Would you like to participate in the #SmilingInfant #CampaignForPeace? Submit a photo of a smiling infant or smiling toddler that would make the viewer smile to support & encourage others to focus on what is really important.
For every post or news story about a shooting let’s post a “SmilingInfant”, let’s take a stand to keep this campaign of peace going throughout your community and other.
Don’t just say we need to do “something” here something you can…
Children Who Have Died by Gun Fire
Federal data from the Centers for Disease Control indicate that between 2007 and 2011, an average of 62 children age 14 and under were accidentally shot and killed each year. But our analysis of publicly reported gun deaths shows that the federal data substantially undercount these deaths. Mother Jones reported to follow statistics in December of 2013
- 127 of the children died from gunshots in their own homes, while dozens more died in the homes of friends, neighbors, and relatives.
- 72 of the young victims either pulled the trigger themselves or were shot dead by another kid.
- In those 72 cases, only 4 adults have been held criminally liable.
- At least 52 deaths involved a child handling a gun left unsecured.
Additional findings include:
- 60 children died at the hands of their own parents, 50 of them in homicides.
- The average age of the victims was 6 years old.
- More than two-thirds of the victims were boys, as were more than three-quarters of the kids who pulled the trigger.
- The problem was worst over the past year in the South, which saw at least 92 child gun deaths, followed by the Midwest (44), the West (38), and the East (20).
Chicago
60 Children Murdered in Chicago This Year
A school bus filled with children enrolled at Our Lady Of Guadalupe elementary school was apparently shot at in the South Deering neighborhood on Friday. A young girl and her mother were shot inside their home while sleeping on the Far South Side on Calumet Avenue early Thursday. Another child is being treated at Christ Hospital. One-year-old Jayilah Allen has a gunshot wound to the head.
20 U.S. Kids Hospitalized Each Day for Gun Injuries – Nearly a third of these shootings are accidental, study finds
A review of hospital records found that firearms caused 7,391 hospitalizations among children younger than 20 during 2009, the most recent year for which records are available, said Dr. John Leventhal, lead study author. Of those shooting victims, 453 died while in the hospital. More than half of the gun injuries involved an attack on the child, but nearly one-third were unintentional, the investigators found. (Others were of undetermined causes or from suicide attempts.) Three of four hospitalizations of children younger than 10 resulted from accidental injuries.
Adam was charged to maintain the garden and its inhabitants, yet he failed when his wife (Who was under the bond of Satan) suggested they eat from the “tree”; Adam blamed Eve and said to God – The man said, “The woman you put here with me–she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
Adam once again was unable to prevent the son of his wife, Cain from killing Abel in a jealous frenzy – And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother’s keeper?
It takes 2 people to create a child, yet in many homes the child is raised by one parent. Raising children is not a difficult task when there are two parents who understand the precious value of a child’s life – Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.
What Can We Do? – So glad you asked
We can continue to post all the shootings and despair across social media – will that protect our loved ones, I think not. The march in Selma was used to generate media attention to the refusal to let Black folk vote. Equally whenever there is a (what we as viewers believe) is an unnecessary use of force, it has now become standard for the media to over feed us with snippets of the scene and later the media covers the locals who create a one-night vigil that may include additional law breaking activities. We can march from now till the cows come home, but ask yourself, “What change am expecting to see or what can change as a result of my march?” Will the police ask more questions before shooting, will our young men stop shooting each other? Will the school system change their delivery methods? If I march on Monday, will that create a stimulus for prison reform? If not, then it may be time to find our own individual purpose, our own personal values, identify what is important to us individually and collectively. I propose we start with the beginning – our infant babies. Have you have been in the presence of a baby and make that “baby noise” to induce a smile? Or have you ever turned your head at the right moment and see a precious baby in a stroller and at that exact moment the baby smiles at you? Who will take care of our babies while we go to war in the streets? Who will take care of the babies while we are locked up for protesting another black man tased and killed?
Are you a father who sells drugs because the “man” won’t give you a job? Are you a dad who is dependent on the mother’s welfare check, living illegally in public housing? Are you a woman who is slinging dope to feed your children while the father is doing time for slinging dope?
And you are working, raising your children, going out for a Sunday walk in the park, and talking “ish” about the brother across the tracks who won’t pull his pants up and that girl with red and gold braids in her hair, taking selfies of her rear end and posting them on Facebook. She does that because she is “looking” for something and she thinks she will find it the number of “likes” she gets. I have yet to see any one address anyone of these women directly and tell her why and how she can do better. Maybe, when she was a “baby” smiling in her stroller no one thought about tomorrow. I propose if you want better, do better, and that means starting with the babies.
Update August 31, 2016
This little fella stole the hearts of all the women at church. His grandmother would bring him and I would watch him “float” around the church from one cooing woman to the next. One day I thought to myself as I walked around, I’m going to just ‘take’ him. To my surprise he didn’t bat an eye. Oh my the lashes on this baby were to die for.
Dying, our babies are dying in the street and upon arrive of the ER – Police are investigating the shooting deaths of two men Tuesday night. One of the men has been identified as Tyree McCrea, 36, of New Haven, Officer David B. Hartman said early Wednesday. The second man’s name had not been confirmed; he is believed to have been in his 20s. Twenty, twenty years old! What were your doing at 20 years old, now that you know would you change anything?
