![]() “These were two guys where terrible things happened one day in their lives they can build it. “It was a demonstration of strong Black women that were basically making the most out of nothing and demonstrat to the world what two mothers could do,” Parker said. For Parker however, this particular situation remains near and dear to his heart because it involves two mothers who found common ground in the midst of tragedy. In his work with ACM, Parker has facilitated similar truces between survivors of violence and those who’ve perpetuated it against them. And I feel that since that happened, we’ve come a long way.” ![]() I’m not trying to make myself older by sitting back, worrying and stressing myself out things that I have no control over that I really can’t change. “Today’s a new day, let’s make it into something a better day. ![]() I’d like to take it and try to turn it into something good,” Bates said. “I’m not the type that like to dwell on the bad that happened. Bates, who now considers Grimes-Jones her younger sister, said she holds no ill will toward her or her son, especially since learning more about her and meeting other members of her family. Over the next two decades, Bates and Grimes-Jones would continue to speak on the phone and go out to eat on occasion before eventually speaking before audiences of mothers and community members about their healing journey.īates and Grimes-Jones’ story has taken them to churches, community-based organizations, libraries and even at an event conducted by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Bates said she also grew to appreciate Grimes-Jones’ efforts to keep her son on a straight and narrow path. The two mothers later learned that they worked near each other. Bates had also known of Jones’ father, James Antonio Jones, an enforcer in Rayful Edmond III’s drug organization who, at that time, was also serving time in the federal prison system.īates, initially hesitant to speak to Grimes-Jones, said the two immediately hit it off on the phone, laughing and crying during their hours-long conversation. area, in the aftermath of the Easter Monday shooting.īefore then, Bates’ only interaction with Grimes-Jones had been in the courtroom during Jones’ trial. He said many of them traveled from other cities, and eventually set roots in the D.C. Through it all, Bates acknowledged his family as a constant force in his teenage years. He also recalled basking in the warmth that teachers and staff provided, especially during the times he lost focus and engaged in mischievous behavior, partially out of frustration with his situation. While at that school, Bates, who described himself as a nerd, fell even more deeply in love with mathematics. Throughout most of his adolescence, Bates encountered developmental challenges that took him from Children’s National Medical Center in Northwest to Hospital for Sick Children on Bunker Hill Road in Northeast and eventually to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.īy middle school, Bates started attending Kennedy Krieger Institute, a school in Baltimore for children who’ve experienced disorders and injuries similar to his. Just feet away from where Bates, his sister and cousins had been standing, two groups of youth were engaged in an altercation that turned violent when Antoine Jones, 16 years old at the time, let off several shots into a crowd.īates, then 11 years old, suffered a gunshot to the back of the head that left him paralyzed, without short-term memory and unable to perform the most basic of functions for a little over a year. Our House First Time Home Buyer’s Series.Twenty-Three Years Later, Two Mothers Carry on Healing Journey - The Washington Informer Close
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |