Story Created:
Jul 21, 2008 at 9:50 PM CDT
Story Updated:
Jul 21, 2008 at 10:21 PM CDT
WICHITA, KS, July 21, 2008 -- In the late night hours of June 30th, 17 year old Iesha Donaby was killed in what police call a case of road rage.
"(She) had her whole life ahead of her, and then somebody just came along and stole it from her," said Danby’s aunt Katherine Staten the next day.
The next night, 23 year old Deshonda Walker was murdered after getting into a fight over a parking space.
"That (was) my baby girl, that's my baby," her mother told KSN.
It was those two incidences that had the reverend Peggy Elliott saying enough is enough.
"I realized the city definitely was under siege and that we needed to come together as a city," said Dr. Elliott.
The reverend immediately started organizing support and gathering people from across the community. People like Ray Fredrick who felt a calling.
"Really just a sense of God leading me," he said.
Monday night, the group gathered in a church in the Plainview neighborhood where Walker was killed.
Their strategy involves services for mothers and children and a place to reach out for young people on the edge.
But the focus, seemed to turn toward the men in the group and their role and responsibility in the community.
“How many times opportunities have we had to correct some of these problems that we've passed on that we said that's not my child that's not my problem?" said Kevin Myles president of the Wichita NAACP.
Myles says traditionally African-American women take the lead in such initiatives. But Dr. Elliott points out when the men of a community start taking a stand, changes happen.
She says that's exactly what took place when she lived in St. Paul. There she says she saw a 30 to 40 decrease in violence once men rose up.
"There is an element in there that begs an explanation, how could someone take the life of another person over something as simple as a parking space or something as simple as blowing a car horn," Myles asked.
Dr. Elliott says the crime prevention meeting is open to everyone; the next one will be August 4th at the Atwood center.
