Philly violent crime survivors gather to heal, honor the dead, and call for trauma care and justice reform

Their numbers small but their voices strong, members and supporters of Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice held a “healing vigil” Saturday morning in Franklin Square Park.

Seven adults — including activists, clergy, and several who have lost loved ones — shared stories, sang, and prayed inside the park pavilion as a chilly rain fell. Two of the participants brought along young children.

“We had people who couldn’t be here because of the weather, but the people who are here — they need to be here, and we hope when they leave here they will spread the word,” said Yolanda Jennings, who heads the Philadelphia chapter of the 180,000-member national grassroots organization. The Franklin Square event also marked the last day of National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, which is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Justice.

“I’m here because I’m a survivor of sexual abuse and domestic violence, and because my only biological sister, Talitha Jennings, was murdered in Inglewood, California, in 2004,” said Jennings, who lives in West Philly and is an outreach specialist for a medical case manager.

“I’m here using my voice to help other crime victims become survivors.”

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Will Harris, a Center City street musician, led the group in a spirited rendition of the contemporary gospel tune “I Need You to Survive.”

With so many shootings in the city and across America, “it gets to be a bit too much, because things seem to only get worse,” he said.

“I hope people take away from this vigil knowledge that there are resources out there to help them, and that they stand up with us and let the politicians know that we need assistance, and trauma resource centers, so folks can get mental health services — including for people who are incarcerated,” said Harris.

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Several of the participants are involved in grassroots and faith-based efforts to assist people who have lost loved ones or been traumatized by Philadelphia’s gun violence crisis. Others are active in programs to intervene in neighborhood conflicts before violence begins. As of midnight Friday homicide victims in the city so far this year numbered 154, according to the Philadelphia Police Department.

“All of the work we do as advocates comes from a place of experience,” said G. Lamar Stewart, senior pastor of the Taylor Memorial Baptist Church in the city’s Nicetown section. The church has established a nonprofit organization, Taylor MADE, that conducts violence interruption work on the streets.

“Working on the front lines takes courage and commitment, so I want to thank everyone who is doing this work ... and transforming your pain into purpose,” said Stewart, who is helping support the city charter school community that has been impacted by Friday’s quadruple shooting in the Northeast that killed three teens and injured another.

Tanya L. Amir, a church elder at Hesed Empowerment Ministries in Southwest Philly, counsels the grief-stricken members of Love, Life, Healing, and Hope, a Facebook support group she founded three years ago. Some group members have lost loved ones to natural causes, but others are mourning spouses, children, siblings, or friends who have been killed by guns.

“Some of the stories are horrible,” said Amir, who lives in West Philly and works for the city as an accountant.

“I’ve been able to help over 250 people so far. One young lady called and she was so full of rage, because someone posted her big brother’s murder on Instagram.”

North Philly resident Sayonara Tolen said she attended the vigil “because my grandson lost his father who was killed on the streets, and I lost my nephew” to gun violence.

“This May 11 it will be a year,” said Tolen, who teaches fourth grade at the city’s Laboratory Charter School.

“This is my third event with the Philadelphia chapter. And I’m not going to stop.”