Update August 16, 2016
This photo was submitted by one of my best friends in high school. I had no idea about the meaning or definition of the phrase “Best Friend” back then. I friend was a person who hung out with me, we called each other on the phone – morning, noon and night. A friend would wait for me after every class as would also, we would meet up in the morning before school, after school and all day during school. We would share secrets and gossip about other friends. We would never cross the huge invisible boundary of dating each others ex-boyfriends and we would honor and protect each other through the bad, the good and the ugly times. I must say not much has changed in my definition/understanding of “Best Friends” I still expect the same level of commitment from a friend that I offer. I must say that if you find that you are not on my “Best Friend” list today it was not because I ejected you from the list. With that said, Michelle and I had some great times together and for a long period of time we were disconnected – she moved away, I went in the Armed Forces, after a decade or so our paths crossed one night and we spent hours on the phone – as if time had gently stopped ticking in our absence from one another. This is a reason for me to #smile and for a few seconds I will not think about the violence in this world, the insane presidential election, or any nonsense. This is a reason for me to stay on the #roadlesstraveled – so I will be ready when the next “Best Friend” travels through and remember what made us #friends. Submit a picture of a smiling baby today to participate in #msconcerneds #campaignforpeace #smilinginfant It must be a “real” photo with parental permission!!! We must do something to counteract the daily violence posted by the media. Are you willing to help? Send your photo today, what better way to thing on peaceful things than looking an infant smiling – surely their lives are worthy of us helping each other…
According Carol Austin vice president of marketing, “July is winding down, and while we’re hopeful that August brings some slightly more pleasant weather, we’re a tad wistful that National Ice Cream Month is coming to an end. As a way to celebrate just one more time, was offering a sweet deal on all your favorite flavors. Here’s a sweet deal that will last a life time, 2 scoops in this photo will provide endless days of smiles. The photo was submitted by a long time family friend who has seen his share of alleged murderers, rapists, thieves and con-artist. A lover of the #DallasCowboys and a concerned member of his community, family and the elderly. There are many sweet scoops of life in this man and his two grandchildren. What will you do in your community to help foster peace and growth among the residents?
The parents of this little girl has allowed us to share in the personal viewing of her life since birth. Each photo gave me and hundreds of others a reason to smile and immediately remove my care and concern for “this” world and the hatred and violence that is rapidly increasing – if only for a minute. I would like to thank her parents for allowing me start my #CampaignForPeace with their daughter’s photo. My hope is that for every violent story posted someone will forward a picture of a smiling infant to counteract the despair some may feel as this world turns upside down.
This little girl was in the North Lake Mall in Charlotte North Carolina, as I was walking back in to the mall shopping area, I was so intrigued by her face and her smile which was so sudden and quick – not be a professional photographer I could not catch it. Nonetheless, I will always remember how quickly she smiled and the warm willingness of her parents to give me (a stranger) to use her photo for my #CampaignForPeace.
Montrell Jackson wrote this message on July 8, 2016 and was murdered on July 17, 2016. “I’m working in these streets, so any protesters, officers, friends, family, or whoever,” the 32-year-old officer he wrote on his Facebook page, “if you see me and need a hug or want to say a prayer, I got you.
The story of Mary – the mother of Jesus is remarkable. The Lord chose her a woman of no great notoriety or significance; that is until she found herself a virgin and with child. Had it not been for the Angel that spoke to Joseph and told him about the birth she could have been outcast and divorced from her family and friends. However a woman that can produce two babies falls under the category of miraculous. Imagine two, two of everything, two hearts, two heads, two smiles – double the fun of watching them grow. I implore you to please put your anger under submission and think on these precious little people.
This little girl grew up into a woman that has self-defined herself and in that she owns her definition of peach. Demonstrated by inaction and forgiveness when others hurt her, she never desires to retaliate in like manner to others. Much like her daddy, she disapproves of any type of bullying. She doesn’t understand any way to be but herself. She believes the best she can be is – to do for others.
She made it to age 13 and counting, some have not been so blessed. I met her mother and aunt in Connecticut. At first glance I thought they were 2 interesting young ladies, never had I seen someone decorate their cube with pillows! Their mother is a walking reference manual, she provided me with enough material to write an entire paper on the progression of IT from a medical facility’s growth factor and yes I received an outstanding A grade. It was not until I went to the baby shower that I saw the farm yes a FARM in the back of their home. The father was raising chickens – are you kidding me, right down the street from daily gun fire activity in New Haven, CT. That’s when I came to see the full picture of Love. Love was just dripping from their hearts, windows, kitchen, front porch and all through out that farm!!! I had the pleasure of working with these 2 women for about 5 years and now see this little girl at 13…you just never know what wonderful opportunities are waiting for that you may miss when you’re in the street playing wanna be drug dealers and cops and robbers with real bullets – time to put it down – buy a farm, decorate your office cube #DIY, do something, do something else…[/caption]
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Proverbs 15:13-14 – A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.
Sources
Two Men Die In New Haven Shooting, Police Say – http://www.courant.com/breaking-news/hc-new-haven-shooting-20160831-story.html
Columbia Organization. (n.d.). Civil Rights, Voting Rights, and the Selma March [Civil Rights Era].
HOME. (2016, July 8). Retrieved July 8, 2016, from http://www.wfsb.com/
Follman, M. (2013, December 1). At Least 194 Children Have Been Shot to Death Since Newtown | Mother Jones.
Greenfield, D. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.frontpagemag.com/point/170857/60-children-murdered-chicago-year-daniel-greenfield
Thompson, D. (2014). 20 U.S. Kids Hospitalized Each Day for Gun Injuries.
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Updates 072716