A 17-year-old Robinwood boy was charged with first- and second-degree murder, two counts of assault, reckless endangerment and two handgun violations in the March 16 death of Kwame.
FUNK's efforts join a broader initiative that intensifies the city's focus on violent residents, increases police patrols, lighting and security cameras in public housing communities and funds mentoring programs for youths. The program, which grows out of a coalition of local, state and federal authorities, is being considered a model that can be duplicated across the state.
Annapolis Mayor Ellen O. Moyer has included more than $1 million in new money in her 2009 budget proposal to fund public safety and said the youths' efforts are key to lowering the city's crime rate.
"Youth is where our strength is," she said. "I remember when I was in high school, if there was an after-school community program we wanted, the students would work to line it up. But somewhere along the way, society has killed that kind of youth initiative. I'm happy to see there's an environment here that's allowing for that youth activity to resurface."
Kwame's killing jarred the city. It prompted the mayor to consider - and later abandon - a citywide youth curfew proposal and spurred a city alderwoman to suggest bringing in the National Guard to keep the peace.
Meanwhile, FUNK's members, some of whom live in the public housing being condemned as dens of crime, say they see a city struggling to reconcile two worlds. One has million-dollar waterfront homes and swanky boutiques and restaurants on picturesque brick streets; the other has dilapidated low-income communities suffering from years of splintered public safety efforts and an entrenched mistrust among residents, the police and security.
At a recent meeting, students huddled in small committees and discussed plans to create a mural dedicated to Kwame, cultivate a peace garden outside the school and organize a peace concert. The bell for first-period rang and interrupted their discussion, and they all begged Assistant Principal Sheila Hill for 10 more minutes. She shook her head no. There were government and math classes to get to, she said.
But Hill couldn't be more thrilled with the way the students have begun to drive the agenda for this group. She has watched FUNK grow from a few dozen students to about 150. She has watched them change from students who said that nothing they did would matter to students who proudly wear bracelets emblazoned with the words: "Kwame's legacy - education = empowerment."
This is as important to her as it is to them. Kwame had been in her "intensive care unit," a group of juniors and seniors at risk of not graduating. Kwame was a soft-spoken, conscientious boy who was talented in sketching and drawing. But he also had a habit of skipping school. Every morning, after she called her own two children at home to make sure they were up and getting ready for school, she also called Kwame to make sure he was doing the same.
He hadn't answered her wake-up calls on Monday, March 17. She figured he was trying to dodge her. She didn't know he had become another homicide victim the night before.
"To do this in his honor is so important," she said. "But what's great is that the students are slowly realizing it's bigger than him, broader than him. It's about making this place a better place to live and realizing that they have a stake in making that happen."
ruma.kumar@baltsun.com
