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East Bay mothers of murdered children walk for healing
Hundreds of families of murder victims will come together this weekend in the East Bay. After undergoing unimaginable grief, theyll be walking together to heal.
SAN LEANDRO, Calif. - February 8, 2000, was a night that would change Lorrain Taylor’s life forever.
"Their world came to an end and mine did too," Taylor recalled that her twin sons, Albade Taylor and Obadiah Taylor were both shot and killed with an AK-47 in an Oakland parking lot at just 22-years-old.
"My son, Gregory, called me, and he said to me, ‘Mom, I want you to stop what you’re doing right now and pray for strength,’ and I did." Taylor said. "He called me back in about 20 minutes, and he said, he said to me mom, we lost them."
After seven years of battling depression, Taylor would turn her pain into purpose.
"I just didn’t want any other mother to go through what I had gone through."
By founding 1000 Mothers to Prevent Violence, Taylor would form a support group, and began reaching out to other moms like Shantee Baker of Berkeley, who also lost a child to violence, or as she described it, "A stolen, stolen life"
Baker’s 26-year-old daughter, Jessica Kingeter, a talented ballerina and aspiring journalist, while fighting off a would-be rapist in Oakland in 2012, was stabbed about 60 times.
"Nobody should have that experience of having their child murdered," Baker said. "I regretted even being born. A lot of people can’t take it."
Staying active together is how these mothers cope.
"If you don’t deal with grief, it will deal with you," Taylor said.
"I think the more we can heal as a community, as a society, that we can actually treasure all of our children and make sure they are safe and happy," Baker said.
For the first time since the pandemic, the Mourning Mother’s Walk for Healing returns on Saturday, June 8, 2024, at San Leandro Marina Park.
Registration for the two-mile walk starts on Saturday at 8:30 a.m., followed by brunch and live entertainment.
Admission is $25 and all proceeds go to the services that the group provides to the families of victims all over the Bay Area.
While it started with moms, dads also take part, and everyone is welcome.