Turning Pain Into Action

A #javaCafe Community Member(s) Highlight of Natasha Carrington and Ruthy Rollins.

If you follow the Facebook #javawithJimmy page, you saw that we had a “Sundayjava” as we attended the St. John Missionary Baptist Church in support of our #javaFam member Natasha Carrington, a community member that turned her pain of the homicide of her son into action.

In February of 2018, Natasha attended the first #weneedtoknow meeting where she was able to connect with the Homicide Unit of the Boston Police Department. She began the process of getting answers to questions that she waited for years to get the answers she needed about her son’s death investigation. From there, through her connection with the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute, Natasha began organizing the Community Healing Services at St. John (Roxbury, MA) where Arthur J. Gordon is the Pastor. It was a powerful service and Natasha, we appreciate your transparency, testimony, and pain you turned into action to bring healing to our community.

At that service, we also got the hear the testimony of Carla Sheffield, whose son was killed by Boston Police. She shared her story of turning pain into action, calling for accountability for Boston Police Officers.

We also heard from Ruthy “Ms. Ruthy” Rollins. Her son was killed some years ago and she shared the pain and trauma of losing him, but she also talked about the work she’s doing, turning her pain into action. Ms. Ruthy runs a program called, We Are Better Together, the Daniel Hairston Project.

Some of the service is below: