ANGELA WILLIAMS: My community is a community, unfortunately, of violence.
Back in 2003, my nephew, Torrey Donnell Manuel, he was shot seven times. When my sister lost Torrey, I could see all the hurt she was going through. And I just asked God for guidance, "Give me something that I can help my sister." And I knew I wanted it to have something to do with the word "Mama," so that's how I came up with Mothers Against Murderers Association.
And now I can't stop. Majority of the mothers come to me, they want advice, "What do I do next?" They're just numb. Then we do a circle of healing for them, and we give them support.
We have an open-door policy. They can come in anytime they want. Even if they just want to come in here and sit, they can come here and sit and get a peace of mind. That's why we call it a place of hope and healing.
WOMAN: And he runs in the room and says, "Mom, Xavier was shot." That's a call no mother deserves or wants to hear.
ANGELA WILLIAMS: We have 450 mothers in this group. I assist them with helping the planning of the funeral. I accompany them at the courthouse when they have trials. We also give away food. Sometimes we buy clothes for the mothers. Hi. How are you today?
MAN: Okay.
ANGELA WILLIAMS: Please give this to your wife. Tell her it's from Mothers Against Murderers.
MAN: Okay. Thank you very much.
ANGELA WILLIAMS: You're welcome. Thank you.
I'm on call 24 hours a day. I have calls at 2:00 in the morning, 3:00 in the morning, mothers that can't sleep, so I talk to them till they get ready to fall asleep. It's giving them comfort, and that's what they need. You're going to lead us in prayer today.
Every single day, we turn our pain into power in this organization. Like with my sister Georgie, she was so devastated, she couldn't do anything. She couldn't even get out of bed. But now she's fighting. And it's given her strength to move on. That's why it's so powerful for these mothers because one mother sitting there and the other mothers sitting there and saying, "We're going through this together."
It's very hard work, but I love what I do.
WOMAN: ...from each and every one of us. Y'all, give her some love.
[applause]
