My daughter, Makiya Alexandria Hawkins, was born into this world without a sound … only bearing a toothless smile and wide-eyed stare on August 1, 1999.
On May 13, 2017, she attended a house party to celebrate her upcoming graduation. We talked via FaceTime before she left to make sure she understood that if anyone was drinking, she was not to get in the car with them … I told her how pretty she looked that night and that I loved her so much … never knowing that would be the last time I spoke those words to her.
May 14, at 12 a.m., I FaceTimed her again, with no answer. I said to myself, ”Yeah, I was that parent” … but also, it was Mother’s Day, and she never missed being the first to tell me, “Happy Mother’s Day!”
My daughter was shot.
I didn’t think that I would have to not only remind her that she shouldn’t get in the car with anyone that was drinking, but also that if anyone started to shoot, you get low!!
SHE DIDN’T ANSWER MY CALL BECAUSE SHE WAS LYING ON THE GROUND, FIGHTING FOR HER LIFE.
Justice for Makiya