It took me to get older, wiser and become a mother before I could fully understand my parents’ rules of being in the house before dark, the inability to hang out and do what other kids my age were doing, the multiple phone calls I had to make to check-in whenever I was out or why I could not stay over a friend’s house.   Of course at the time, I felt my parents were being overly-protective and hindering me from enjoying my childhood.  I now realize and truly appreciate the efforts my parents put forth to love and protect me during my younger years.

Trevon Martin, Michael Brown, Leon Ford and Leroy Powell are all young African American males whose  lives were affected by guns.  Surely each instance differs, but it affects each of us.  As a mother, I cringe when I hear stories like this.  I always think, that could have been my child.  I truly empathize with every mother I see on TV holding a picture of her child and seeking justice.   Raising a child these days has proven to be a difficult task.  Protecting them from the streets, from things both seen and unseen and from themselves is a 24/7, 365 day duty.

Gun violence has become an issue of epidemic proportions that has everlasting effects on us all.  Our children are losing their lives at alarming rates, families are being broken and forced to continue on, more and more children are going up fatherless and motherless.  In recent news, Michael Brown, an unarmed teen, was gunned down at the hands of a police officer.  The harsh reality is that our children are not safe.  They’re not safe in the community, the schools, the shopping malls, the movie theaters and most alarming they’re not safe from those whose job is to serve and protect. These days are truly a sign of the times.

WE have to do better.  WE have to save OUR children.  WE have to put aside our differences for the betterment of OUR children.  WE have to take a stand.   After all it’s our duty, it’s our duty as a parent, step-parent, grand-parent, cousin, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, friend, neighbor, etc.  We have to get involved and take a stand against violence because we are losing our babies and loved ones.  Rather prayer or just a thought during the day, we have to keep our children lifted.

Through Eboni’s eyes