NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Taliyah Frazier, 4, died after police said two suspects opened fire on the car she was riding in at Dickerson Pike and Douglas Avenue. For Mothers Over Murder members, they know the pain of losing a child to violence all too well.
President Clemmie Greenlee wonders — when will it end?
"Y'all keep talking. You keep putting up your praying hands. You keep offering your condolences, get out of your comfort zone, and get out here with me, and do something about this,” Greenlee said. “We’re not going to get help from the cavalry. The cavalry is not coming. We are the cavalry."
According to the nonprofit Gun Violence Archives so far in 2023 in Tennessee, 13 children ages 0-11 have died in gun-related incidents. The state health department also collects child fatality data.
For perspective in 2020, there were 70 gun-related deaths across the state involving children under 18.
At The Rock United Ministries church, mothers who lost their children meet to grieve together. "The moms sit here, and we share, and we cry, and we laugh, and we vent, and we talk about how did I start out with 3 chairs, and all of a sudden ended up adding 15 more," Greenlee said.
In 2020, Rafiah Muhammad-McCormick showed up to the group after losing her son, Rodney, in a Murfreesboro shooting.
"Out of body, the numbness, the not believing that this is reality," Muhammad-McCormick said.
She said Taliyah's family has a long road ahead.
"Just like the pandemic when I sneeze, and a hundred people caught covid, trauma spread the exact same way — so you could stick your head in the sand all you want to, but it’s going to touch you," Muhammad-McCormick said.
In upcoming meetings, they'll likely have to pull up more chairs to their inner circle.
"How many chairs do I have to go buy? It’s not fair," Greenlee said.
You can support their efforts to help mothers who lose children here.
