Since then, her family has tried to bring an end to violence in hopes other families don’t have to suffer as they did. They started a group called Mothers Operating Together Helping Each Other Regain Strength (M.O.T.H.E.R.S.)
On Saturday, Harlan “June” Hawkins, Aunyea’s brother, brought the group’s anti-violence message to about 20 kids ages 12-17.
“You have a choice. You can choose to be a part of the killing and all that,” Hawkins told the students. “Or you can make the choice to be a positive force in your community. It’s your choice to make.”
Hawkins brought in several speakers for some “real talk” on the impacts violence has on individuals and the community, including Christiana Hospital staff, who talked about handling gunshot wounds, and a convicted murderer, who talked about how a “stupid act of anger” ruined his life and ended another.
“I was just like, wow, that’s crazy,” said Arjay Jackson, 13. “It was a real eye-opener, man. He was just so honest about what happened and all the pain he caused.”
The group then drove out to play a paintball game at a facility in Bear. While he wanted to bring some fun to the event, Hawkins also said he and other MOTHERS members used it as a chance to hammer home how quickly a snap judgment can change – or end – a life.
At one point, for example, a bystander who wasn’t even playing took a stray paintball to the stomach.
“It was supposed to be fun, but at the same time, we wanted to teach them a first-hand lesson,” Hawkins said. “We stopped right there and we told them ‘look, this ain’t a game in real life. If this would have been a gun, he’d be dead, and he didn’t even do anything. That’s how fast it happens.”
After paintball, the kids heard several more personal stories. One of those speakers was supposed to be 19-year-old Rodrick Buckworth, who was shot by a neighbor Tuesday in his Pike Creek apartment along with his mother. The shooter killed himself after shooting Buckworth twice and his mother once.
Buckworth, a rapper whose music has an anti-violence message, is Hawkins’ cousin.
Merna Subner, who is Aunyea and Harlan’s mom, as well as a MOTHERS member, said that incident hammered home how real the lessons the kids were learning are.
“I think this event really opened some of their eyes,” Subner said. “You know, I think our youth are starting to get as tired of all the killing as we are. And what we want to do is show them that it doesn’t have to be that way.”
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