Grieving moms offer hard truths

Bad choices lead to death, LR program’s black youths told

Lakesia Smith wipes tears Saturday before speaking at the “Before The Casket” presentation about her son, Shoncoven Smith, who was killed in January.
Lakesia Smith wipes tears Saturday before speaking at the “Before The Casket” presentation about her son, Shoncoven Smith, who was killed in January.
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Shoncoven Smith begged for his life.

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Little Rock police Sgt. and O.K. Program of Little Rock Executive Director Willie Davis speaks Saturday during the “Before The Casket” program in Little Rock. The event included testimonials from the families of homicide victims.

After being shot in the arm and the chest outside his home at 3324 Elam St. on Jan. 25, Smith pleaded with his attacker while two of his six young children watched. Then he was shot again, in the head. And the pleading stopped.

Smith was 22.

That’s the story Smith’s mother, Lakesia Smith, told an audience Saturday at Pilgrim Valley Church during the O.K. Program of Little Rock’s “Before The Casket” presentation on homicides and how they affect families, friends and communities.

The program, which is run by Little Rock police Sgt. Willie Davis, provides mentors for more than 70 young black men considered to be at risk for violence or crime.

Why young black men?

“The fact is, and I hate to say it, but if you are a black male in the city of Little Rock, you are more subject to a homicide than anyone else,” said Little Rock homicide detective Van Thomas, a black, eight-year police veteran who spoke at Saturday’s presentation.

Of the 12 homicides this year in Little Rock, 11 victims were black men and youths.

“All the suspects? Black males,” Thomas said.

More than 30 in the program attended Saturday’s presentation. Most of Lakesia Smith’s story was directed at them.

She recalled cooking pork chops for Shoncoven Smith and her two other sons the night of his killing. She remembered that, at 6 feet 8 inches tall and 280 pounds, her son had an impressive appetite. And she remembers the last words they spoke to each other.

“He said, ‘Mama, I love you,’ and he walked out the door. I said, ‘I love you, too. I’ll see you tomorrow.’ Tomorrow never came for him,” she said.

The suspect in Shoncoven Smith’s death, Steven Hayes, was arrested five days later. Witnesses helped lead police to Hayes. It was an example of cooperation between residents and law enforcement that is rare in some Little Rock communities, Thomas said.

Too rare, he added, if future homicides are going to be prevented.

“I’m knocking on doors. You can hear people inside, but they won’t answer. And I’m hearing, ‘I ain’t no snitch,’ a thousand times over again. The interesting thing about it all is that if you’re a person with information on a homicide and you don’t talk, the next week if it’s your friend that it happens to, you want everybody to talk,”Thomas said. “You want us to go and grab anybody and everybody you can think of, nicknames and all. But we can’t do it like that.”

Four other relatives of homicide victims spoke Saturday, also directing their stories toward the boys of the O.K. Program. They told the young men to finish school, listen to their mentors and to be cautious of the company they keep.

Renette Robinson told the group that her son, Jonathan Talley, 21, had graduated from Pulaski Technical College with honors, but that he became involved in selling drugs. On Feb. 10, he was shot seven times and killed at a Little Rock nightclub. A distraught Robinson wore her son’s clothes for three days afterward, waiting to see his body.

“He didn’t have to be out in them streets,” she told the boys, showing them a picture of her son. “That’s the life he chose.”

Shundia Austin told attendees that similar choices led to the death of her son, Bendrell Urquhart, 24. He was shot to death in Pine Bluff in April of last year.

“My son was a drug dealer.I’m not going to sugarcoat it, because he was what he was at that time,” she said.

Austin and the other relatives of homicide victims were given yellow roses by the boys of the O.K. Program. Davis said the roses were “tokens of peace.”

“You’ve got to understand that this senseless violence that we see every day across this country is totally unnecessary,” said Davis, who is black. “Now, I’m just going to tell you this - it’s not a white issue, it’s a black issue. I’ll say it again. It’s a black issue. And we’ve got to address it. Yes, the city and the police chief, he has a responsibility. Yes, the mayor has a responsibility, as well. But as a community, we have the sole responsibility, the responsibility for us all. And it starts in our homes.”

Arkansas, Pages 15 on 04/13/2014

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