Donta's mother, family and friends gather to celebrate his life
Last week we did an anniversary vigil on behalf of Jennifer Webb, one of our core mothers. She has joined KC Mothers in Charge and she does the work for us every day in the community to save someone else’s child’s life.
family and friends surrouding donta with love
March 1 marked the 11-year anniversary of the murder of Jennifer’s son, Donta Gadison. He was killed at age 21 in front of Snack Pack, a convenience store over in Kansas City, Kansas, 1705 Parallel Parkway. The case is still unsolved.
KC Mothers in Charge does anniversary vigils for our mothers and for anyone in the community on the date that someone was lost, or on their birthday. We go out to the scene and we do a vigil, a celebration of life. We have a balloon release and we have food. Last week, the Snack Pack store donated food.
Donta’s mother, Jennifer, spoke about losing and missing her son, and about joining our organization. She talked about how protective we mothers become after losing a child. Even our other children don’t understand when we try to tell them of that hole we have in our hearts. We have lost a child and we don’t want to go through that again. We understand how fragile life is. We see how no one has respect for each other, how people are just so easy to kill each other, how this younger generation does not have a thinking process, they just act off of impulse. Instead of talking things out they just take a gun and kill each other. They don’t think about how it tears up a family. It tears up a community.
We released balloons, people hugged and talked. We remembered Donta. He lived in our community and we have not forgotten him.
Donta was a funny person. He loved his family. He was Jennifer’s oldest child. He was the life of the family. When he was taken away she has really changed. People don’t realize how our life changes forever after losing a child. Things that used to be normal aren’t normal any more. We are trying to find our new norm.
I remember something Jennifer said at the vigil: “Justice for Donta.” Not for her, justice for Donta. I thought about this a couple of days ago, because I have also lost a child to homicide. I want justice for Pee Wee, my son. It’s not about me, it’s about him. Justice for our children. We still have hope for this to happen.