Do it for my Granddaughter

On the First Day of Spring my granddaughter Aleara turned 7. She had a small celebration at school and at the After School Center in the Housing Projects she lives in. These were simple like most 1st graders enjoy. A few days prior to her birthday my teacher asked me to write about the day Aleara was born because she was unaware of what other event took place that day. On March 20, 2010 my 21 year old nephew was gunned down on the streets of North Braddock in what the police believe was mistaken identity. Aleara's mom found out about her cousin's death in the hospital where she was awaiting the birth of her daughter. My granddaughter has had to share her birth with an anniversary of a young man's death because to many young men die at hands of other young men for stupid reasons like "He disrespected me". It's never going to stop unless we change things. We got to stop this senseless killings ourselves. My granddaughter Aleara and every other little kid deserves to wake up like her middle class peers not worrying about losing someone else that she loves. Until we stop this violence destroying our Community we risk genocide. "One Hood One Love." Until we start remembering this we are in trouble.