When 13-year-old Jimon Clark was gunned down in East Oakland in August, he was the sixth homicide victim in one week - making it another week of violence in a year that had already seen more than 40 homicides.

Every homicide has a traumatic effect on families and can lead to even more violence, but a partnership between the Khadafy Foundation for Non-Violence and Catholic Charities of the East Bay in Oakland has been trying to interrupt that cycle.

The problem is that Measure Y Violence Prevention monies have a stipulation attached to them that requires the city to maintain a police force of 740, but recent layoffs have brought that number below Measure Y’s requirement. Measure BB is not a tax. A yes vote on Measure BB will allow Oakland to continue to utilize Measure Y funds even when it has fewer than 739 police officers in order to continue violence prevention programs such as the Crisis Response and Support Network jointly run by the Khadafy Foundation and Catholic Charities. 

   
Marilyn Harris’ 18-year-old son Khadafy had just graduated from high school when he was killed while riding his bicycle in West Oakland on Aug. 4, 2000. In the midst of grieving, Harris sought out other mothers who had lost children to violence and offered them support. It became clear that families needed more than bereavement services, so Harris formed the Khadafy Foundation in her son’s honor to offer assistance to every family in Oakland that has lost a loved one to violence. 
   
Over the past 10 years, Khadafy Foundation members have offered support groups, organized victims’ marches, developed outreach to youth and attended hundreds of funerals. Harris recognizes that witnessing repeated violence could lead to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

“Many families in our community are affected by violence, but it is not looked at with the same urgency as families that are affected by war," Harris said. "But it’s a war right here in Oakland and some families cannot pick themselves up again after they have experienced an act of deadly violence.”

Myesha Walker worked at Khadafy for two years as a crisis responder and frequently accompanied Harris when they were called to a crime scene after a homicide.

“If people who witness violence are not listened to, they internalize it; they turn to alcohol, drugs or anger.” Harris chimed in, “If you don’t take care of that anger, guess what? Anger breeds more anger and violence and if they don’t take it to the streets, they take it to their families. And that cycle goes around.”

This  cycle of violence is what Mille Burns - deputy director of programs for Catholic Charities of the East Bay - is trying to address. Catholic Charities works in partnership with Khadafy Foundation and is part of Oakland’s measure Y Violence Prevention Program.

“Our crisis team makes contact with the family at the crime scene or within the first 24 hours and we offer case management, benefits assistance, help with housing, relocation and grief and trauma counseling," Burns said.

Burns agrees that the cumulative effects of witnessing violence can lead to PTSD.

“Loss of empathy, increased aggression, substance abuse, loss of impulse control, sudden violent outbursts – all of these are symptoms that we see in our kids and then we wonder, ‘why are they acting like that?’ Studies have shown that if you are between the ages of 15-24 in East Oakland, you have been personally impacted by knowing five or more people who have been murdered.”

While it may be obvious that exposure to violence is traumatic, Burns said that the effects are not always recognized as trauma.

“When deadly violence is a norm, kids are not running home and saying, ‘Mom guess what, a kid in my class was shot last night!’ Mom might only find out when the son cuts school to go to the funeral. We may not be honoring the death or we may be blaming the victim. So first we have to give credence to their grief and loss.”

Rudy Smith is a social worker who has served as a counselor for families dealing with a homicide. He said there is a discrepancy between how the community has dealt with victims who reside in the violence-prone areas and those who do not.

“I saw a young woman who was lying in bed with her 2-year-old daughter when there was gang activity on the street. There was shooting and a bullet went through the home, hit her in the head and killed her," Smith said. "The child was sleeping right next to her. But it was seen as another case of an East Oakland family where ‘these things happen,’ when in fact, she was an innocent victim, too.”

Harris takes issue with some of the stereotypes of those who are killed on the streets.

“My husband and I both worked for the government and my son still got killed.” Pointing to the photos of the 150 mostly youth that have been killed in the last five years in Oakland, she said, “Some of these people were working-class people. Not everybody getting killed is dealing drugs or committing felonies. And guess what?  Nobody deserves to be killed.”

Harris looks at the photos of Oakland’s mostly young homicide victims on the walls of her office every day and thinks of them as sons, brothers and nephews.

“I want people to know the truth about Oakland," Harris. said. "The truth is that this victim’s mother loved him and that she will never see her son grow up. That is the truth for his mother.

"The truth for the police might be, ‘we have arrested him for felony robbery,’ that is the police truth - it’s still true, but do I want to try to save his children from becoming a victim like he was? We know the cycle can be broken, but we have to start with the younger kids.”

Burns is emphatic that in order to honor the gravity of the community’s grief and loss, the extent of the trauma needs to be understood.

“In parts of Oakland, there are families that have lost two-three members to violence. People become withdrawn; they are hyper-vigilant so the bars go up, the dogs come out and the anger and the fear is omnipresent.” 
 
Catholic Charities and the Khadafy Foundation have developed strong relationships with the Oakland Police Department so they are immediately notified when a homicide takes place. They also collaborate with the school district so no student loss is overlooked.

“When we identify students that have been impacted by a homicide, we alert the schools. The principal might visit the family, circles of support will be formed and counseling will be available for classmates and faculty.”

“The murders in Oakland are social disgraces,” Burns said, “but we need to recognize the effects of economic oppression coupled with pervasive racism that has allowed vital social systems to falter and fall apart. We all want to see a city where an act of violence is shocking, but in order to get there; the community needs to understand that this is not just an issue for the police or the prisons. It is an issue for all of us.”

Engaging the community is exactly what these organizations are trying to do as they face the threat of losing funding. Even under these circumstances, Harris has room in her still healing heart for hope.  But she also understands that a violent death leaves a hole that can never be completely healed.

“Healing doesn’t mean that you are recovered," she said. "Most families that are impacted by homicide are never completely healed. I have not gotten over it ... I have not gotten through it. I am in a point in my life that I can tolerate the pain better, but that is all it is.”