Dovon Harris, one month gone by

Last month, HR reported on Dovon Harris, 15, killed on 114th Street just east of Central Avenue in LAPD's Southeast Division in Watts.  Dovon was shot and killed June 15 but was kept on life support for two days so his parents could donate six of his organs. A boy about his own age was later arrested in the case.

Barbara Pritchett, his mother, described her life one month after her son's slaying. Despite financial difficulty, she has had to quit her job as a home healthcare worker, she said. Her employers offered no bereavement leave, and, "I would just cry all day," she said.

"It's not day to day, it's moment to moment," she said. "You just don't know how you are going to feel from one moment to the next. I wouldn't wish this on my worst-est enemy. You wake up with this pain. You go to bed with this pain."

A service in memory of Dovon is scheduled for 11 a.m. July 22 at Glory Bound Missionary Baptist Church at 1522 S. Long Beach Blvd. in Compton. The public is welcome.

see "Dovon Harris," "Ive Got Expectations for You," and "Watts United."

Comments

[Gwendolyn Stuart-Singleton, President S.T.E.V.I.E.(Striving Towards Eradicating Violence In Ennercit]

Barbara: The God that I serve continues to hold you in his arms. There are no words I as a Mother of an Innocent Victim of Homicide...My only Son,
Stevland "STEVIE" Singleton was savagely, cowardly and brutally MURDERED on March 26, 2004, at 4610 So. St. Andrews Place in Los Angeles. I can share with you every single feeling that you are experiencing and those yet to come. We Mother's have a saying that a Mother shared with us: "Only Another Mother, Who Has Walked This Dark, Lonely, Void Can Comfort Another Mother".

As I sit here with tears streaming down my face, I am asking GOD to hold onto you tighter than ever before. Barbara, you are doing the right thing to cry when ever you feel the need to, we have all had our days and we continue to do so.

If the need is there to call your baby "DOVON", call out his name. Trust me as odd as it may sound in the rustling of the trees; or perhaps the sound of a wind chime, you will hear your son's voice and he'll let you know, he's okay. We will never forget, cling onto his precious memories and take some small comfort in knowing that he's among new friends now. He's with all of our children. DOVON is now your Guardian Angel.

One of the things I did to keep my sanity was to form an organization in Memory of "STEVIE", it is called "STRIVING TOWARDS ERADICATING VIOLENCE IN ENNERCITIES" which is a Homicide Survivor Support & Advocacy organization. Services are provided throughtout the City & County Los Angeles and recently we have expanded to the Inland Empire. There are several Mother Organizations who are here to catch you and help guide you along the path we have walked before you. We are in Compton, Watts, Lynwood, San Pedro, Inglewood, LA, Leimert Park.

PLEASE contact me at: oneunikadvocate2@aol.com or you can call The Sheriff's Department in Lennox, Carson or LAPD South West Station and ask for the Captain of the station and they will give you my number.

My heart goes out to you Barbara, I know the pain you're in but I haven't as of yet found the words to ease that pain. We are left here to continue on and the individual who has shattered our lives forever have no idea of the Pain that they have inflicted upon an entire Family.

Barbara, hold onto GOD'S undieing love for you Sweetie.

Gwendolyn Stuart-Singleton
S.T.E.V.I.E.
Striving Towards Eradicating Violence In Ennercities
oneunikadvocate2@aol.com

"With The Wings of Our Children Beneath Our Feet, We Will Soar"

[Tracee]

Hello, my name is Tracee. I am a very concerned parent and I would like to know if there are going to be any more memorials or anything of that nature that will be held in the memory of Dovon. Please contace me via e-mail at
tubby_kiki@yahoo.com. I am very sorry and would like to help in a way that will pave the way for others to make this circumstance alot better for those involved.

[la donna]

to see Barbara is to see a mother whose love for her child went pass that and helped others to grieve even while she was dealing with the lost. i have shared in this pain with the family and i am in awe everytime i see and speak with Barbara. she shows what faith in God can do for you. the lost of Devon is one that only a parent can trully understand who has been in this predicament and yet the blessing in all of this is that although he is no longer here he is the biggest light that continues to shine. i continue to send out my prayers to the family and say what an honor it is to know them. let not this tragedy be forgotten. as parents it is time to take responsibility for our children and to show them a different way. we need not continue to raise kids to be the exception to the rule , but the rule itself. and may justice be served

[Mahone Family]

We too understand your sorrow as we lost our son/brother of 18 years to a drive by shooting on May 14, 2007. Our prayers are with you and your family in your time of sorrow

[Robert Singleton]

I truly it is sad when teenage kids kill one another over senless issues this is a heavey load on his mother she has to deal with pain of her son being murdered Ihope her church steps in to help.