‘We’re in a state of emergency:’ Clayton County organization pushing to stop gun violence

CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. — Parents whose children were murdered say gun violence is out of control in the metro area.

One group agrees and says it is working to try to solve the problem. The organization Let Us Make Man held a news conference announcing a conference aimed at helping youthful offenders get on the right track.

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Channel 2′s Tom Jones spoke to Beverly LaFleur about the group’s efforts.

She says she is all for any effort to help young people realize so many lives are destroyed when they choose violence. Instead of hanging out with her son, 15-year-old Samuel, at home, she has to visit him here at his gravesite.

“My life sentence is not seeing my son,” she said near his gravesite.

Jones also spoke to Lawrence Thorne. His 18-year-old son, Julius, was murdered by two young men. Jones asked Thorne how much he misses his son.

“Every day. Every day,” he replied.

They both agree youth violence is out of control.

“I think our kids need to put these guns down and go do something else,” LaFleur stated.

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Members of the organization Let Us Make Man agree.

“We’re in a state of emergency,” member Derrick Boazman said at a news conference in front of the Clayton County courthouse.

He and others said it’s time for the men in their community to speak out.

“If the village elders don’t stand up then the village idiots will,” he pointed out.

The group announced an upcoming conference where young offenders, concerned families and others will gather to address youth violence. There will be seminars, gang experts, and others who hope to transform young people and point them in the right direction.

“When they ask where are black men, here we are,” member Mawuli Davis said.

Thorne hopes the conference addresses parents who leave their kids to fend for themselves.

“And when the kids fend for themselves they go to the closest thing to a parent, which is the streets.”

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LaFleur is all for anything that reduces youth violence. “It will definitely help our youth because their minds are idle.”

Let Us Make Man and other organizations say they will also discuss mental health, scholarships, educational opportunities and trades at the conference being held on April 6 at 7 a.m. at the Clayton County Performing Arts Center.

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