Mourners: Make Kingston Frazier's death a 'catalyst' for change
The 6-year-old boy lying inside the casket loved superheroes.
Inside the white satin-lined frame was a blue Power Ranger, a Captain America action figure and a Ninja Turtle.
The morning Kingston Frazier died there were no superheroes.
There was no mysterious masked figure to deflect the bullets that riddled his body.
No intervenor to stop the three teenagers that authorities allege stole Ebony Archies Toyota Camry with her sleeping son inside, before committing a slaying that sent a city once again searching for its soul.
If there was a voice of reason among the accused, it went unheard.
David Archie, an uncle of the victim, intoned that the heinousness of the act called for the involvement of the U.S. Department of Justice. At the service, he spoke of a letter he has addressed to the U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions calling for anyone that has harmed a child to have an expedited and expeditious court proceeding. Archie wants a bill passed named in Kingstons honor.
He encouraged the hundreds gathered to wield that justice themselves, if necessary.
We can no longer allow anyone to terrorize our communities, he said. If you are between the ages of 16 and 30 and your parents and family dont get you under control, the village will.
His concluding statement that (we) have to begin to defend our community and children, was punctuated by attendees, including Vance and Hinds County Sheriff Victor Mason standing up in applause.
In a funeral that had until then been filled with words of comfort from dignitaries, Archies oration was the most direct expression of outrage.
Madison County Sheriff Randy Tucker said that Kingston accomplished what no one else had been able to do.
Kingston brought an entire profession together in tears. He brought an entire community together. He brought an entire state together, he said.
And it is true that Mississippians of all backgrounds held a collective breath that a little boy whose path many had never crossed would be found alive.
Viewed in context, there was a gathering of entities across socioeconomic and racial lines in the wake of Kingstons death that to natives and outsiders alike seemed to be conflicting.
The white sheriff (Tucker), who had two weeks before been sued by the American Civil Liberties Union for allegedly targeting black residents in unconstitutional searches and seizures, moving an almost-black crowd with that the revelation he (Kingston) will forever be in my heart because the date of Kingstons death was the same day as Tuckers birthday.
The governor, who was sued for allegedly maintaining an unequal system of education for black and white children in the state, including the school system that Kingston had last received his schooling, sending a proclamation of sorrow and a slate of prayers on behalf of himself and the first lady.
