blessed and beloved
about
The Blessed & Beloved Project was initially brought about due to death of Yvonne Brock’s grandson Zaire Kelly. Zaire Kelly was 16 years of age and coming home from College Bound on September 20th 2017 when a gunman shot him 300 feet from his front door. Four months after Zaire was killed another student name Paris Brown was shot murdered that also attended Thurgood Marshall High school in SE DC.
Mass shooting. School shooting, robbery, are all just too much. It is now time for adult to listen to the youth and be part of the solution.
Our goal is to have a Wellness Change Center. This program is a family mentoring intervention that serves young people and their families. The program models deliver intensive group mentoring sessions using an Interactive curriculum based on cognitive behavioral therapy principles. We would have a personal trainer and nutrition coach to help with the inner healing. Music and meditation is also very important. Providing the right assessment tools, we can identify early some of the behaviors before they become violent forms of bullying.
The Blessed & Beloved Project needs support to host events over the city in each ward to talk about how we can work together.
Zaire Kelly
The story of Zaire Kelly’s murder is a tragic one that highlights the issue of gun violence in Washington DC. Zaire Kelly was a 16-year-old student at Thurgood Marshall Academy in Southeast, D.C. He was shot and killed while walking home from a competitive after-school program on September 20, 20171. Zaire had aspirations to study forensic science at Florida A&M and was known for his energetic personality and leadership qualities.
On the day of the incident, Zaire’s twin brother, Zion, encountered a man who attempted to rob him. Zion managed to escape and warned Zaire about the man. Unfortunately, later that evening, Zaire was confronted by the same assailant, 19-year-old Sequan Gillis, and during the attempted robbery, Zaire defended himself with a pocket knife. In the struggle, Gillis shot Zaire, and both were fatally injured.
Zaire’s death sparked a call for change, leading to the proposal of the Zaire Kelly Public Safety Zone Amendment Act of 2018, which aims to create safe passages for students traveling to and from school and after-school activities. The loss of Zaire Kelly is mourned by his community, and his story continues to be a powerful voice in the fight against gun violence.
Zion Kelly
In the weeks and months after Zaire’s death, Zion struggled to accept reality. “I was in denial,” he says. “I couldn’t really believe it.” What helped him cope, he says, was the love and support of his parents, his other siblings, extended family, and friends. “I think because I’m a twin, a lot of people reached out to me.”
Eventually, Zion came to accept his brother’s death, and his loved ones helped him see that together they could keep his memory alive. “We just try to keep his name alive, keep his legacy alive by always having his pictures up, always talking about him.”
Within a few months after Zaire’s death, Zion also started speaking publicly about his loss to raise awareness about gun violence. “I started to become more vocal,” says Zion, “just telling my story and drawing attention to gun violence in Washington D.C.” The introverted, soft-spoken teenager addressed the hundreds of thousands of people who gathered in the nation’s capital that spring for the March for Our Lives rally to call for action against gun violence. Later, he traveled around the country and even to Italy to share his personal story of losing his twin brother to gun violence.
“That’s when I felt like he was really living through me, because the whole world, eventually, got to know his name, got to know my story,” says Zion. He also felt that he was making his brother proud through his public speaking and activism. It gave him a passion and a purpose to focus on.
Zion Kelly stood in the same spot his twin brother, Zaire, had stood to receive his Right Direction Award one year earlier. One month after winning the award, Zaire Kelly was shot and killed only 300 feet from his home. Zion graduated this year from Thurgood Marshall Academy and was the keynote speaker at the DC Attorney General’s Right Direction Award Ceremony on Aug. 9 in the Old Council Chambers at One Judiciary Square. The awards, now in their fourth year, honor District youth who have overcome difficult challenges and are continuing on the path to success.
“You can’t control what will happen, but you can control how you react,” Zion Kelly said in his keynote address at the DC Attorney General’s Right Direction Award Ceremony on Aug. 9. DC Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton paid her respects at the beginning of the ceremony, specifically thanking Kelly for the work he is doing to advocate for stricter gun laws and safe neighborhoods for children in DC. “Congress tries every single session to eliminate our gun laws in DC,” Norton said. “I’m having to devote a lot of attention to keeping the laws we have now intact.”
Zaire was killed at age 16 while walking home from a college mentorship program. When a thief attempted to rob him of his cell phone, Zaire fought back with a knife and was shot to death. Since his twin’s death, Zion has been active in the March for Our Lives movement, speaking at numerous events across the country, including the student-led rally on March 24 in DC in support of tighter gun control. Along with promoting stricter gun law enforcement, Zion is working to ensure that children have a safe walk to and from school. “You can’t control what will happen, but you can control how you react,” Zion said in his remarks accepting his Right Direction Award. “We will be the change. I decided to make this my reaction.”
Zion continues making extraordinary moves attending Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University. When asked about the one thing he wishes he could tell his brother now, he said, “I want him to know he didn’t die in vain. The world knows who he is, and he is impacting lives.”
