The community is coming together Saturday to start the healing after a tragic act of violence left a little boy dead and residents devastated.
“We are walking every step to decree and declare healing for every person as each foot hits the pavement,” said the woman who organized the event. “The village is coming together to stand as one body to help others in their time of loss.”
The walk begins noon Saturday at the Woodland Avenue playground, and will proceed to the High School.
The woman who has become known as Lonniyell for the Community first planned the walk last Saturday, as a prayer vigil was held outside Pleasantville High School to pray for 10-year-old Micah Tennant, who was shot during the playoff high school football game.
After Micah’s death Wednesday, the need for healing and coming together became greater.
“At times I just cry,” she admitted. “My daughter is 10. We all have a beginning and an end. I just wasn’t ready to hear he gained his wings.”
But she pointed out the lives Micah — lovingly known as Dew — has made.
Videos of the bright, smiling boy who wanted to be a DJ and loved singing and dancing have touched lives across the nation.
“Some of us have never touched the surface,” Lonniyell said. “But his life has already change lives.”
She believes the Dew has let young people see the true horrors of a lifestyle of guns and fighting.
“We can no longer sit by the wayside allowing others to do all kinds of things that are not productive and positive within our community,” she said. “We must stand in the gap.”
Many are also making sure the young boy’s name lives on.
Shannon Washington Sr. who joined with Pleasantville High School football players to make a video message when Dew was in the hospital, has made a new video to honor his baby cousin.
“I made a promise to carry his name as long as I’m alive,” Washington said. “It’s a major loss to the family as well as the community. We don’t want to let his memory fade.”
