Photos by Lisa Land
Written by Tanya Terry
It was called the WOW Outreach 20th Annual Unity March, and it brought together church members and other local residents to honor loved ones lost to violence, share love, receive healing and represent Flint.
“It’s got a “U” and an “I” in in-because without you and I-it would not be,” said Organizer Kenyetta Dotson.
It was important for Equinye Garvins to be part of the march because she is a member of Church Without Walls, and she also walked in honor of her nephew who was 20 when he was killed.
“We have been marching for unity for 20 years,” Garvins said. “We’re a church of unity. Our pastor believes in unity, and we have to reach out to our community to tell our community they’re not in this alone, that we’re all in this together. We’re in this fight in unity and one against violence and one against violence and one against people killing each other. It has to stop, especially of our babies.”
Gavins’ nephew, Rhakem Reeder, was killed by the police.
“Right now my family is fighting for justice for him in Tallahassee, Florida,” Gavins said.
March participants stopped to pray as a group, hear words of encouragement or watch local youth perform.
“We fight so many battles,” said Ashnee Young, “There’s so much pain, so many people impacted, and I feel ‘strong people don’t need strong leaders.’ So, it’s important to me we come together and we’re always organizing for change.”
Young serves with Legal Services of Eastern Michigan, for which she was out distributing resource bags with information and with the Flint Freedom Schools Collaborative, for which she was distributing books alongside the Flint Public Library.
The first stop the group of marchers approached was at M.L. King and Pierson, and 14-year-old Mekhi Thompson played “Lean on Me” by Bill Withers, who died in March of 2020, as a tribute.
Shemeca Thompson, his mother, said she had lost her young cousin due to a youth having a gun the previous weekend. Her cousin, Briana Sykes, was shot by police on Juneteenth during the Champions Parade after she allegedly fired a gun at the officer.
“I just wish we could control it and help our youth more,” Shemeca Thompson said. “I just wish the community would come out and get more involved with resources. Mental health is real, and there’s a lot of resources out there. So, I think we should touch the neighborhoods and let them know that there are resources available.”
Bishop Bernadel Jefferson also prayed for the neighborhood at the stop.
At Pulaski and Saginaw, the group again paused for words of encouragement and prayer. Pastor Pastor Freelon Threlkeld, who lives on Pulaski, was one of many respected pastors or community members who spoke there or throughout the march.
Khamilia Clarke was one of many individuals who marched while holding a sign featuring the photos of a person who has died.
“I’m walking in honor of his mom,” Clarke said.
Clarke also performed a dance at the corners of Pulaski and Saginaw as part of the Unity March.
Elder Toy Pridegon of Victorious Word Church also led a prayer at the stop.
Rain that started pouring out on march participants near Upper Room Missionary Baptist Church couldn’t stop the marchers, many of whom pulled out their umbrellas and shared them with other marchers.
A musical selection was offered by Michael Powell and a word from the youth was presented by Tomas Tello in the form of a rap.
“We participate every year,” said Davina Whitaker of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Inc. Zeta Beta Zeta Chapter.
“With our service we do in the community that’s part of our sorority, we want to be a part of anything that has to do with uplifting our youth, continuing to work with our women, children and even men,” Whitaker added. “Even though we’re a sorority and we’re mostly open to women, we want to do anything in our community that uplifts our people.”
As the rain poured down, the prayers kept going up. Minister Sharon Burnett prayed for the youth, Pastor Bradford offered a Universal Collective Prayer, and Minister Tracy Jackson offered a prayer into the last walk back to the march’s home location at Church Without Walls, on Dupont.
DaChelle McDonald, WOW administrator, said she feels the positive impact the march had can be lasting.
“I believe it will be lasting as long as we do things in between the Unity March because the Unity March is only one of the things we do throughout the community,” McDonald said. “We do evangelism on different street corners that have a lot of traffic, and we have our Youth Ambassadors Program. They feed off what we do. So, they help other youth join to get off the street so they don’t have to be out there in the street. It’s a big impact as far as when people see people who want to help because we’ve got some people who think there is nothing going on in the city because they’re probably not very well connected.”
McDonald recalled a young woman who followed the march to the end.
“She gave us hugs and was happy to know that we were out here assisting with helping the violence to cease,” McDonald said. “She said she was doing a lot of stuff on her own because she lost her son to unnecessary violence. She was out canvassing neighborhoods, talking to people-all on her own. She felt like she was no longer on her own when she realized that we were out there.”
McDonald said the young woman will now be notified of WOW’s future activities.
For example, the Resource Fair, which was supposed to occur after the Unity March but was much smaller because of the rain, will take place July 24 at Church Without Walls, along with a Thrift Extravaganza.
“In August, we have started our mentoring program for our youth, and in September we’re going to be doing some more of the street ministry on Leith and Saginaw Street. We’re Without Walls Ministry. That’s what the WOW stands for. So, we like to be out into the community.”
“It’s not just an event; it’s a movement,” Dotson said. “It takes a collective body of people all working together to really bring this to fruition. We try to get everybody to come to the table. We know that there have been inequities in our society, in our families and in our systems that persist that really perpetuate violence, and we can only eradicate that destructive system by coming together as a people.”
For details on WOW, call 810-789-7700.
