Photos by Kevin Walker
Rev. Waymon Monroe Jr. leads a crowd in prayer outside of City Hall.
Vigil
from page Af
God to City Hall to pub
licly speak out about the
senseless deaths and call
for a community-wide
solution to youth-perpe
trated violence.
"This city is full of
youth who are scared,
who are afraid, who don't
know what to do," he
said.
Already this year,
there have been six homi
cides - an unusually high
number for a city that
only had 15 tfae whole of
last year. All the victims
- Delroy East, Anthony
Ivry Lee Johnson.
Christopher Rashawn
Thompson, Christopher
Dasean Jones, Tyrahn
Rashad Elliott,
Christopher Shane Larkin
and Jerome Dwayne
France - were black
males; four of them were
under the age of 24. All
the men were killed with
guns, except France - the
latest victim - who was
purposely hit by the driv
er of a pick-up truck on
April 27. (Many count
Jermane Darnell Clark
among the city's fallen,
although the city native
was murdered April 30 in
neighboring Greensboro.)
The violence had
already sparked similar
calls to action from the
community. In mid
March, Diggs Memorial
United Holy Church held
a panel discussion to dis
sect the roots of black
on-black crime. A similar
summit was held at the
Carl Russell Sr.
Community Center last
month; the center is plan
ning a follow-up aware
ness march on June 7.
Monroe would like to
see a more concerted
effort - one that involves
not only the faith com
munity. but city, police
officials and corporate
leaders, too. He said
there are too few positive
alternatives to the streets
for young people and
that, along with a lack of
employment opportuni
ties, are driving them to
act irrationally.
"I feel the community,
even the church, has been ,
too silent... I think every
one has to take responsi
bility," said Monroe, who
believes action is needed
urgently, as he fears sum
mer idleness will spur
mgre violence.
Monroe and his con
gregants opened and
closed the vigil by
singing "We Shall
Overcome," whose defi
ant words helped it
become the anthem of the
Civil Rights Movement.
Crystal Thompson
believes that a vigilant
fight is needed now to
curb gun violence. Her
son Christopher became
the city's third homicide
victim when he was shot
just steps from his front
door on March 23; his
murder remains
unsolved. Solid Rock's
was the third vigil
Thompson has attended
since her son's death. She
said with each subse
quent murder, she relives
her own loss, so there's
been little peace as of
late.
"It has been an uneasy
rest," she said.
Both Thompson and
Monroe said they are not
under the illusion that
prayer alone will stem the
tide. Thompson believes
the solution must include
parents.
"Some of them are out
there doing this because
they aren't getting atten
tion at home," she said of
young perpetrators.
"They don't realize that
these things they're doing
are harming people,
harming the community."
I Solid Rock
9 member Pat
Mjohnson
M(center)
9 reacts to
J P a s t o r
iMonroe's
-J words during
J last week's
J event.
A&T approved
for MBA
program
SPECIAL TO THE
CHRONICLE
North Carolina
Agricultural and Technical
State University recently
received approval from the
University of North
Carolina General
Administration to change
the name of its Master of
Science in Management
Program (MSM) to the
Master of Business
Administration (MBA).
The change will become
effective
?i
Ill 1UC
fall
semester
2 0 14.
The
renam
ing will
enhance
the visi
bility of
graduate
programming in the
School of Business and
Economics at North
Carolina A&T State
University.
The MBA program
will continue to offer
prospective students
opportunities to focus on
concentrations in account
ing, human resources
management, and supply
chain systems. In the near
future, the MBA will also
offer more interdiscipli
nary opportunities to indi
viduals with STEM back
grounds.
"This is an excellent
opportunity for North
Carolina A&T to show
case its wealth of knowlT
edge and expertise. This
MBA program will pre
pare more qualified and
highly marketable
employees who under
stand the business
process," said Joe B.
Whitehead Jr., provost and
vice chancellor for aca
demic affairs at North
Carolina A&T State
University.
Whitehead
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