one year left1 a 1a
TRANSCRIPT
Ruby L. Taylor, M.S.W.
DECEMBER 27, 1974 – AUGUST 4, 1991
Daniel loved his family and friends and racing bikes.
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Daniel was working hard to make it to the world cup.
His hard work paid off he was going to Chile December 1991
Completed his 11th grade year at Harry S. Truman High School.
Daniel planned on graduating high school and attending Norfolk State to study computer programming
Daniel was afraid because a young man out of prison pulled a gun on him on his way home from summer school
August 4, 1991 at the age of 16 years old Daniel was shot in the back of head by a stray bullet and died from the gun shot wound. He never made it to Chile.
The Heritage Foundation Report
1991 and 1997 homicide data stated a 15 year-old African American male faces a probability of being murdered before reaching his 45th birthday at a 2.21 national percentage compared to .29 percent for all white males.
African American males leading cause of death was murder.
The United States Murder rate peaked in 1991
Dr. Jeffrey Fagan a professor at Columbia University and the director of Columbia’s Violence Research and Prevention stated murder was a infectious disease
Harvard Medical School researchers found that young teens who witnessed gun violence were more than twice as likely as non=witnesses to commit violence.
Dr. Felton Earls from Harvard Medical School based on their research stated murder was a socially infectious disease.
In The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness, Erich Fromm stated the increase in violence in society
is directly related to our inability to grieve outwardly.
According to Bertha Simos in 1960 thru 1975 juvenile crime tripled. The juvenile crime
increase and divorce rate had a direct correlation during that period.
“The experience of grief and loss is not limited to the death of a loved one—it also exists after a
divorce, parental separation, relocation, imprisonment or any separation or ending. “
Ruby L. Taylor, M.S.W.
Number one factor in gun violence is exposure to gun violence.
Exposure to violence over whelming beat factors like poverty, drug use, or being raised by a single parent.
1. Increase grief, mourning and healing awareness.
2. Enhance access to grief and healing support and resources.
3. Decrease exposure to violence.
Glaser and Strauss is not trajectory 1 sudden death. The environment of 1991, Daniel being an African American male and looking at murder as a socially infectious disease cancels out sudden death.
Trajectory 3 was Daniel’s death trajectory because of study decline and unpredictable death point.
A night after Daniel’s murder a teenage African American male was murdered in the same community Daniel’s murder came from.
African American and Urban Communities still struggles with violence and murder in our community 20 years after Daniel’s murder.
A documentary about Daniel’s life and my personal grief and healing process was completed in 2010 and was shown in 3 film festivals and screened twice at the African American Museum Philadelphia.
PEACE, COMFORT AND HEALING
RUBY L. TAYLOR, M.S.W.