmon said. “There’s no communication in law enforcement on a regular basis, juvenile court and the school system on a regular basis.

“We need more follow-up with these children.”

Shelby County juvenile charges spike in first half of 2022

Technological improvements in the criminal justice system were also suggested by Sugarmon, who said he noticed immediately after taking office that many ankle bracelets were operationally defective.

Sugarmon also suggested more vocational training for children and nonviolence groups working as mentors in the juvenile court system will help children feel less alone and open their minds to how they may change their life trajectory.

“What is missing in these children’s lives such that crime has gotten as it is? Love,” Sugarmon said. “Kids may not listen to me, but they will listen to someone who has been in their shoes.

“These children are not getting love, and a lot of this will turn that around.”

Just City report says more juvenile justice reform is needed