Honor Taniyah by stopping violence
The headline in the morning paper is etched in my brain: “Girl, 10, killed in city.” No one deserves to be shot and killed, and Taniyah Thomas was an innocent who had hardly started her life, which was ended by a violent act.
Our community, our city and our school district are overwhelmed with grief and sadness.
The senseless violence that ended this beautiful child’s life must be stopped. We, the survivors, need to work harder than ever to educate our students and our community that violence is not the answer. Violence is the problem.
Washington School District has a slogan: “Together we make a difference.” We must all band together to change the world we live in and make it a world that values life and embraces children as a precious gift. Taniyah Thomas was a brilliant star who loved to cheer, and she should have grown into a cheerleader cheering the Prexies to victory. Now we, the living, must honor her memory by doing all we can to prevent the senseless violence that took our fallen angel away.
We must teach our children and our community that violence hurts us all, and we must rise above the crowd and demand love, respect and understanding from each other.
Troy G. Breese
Washington
The writer is a member of Washington School Board