Saturday, the Northampton County branch will hold another event to remember the missing — a Rally Around the Families for Justice.
(The Halifax and Hertford chapters of the NAACP are also event sponsors as well as the Roanoke Valley Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Participants are advised to park at the Wellness Center on Highway 305 outside Jackson. Transportation will be provided to the march location)
It is an event which includes a march beginning at 10 a.m. at the former Piggly-Wiggly in Jackson to the Northampton County Courthouse. At the end of the march speakers including Halifax County Sheriff Wes Tripp and Northampton County Sheriff Jack Smith as well as William Barber II, state president of the National Association for Advancement of Colored People, will make statements.
“We want the public to be aware of these cases,” Burnette said today. “We want to educate the public on these cases. All are open, no one has been brought to justice. For the missing or the murdered these families are suffering with no closure. You have kids with no mothers, husbands with no wives, brothers with no sisters, mothers who have lost their kids.”
Top row, from left: Stansbury, missing since 2006; Shawn Alston, missing since 2012; Damon Riddick, murdered in 2012. Middle row, from left: Thomas "Kissey" Watson, murdered in 2010; Kelvin Wilson Branch, murdered in 2012; Jalesa Reynolds, missing since 2010. Bottom row, from left: Daniel McCoy Moses, missing since 2011; Amy Wells Bridgeman, missing since 2013; Robert Moore, missing since 1996.
Burnette, a former law enforcement officer, believes the missing need advocates within law enforcement. “What really is at the heart of it is their family members are missing and murdered and when they ask for answers they're not responding. Some of the cases have no rewards. It's all about advocacy, having an advocate keeping them abreast. Having a loved one missing, the victims are thinking about it 24-7. I feel like having advocacy would help by keeping them abreast.”
While larger agencies have designated liaisons, Burnette believes smaller agencies could designate someone to be the conduit for the victims. “Anytime you have a tragedy or a loss of life, people need to know someone cares and someone is concerned. Those victims need to know they have the backing of the community with all its resources to come to their aid. This is what it's all about. The fundamental question is what if it was your child, where would you turn? Where would you go? What would you do?”
