Nearly Every Other Week Last Season in Killadelphia, a Child Intercepted a Pass or Caught a TD.
As reported by the Philadelphia Inquirer:
Nearly every other week last year in Philadelphia, a child was shot and killed. Most were teenage boys, but there were some girls, as well, including a 2-year-old. All of the victims were children of color.
Beyond the statistics are the names and faces of 23 young people just starting out. They are: DaJuan Brown, 15; Nazeem Rains, 17; Wort Whipple, 14; Neko Rivera, 15; Hezekiah Bernard, 12; Diora Porter-Brown, 2; Randy Mills, 15; Ruby Corchado, 14; Jaseem Thomas, 16; Tysheer Hankinson, 16; Laron Williams Jr., 12; Semaj Richardson, 16; Devin Weedon, 15; Shaheed Saoud, 16; Anthony Pinckney, 14; Naqui Holley, 17; C.J. Johnson, 16; Khalif Frezghi, 17; Nafis Betrand-Hill, 16; Keivon Abraham, 16; Isaiah Odom, 17; Salaah Fleming, 14; and Malik Ballard, 17.
Several grew up in poverty and faced significant trauma, including the death or incarceration of a parent or guardian, homelessness, violence, and substance abuse. Some were ensnared in the juvenile justice system. Each child had a story and future that was cut short. Their loss had a ripple effect across families, friends, and neighborhoods that have mostly become all too familiar with gun violence.
Inquirer reporter Ellie Rushing documented their life stories, including their very real struggles. Those individual portraits put names and faces to the broader challenges facing many families in the city from poverty, drugs, education, and easy access to guns, and offer compelling hints of ways to intervene.
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