Grieving mothers bond to ease pain
By Chinta Strausberg
Dressed in red to symbolize the blood that drained from the bodies of their murdered children, scores of grieving mothers gathered at Josephine’s Cooking Restaurant, 436 E. 79th St., on Sunday, December 9.
The day marked the three year anniversary for the third year where they consoled each other as they celebrated their third year as a grief counseling organization.
Led by Gwendolyn Baxter, who is co-founder and president of the Sisterhood, the mothers are from Chicago and the suburbs.
They talked about life after their children were murdered and even placed pictures of their love ones on a small table for all to see—pictures that are the only memories they have of their children whose lives were lost due to gun violence.
“Our mission is to empower mothers to grieve healthy and to get back to their lives the way it was in a healthy way…to enjoy life the way they did before this trauma happened in their lives and to be a voice for their children,” said Baxter.
She lost her son, Larry Harper, 23, on December 16, 2003. At the time, her son was putting up his Christmas tree. “One of his friends called him to take a ride with him to another friend and when they were coming out of his friend’s house somebody was trying to rob them. My son ran and they shot him. This happened at 83rd and Cregier.”
“Tonight, we are celebrating three years of connection with our Sisterhood. We started out with 6 mothers and have now grown to over 60 mothers,” Baxter said. The mothers hugged and consoled each other.”
The keynote speaker was Harold Davis, a radio talk show host on the Truth Radio, who spoke about the low clearance rate of homicides solved by the Chicago police.
According to USA Today, Chicago’s homicide clearance rate fell from 17.1 in 2017 to 15.4 during the first six months of 2018. Police solve 1 in 6 homicides—something Davis said is unacceptable and racist.
“The murderers are still walking around, and nobody is looking for people who kill Black children,” said Davis. He criticized Chicago police for allegedly sending “50 detectives to Rogers Park.” Davis add, “That said they were concerned about white life to send 50 detectives at one time to solve two murders, and we’ve had over 500 murders in Chicago with less than 35 of them being solved. That says something about what they think about us.”
He was referring to the fatal shootings of Douglass Watts, 73 and Eliyahu Moscowicz, 24, both shot in the head as they walked in Rogers Park. Police believe the same masked man caught on surveillance video shot them.
“To have this group here is really important because these sisters need some support,” Davis said.
