A Peace Warrior Rises In The Mean Streets

On New Year’s Day, 2011, a vigil was held in front of Ms. Brenda Grisham’s house to commemorate the passing of her son, young Christopher LaVell Jones.  Ms. Grisham recalls, “I wanted to speak to all of the seniors and the teachers.  I decided to go to Christopher's school along with my daughter that next Monday. That day at Christopher’s high school, many young people expressed how they felt about Christopher.  One young lady was going to flunk in her Art class because couldn’t draw.  Christopher took her assignment home.  The next day he told her to open her desk.  The completed picture was inside.  Christopher was an an excellent artist.  He did the assignment for her.   

"Another young lady came to school without the uniform shirt one day.  Christopher took the shirt off of his back, handed it to her and then went to the office to get a loaner shirt.  The stories came one after another; kids who had borrowed lunch money from Christopher or received encouraging words in a time of crisis all spoke up.  I was handed a four-inch thick binder filled with letters of condolence and remembrance from kids who had not even been in his class.   

“After Christopher’s passing, people just started asking me to come and speak to difference audiences.  One person asked me to come and speak and it went from there.  They wanted to meet with me.  They wanted me to speak about the plight of families who have lost loved ones due to gun violence.”

In August of this year, the idea was raised to confront Oakland city officials about the huge number of unsolved murders.  Ms. Grisham recalls, “I said I’m not coming by myself.  I wanted to bring 15 representatives of families who had experienced the unsolved murder of a loved one.  My phone kept ringing.  I got 15 people.  Together, we went over what would happen when we got to City Hall.  We were calling for a unified relationship between Mayor Quan and the Chief of Police.  We wanted public policy established that would eradicate the trafficking of guns in Oakland.  Thirdly, we wanted them to publish a grid that would display the most dangerous neighborhoods in Oakland, complete with the AC Transit bus routes that run through them.

“I broke the group into three separate subgroups.” she said.  These groups formed to tackle other demands like a call for a monthly town hall meeting with Oakland City officials and  Oakland murder victim family members, as well as a public posting of the criteria that law enforcement uses to decide whether or not they are going to prosecute a murder case."

There was also a call for the District Attorney’s office to stop plea bargaining murder charges.  Brenda Grisham remarks: “The victims didn’t get a chance to plea bargain!  One young lady was cunning enough to set up a young man that I knew up to be killed.  She’s just out of her teens.  When she gets out of prison, she’ll still be a young woman, while his life is gone forever.”  

She said: “Many of the families of murder victims have been treated with disrespect by the police.  We are expecting the police to be more cooperative with the families of murder victims.  Sometimes, they have been downright rude.  A detective told one lady in our group, “We don’t have to tell you anything.  You’re only the grandmother!”  A mother left with four sons told me that her husband was murdered in their family automobile.  The car was impounded as evidence.  When the investigation was finished, she was told that she would have to pay $800.00 in storage fees to get her car back.  There was no waiver.  She lost the car. 

"We are asking for the authorities of to create an oversight board for the families of murder victims so that they can receive accurate and up to date information.  I spoke to one mother whose son was killed in 2003.  She hasn’t heard from anybody about the progress of her child’s murder investigation.  And she’s not alone."

Brenda Grisham and the family members of victims are at the forefront of a movement.  They are untitled as of yet but a name has been suggested--”There Lives Matter.”  Mayor Jean Quan, District Attorney Nancy O’Malley, Chief of Police, Sean Whent, Ms. Reygan Harmon, Senior Policy Advisor for Public Safety and a host of other elected officials were present to hear their pleas for justice, fairness and accountability on August 27th, 2013.  

This is only the beginning.  

(Next:  The Conclusion -- Brenda Grisham Speaks About Stopping The Bloodshed)