‘Voices of the Trenches:’ Nonprofits create space for families to heal from gun violence
By DeAndria Turner
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LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (WLKY) — Two local nonprofits, Hope by Hope and Street Widows, are bringing the community together to talk about life after gun violence.
The event, “Voices of the Trenches,” is a conversation series aimed at parents and teens who have been impacted by gun violence.
A room filled with loss. Spouses, siblings, friends. Each person in these chairs knows the agony of gun violence firsthand.
Voices of the Trenches isn’t just an event; it’s a space to drive, to heal, and to find strength in collective pain.
“A forum like this lets people know that there are others like this, and there is a direction that you can take to get your light back on the right path,” said Deshondre Waters.
Every story shared is one of heartbreak but also resilience.
“There’s no there is no bright side to losing a life. But there’s a silver lining in some of this stuff. You know what I mean? You can even tell that negative into a negative or a negative into a positive,” Waters said.
As families across the city are being impacted by gun violence, organizers say that this event was needed now more than ever. Just this week alone, nine people have been killed. Six in two separate triple homicides
“So very heavy in the field that is in our city right now. So we just wanted to create a space for people to go out there, what that looks like, and also to show these varying perspectives of the crime being in a first year or even a ten 20th year of grief,” said Ashlee Johnson.
February alone, gun violence has impacted teenagers at an alarming rate — three teenagers were shot, and five others killed
Monika Coward’s 17-year-old son Dajuan in June 2021. She knows the heartbreak that too many parents are feeling.
“ My message is get a hold to your child. Let him know that you love them is most important when most of them are missing the love from the parent in the family, they feel that they don’t have that inside of the home, so they go outside looking for it,” Coward said.
And for these families impacted, grief doesn’t end in a day, a month, or even years, but events like this safe spaces to cry and to heal are a step forward.
“This is the type of thing that we need, but we also need to hold each other accountable and acknowledge our issues. That’s our cultural therapy. That’s what we call it,” Waters said.
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