A packed auditorium of parents, alumni and concerned community members gathered Wilmington to reflect on last Thursday’s death of 16-year-old Amy Joyner-Francis, after she was assaulted in her high school bathroom at Howard High School of Technology Thursday morning.
Wilmington City Council member and Howard High School alum Darius Brown held a community town hall meeting at Stubbs Elementary School Monday night in the aftermath of last week’s student death there.
Beau Biden Foundation Executive Director Patty Dailey Lewis addressed problems facing youth in Wilmington – encouraging adults to bear responsibility for the kids in the community.
Ashley Biden, who attended the event, said she thinks the Beau Biden Foundation can help provide not only education on bullying for kids, teachers and communities but also potential funding for student-led initiatives like peer mentoring in which seniors are paired with freshmen.
"It really is about education and intervention, and how you intervene in these situations is key," Biden said. "It really is about educating the adults, teachers, parents, and the entire community as well as the kids."
Community members also stepped up to share their concerns and ideas.
Evangelist Muzella Hayes was the first to speak up about Wilmington's growing homicide rate.
“We’ve already been labeled and now that we’ve had this incident, there’s no telling what will come out of it," Hayes said. "And how people will perceive Wilmington, Delaware or Delaware in general. And the fact that there’s so many good people here.”
70-year-old Howard alum Reese Scott said he just attended his 50th high school reunion last week, and was sickened by the recent incident.
He helped found the Wilmington Peacekeepers 8 years ago, and spends time with kids on the streets, and in schools getting to know them and helping them address what might be troubling them. He called for more action in the community.
“If everybody does a little bit, that turns into a lot. You can stop this violent disease that’s in our communities," Scott said.
Lori Hayes - student activities coordinator at Howard High School – spoke at a town hall meeting Monday night about a new campaign created in the wake of student Amy Joyner-Francis’s death last Thursday.
It’s called Code Blue and has a dual meaning: representing the too many young people that are “coding out,” or dying, as well as Amy’s favorite color: blue.
Hayes says the campaign is an outlet to help the girls re-direct their energy in a positive way, and also help them realize the importance of making good choices and recognizing the consequences of their actions.
She said she’s seen positive results so far.
‘We had girls today who had beef who would come together and hug like, yo, it’s not even worth it anymore,” Hayes said.
A Christian group from Howard called the Young Crusaders will be holding a rally at 7 p.m. Friday at Seeds of Greatness Bible Church in New Castle, Delaware to help kick off the Code Blue campaign.
The crowd also heard from Wilmington Police Chief Bobby Cummings.
“Our investigators are still working in conjunction with the Attorney General’s office," Cummings said. "They are reviewing the medical examiner’s report and determining where we are. We did not want to rush to judgment in terms of the charges. We have a number of interviews that still need to be conducted. Rather than do this wrong, we want to get it right - is why we’re taking our time."
Cummings says he hopes the investigation will be wrapped up by the end of the week. He adds that 2-3 girls of interest are being investigated and if any photos or videos of the incident exist, they are in police custody.