He also knows firsthand how unforgiving this city can be. In 1993, Baltimore's most murderous year, his 74-year-old mother, Jeremiah, was bludgeoned to death in her own home on North Caroline Street by a tenant who was searching for money for crack cocaine. O'Neal found his mother's body. Three days later, a nun was strangled in a convent, a murder a city leader said "stopped the city in its tracks."
But all was not lost Friday night. The kids who did show up inspired hope and promise. Sonia Lewis is a leader with the Boy Scouts, and she brought representatives from Troop 193 from Park Heights. One young man is up for the top honor, Eagle Scout, and another is trying for the same badge.
Lewis spoke shortly after a city police sergeant showed slides of gang insignia, the tattoos, red and blue bandannas, the uniforms worn by the Bloods and the Crips and even white supremacist groups that he said share the streets in Southwest Baltimore.
Lewis talked about a different kind of uniform: "My boys will wear their uniform on any street in any neighborhood at any time." She talked proudly about how her troop members, most from the city, were camping in Gunpowder State Park when a tornado ripped through, and how they set up a camp, helped other hikers with first aid and got everyone out safely.
Those are the kids we need to hear more about.
Icea Ragsdale monitors the kids we're afraid to hear about.
She works for the state Department of Juvenile Services and oversees young offenders who are in the Violence Prevention Initiative in Southwest and Northwest Baltimore. She's been on the job just under a year, and already, she told the group, "I've lost three of my kids to murder on the street."
Her youngest charge is a 12-year-old boy, shot in Southwest Baltimore and still recovering with a bullet lodged near his lung. One of the requirements to get into the strict supervision program is to have shot somebody or have gotten shot yourself. There are 200 youths enrolled across the city.
The sad part, Ragsdale said, is there is a waiting list.
These are kids who need to hear the message that was delivered Friday night.
