Your probably don’t remember what your biggest fear was when you were six. Maybe it was losing your favorite toy, not getting to eat your favorite food, or getting separated from your parents in a crowd. For most of us, our biggest fear was likely not the fear of death from gun violence, though that is now a growing issue of concern for kids in certain parts of the country—and for one 6-year-old in particular.
Leanndra Cheatham of St. Louis posted a video of her 6-year-old son Jeffrey to Facebook last week that has now been viewed more than 130,000 times. In it, he makes a passionate plea for gun violence in the city to come to an end, and it is heartbreaking.
"People need to stop killing each other around here because this is just making me feel bad," Jeffrey says in the video, while standing in what appears to be a kitchen."I'm really serious. I'm really scared to die, and I'm really scared for my family to die. I'm scared."
In an ideal world, Jeffrey would be sheltered from this horrible and painful reality. But unfortunately, it is an issue that has impacted his own family. Last month, his mother’s 16-year-old cousin was shot and killed outside of his school, making them one of the ever-growing number of families around the country affected by gun violence.
"I'm a kid, and I don't supposed to be knowing all of this stuff," Jeffrey says in the video. "I don't supposed to be knowing about all of these guns." [...]
Cheatham also says Jeffrey is excited about the video being so widely seen."He said, 'Mommy, we're going to get people to stop killing each other.'"
Watching any 6-year-old make a well thought-out plea to adults not to kill each other would tug at your heartstrings, and it is especially poignant watching a little black boy do so. After all, gun violence impacts black Americans the most—and in 2013, Missouri had the second-highest number of black homicide victims in the country.
from Daily Kos http://ift.tt/2qn9cEG
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