As Milwaukee mourns the 13-year old girl killed by gunfire inside of her home Monday night, the school district is urging the community to read an essay she wrote for a district-wide contest in 2016.
Sandra Parks was killed after someone fired shots into her home near 13th & Hopkins around 8:00 p.m. Monday.
On Tuesday afternoon around 11 a.m., the mayor and Milwaukee Police announced a 26-year old man, who's a suspect in the case, had been taken into custody. No charges have been filed yet.
"Tragically, Sandra's death was caused by someone who just wanted to shoot bullets into her house," Mayor Tom Barrett said.
He said Parks was in her room, alone, at the time of the shooting. There were other people present in the house.
Alderman Russell Stamper, who represents Parks' neighborhood, said he was devastated by her death.
He added he is grateful that neighbors stepped up and provided information to Milwaukee Police that helped them make an arrest.
"I'm proud of my neighborhood," Stamper said. "Thank you to the community. We are more involved, more vigilant, more active. The community is tired of shootings and deaths."
Parks was an eighth-grade student at Keefe Avenue School.
Milwaukee Public Schools said counselors were on hand there Tuesday to support students and families. The school district said in a statement:
Milwaukee Public Schools griefs with the family of Sandra Parks, an 8th-grade student at Keefe Avenue School, who was murdered by a stray bullet while in her own home yesterday.
The world has lost a young lady who had a talent for writing and making her friends laugh. She was well-liked by her teachers and classmates. She was loved by her family.
She is the twelfth child attending MPS to die by homicide in 2018. As a community, we must commit ourselves to taking whatever action is necessary to keep our children safe.
Listen to Parks read her essay on gun violence here:
MPS also published an essay Parks wrote in 2016, titled "Our Truth," which placed third among sixth graders in the district's 2016 Martin Luther King Jr. essay contest.
In the essay, Parks writes about constant chaos in Milwaukee. It begins with, "In the city in which I live, I hear and see examples of chaos almost everyday. Little children are victims of senseless gun violence. There is too much black on black crime. As an African-American, that makes me feel depressed. Many people have Lost faith in America and its ability to be a living example of Dr. King’s dream!"
Parks goes on to write about what she believes could be solutions to the problem.
"We must start caring about each other. We need to be empathetic and try to walk in each other’s shoes," Parks wrote in the essay.
In her essay, Parks argued solution number two is, "We need to have purpose. We are the future generation, therefore we must have an education to make a positive difference in the world."
Finally, she wrote, "we must not allow the lies of violence, racism, and prejudice to be our truth. The truth begins with us. Instead of passing each other like ships in the night, we must fight until our truths stretch to the ends of the world."
Read her full essay below:
Sometimes, I sit back and I have to escape from what I see and hear every day. I put my headphones on and let the music take me away. I move to the beat and try to think about life and what everything means. When I do; I come to the same conclusion … we are in a state of chaos. In the city in which I live, I hear and see examples of chaos almost everyday. Little children are victims of senseless gun violence. There is too much black on black crime. As an African-American, that makes me feel depressed. Many people have Lost faith in America and its ability to be a living example of Dr. King’s dream!
The truth is faith and hope in what people can do, has been lost in the poor choices we make. We shall overcome has been lost in the lie of who we have become! So now, the real truth is, we need to rewrite our story so that faith and hope for a better tomorrow, is not only within us, but we believe it and we put it into actions.
Our first truth is that we must start caring about each other. We need to be empathetic and try to walk in each other’s shoes. We shall overcome when we eliminate the negative and nasty comments people make about each other. We shall overcome, when we love ourselves and the people around us. Then, we become our brothers keeper.
Our second truth is that we need to have purpose. We are the future generation, therefore we must have an education to make a positive difference in the world. We are the future leaders, but if we don’t have an education, we will accomplish nothing. We will overcome, when we use our education to make the world a better place. We will become the next President, law enforcement officers, teachers, doctors, lawyers, and law makers. We cannot continue to put the responsibility on other people. It is our responsibility as future leaders!
We must not allow the lies of violence, racism, and prejudice to be our truth. The truth begins with us. Instead of passing each other like ships in the night, we must fight until our truths stretch to the ends of the world.
