Balloons festoon the intersection of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X avenues in southeast Washington, marking the sidewalk and utility poles outside the liquor store where a 6-year-old riding a scooter was cut down in a hail of bullets that wounded five others last week.
Anger and grief marked an impromptu rally Saturday at the site of the July 16 drive-by shooting in which Nyiah Courtney was killed.
“Lord, we come here with a heavy heart mourning what happened to our daughter,” said Rev. Vincent Van, religious affairs committee chairman for the D.C. chapter of the NAACP. ”We come here, Lord, inspired, knowing that if we can be together like this, we can build a community that we deserve.”
He was speaking at a curbside rally that was attended by dozens of community leaders and organized by Salim Adofo, chair of NAACP Criminal Justice Committee in D.C. and a Ward 8 advisory neighborhood commissioner.
“Our goal is to connect the residents of this immediate community with the resources that they need as it pertains to block grants, mental health and educational opportunities,” Adofo said. “We want to change the image of Black males in this community.”
“I am saddened to be here today because you would think that we have gotten past this disease called murder,” said Minister Kadir Muhammad, imam of Muhammads Mosque No. 4.
“My people perish for the lack of knowledge,” Muhammad said, quoting parts of Isaiah 26:21. “For behold, the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.”
In addition to speeches, organizers held a community walk that encountered the diversity of Ward 8.
“I moved out 10 years ago. I’m from New Jersey and I come from a place where you make an investment in places where you live,” said Mathew Faden. “It never hurts just to show up, when they drive by they see that.”
Shelena Hollinger, a local human resources manager and Ward 8 resident, said of the prospects for progress in the ward.
“We can’t have opportunities like this and be fearful of those opportunities,” Hollinger said.
Reflecting on the 6-year-old’s death, Hollinger said, “It breaks my heart. My grandchildren are 7, 4 and 2.”
D.C. police arrested Marktwan Hargraves, 22, of Waldorf, Md., on July 28. He was charged with murder.
“The prayers of the community have been answered,” D.C. Police Chief Robert J. Contee III said at a news conference Wednesday.
