Mothers Against Gun Violence

Today I attended an annual community event called "Mothers Against Violence." It was started by a woman named Marna who lost her son due to gun violence ten years ago here in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The purpose of the event was to get the people together to discuss the effects of violence and to talk about how to prevent this from ever happening again. As part of the event there was food and bounce house for the children. But the moment before the food was being served, I hear something that I wanted others to know.

The woman who began this annual event came out from her house where the event was held after many hours of preparation for food. She and two other woman came out with a large banner which read in bold, Hall of Pain 2014 below it read all the African American males and females who died due to senseless violence this year.

One of the lady who was holding the banner with Marna stated, "many of these names written here are students who I've taught. We need to change because this is bringing pain within our community."
She continued to say, "We didn't allow Fox 6 news to come and record the event because media always displays the negative part of us and not the good." This is when it really got me thinking and agreeing that yes media does portray the negative aspects of African Americans to show how foolish they look which in reality isn't true. I also spoke to a sister who works with the I Will Not Die Young campaign who said when she went to Ferguson, Missouri it wasn't the same as it looked on national television and that really shocked me!This got me thinking, why does media like to see the not so good part of a community or a group of people. Aren't we too evolved from the topic of portraying others as something they're not? This really stunned me today. It made me promise my self not to judge people based on what media says about them, but think of the many other things that a person can be. Its similar to the old saying, "Don't judge a book by its cover." I will never forget that saying because as Muslims in America and other countries. We are thought to be the same as radical Muslims and that's just not true. Islam says nothing about hurting or taking other people's life away. We're here to worship God and be there for one another. So please, the next time you see or hear something from media, don't assume it to be a fact. Learn more about what you hear; do a little research.





Moms Demand Action For Sense In America

2014
http://momsdemandaction.org/

Milwaukee Renaissance

Mothers Against Gun Violence

2014/12/13

http://www.milwaukeerenaissance.com/MothersAgainstGunViolence/HomePage