Joyce Rawlings at the center of the prayer circle. Photo by Vernon Miles.
“These young brothers are out here dying. We need to protect each other and learn to love. We have to iron out our differences.”
— Theodore Brooks
The courtyards of the Berg neighborhood were busy late on Nov. 20 with chants of “Victory is Mine.” More than 50 residents and visitors came together to honor the local victims of violence, with more filtering in as the night went on.
On the other side of Route 1, only a few months apart, two men were gunned down on Alexandria’s streets at almost the exact same location. Across town at Beverly Park, another murder victim was found in a playground. But if the police are any closer in solving the murders of Shakaan Elliott-Tibbs, Leon Williams, or Jose Luis Ferman Perez, they’re not sharing it with the community. The three unsolved homicides, two of them in an Alexandria Redevelopment and Housing Authority neighborhood, has had an effect on the residents of the Berg.
“I grew up around here in the Berg,” said Kevin Calloway. “Tonight, it’s about coming together in prayer and remembering those we lost.”
“These young brothers are out here dying,” said Theodore Brooks. “We need to protect each other and learn to love. We have to iron out our differences.”
The minister leading the prayer circle was Lucky Jackson, a young preacher from the Christian Community Center Church, though he prefers to evangelize on Alexandria’s streets. Jackson believes the violence in their community is part of a pattern of social decay.
“The kids nowadays don’t have what we used to have,” said Jackson. “We want to bring God back into the community. Prayer has the power to shift lives here. Pray for our young men. We have to come together in unity and put our differences aside.”
Jackson has his own theories on the end destination of the social decay: the end of the world. But for others in his impromptu congregation, the more immediate concern is the end of the community. Joyce Rawlings, celebrating her 67th birthday, stepped into the center of the circle and appealed, not just to those in the ring around her, but to those who might be listening in the houses outside the circle.
“We have to be bold,” said Rawlings. “We’ve had tragedy after tragedy, death after death. We have to stop waiting and asking for the city to do stuff for us. I’m not saying they don’t care, but it’s not a high priority.”
Rawlings’ message was largely focused on Alexandria’s African-American community, whom she says she’s seen lose a sense of unity in recent years.
“We have to do this for ourselves,” said Rawlings. “We have to keep moving forward. That’s what we’ve always done.”