COLUMBUS, Ohio — Identifiable by their bright orange shirts, the group of mothers who lost children to gun violence huddled under the tent outside Columbus City Hall Sunday afternoon as rain pelted the ground.
Malissa Thomas-St. Clair, one of the organizers behind a rally and march to advocate for an end to gun violence, stood before the women and passionately prayed that the rain would not dampen their message.
"We are going forward even in the rain," said Thomas-St. Clair, the founder of Mothers of Murdered Columbus Children, a group composed primarily of women whose children have become victims of gun violence.
As if on cue, the rain began to slow shortly after 2 p.m. and then stop altogether in time for a slate of speakers that included Columbus City Council President Shannon Hardin and new Columbus Police Chief Elaine Bryant.
"I, too, am a mother first, and I'm inspired and in awe of all the mothers here," Bryant said. "We have to do better as a community, as a (police) department, as a city."
Community leaders addressed a crowd of more than 200 ahead of a planned march around Downtown Columbus as part of the rally organized by Mothers of Murdered Columbus Children in collaboration with a cease-fire initiative organized by Near East Side barbershop owner Al Edmondson.
Thomas-St. Clair, whose own son Anthony was murdered in 2013, founded the organization nearly a year ago with the goal of building a coalition among other grassroots organizations that are committed to violence prevention and intervention efforts.
"We as mothers are tired of having to see other mothers endure this excruciating pain," Thomas-St. Clair told the Dispatch before the event. "It's imperative that going into the back-to-school season that we are in solidarity for the safety of our children."
The organization, which counts more than 1,800 people among its ranks based on membership to a private Facebook group, has been increasingly vocal this year at homicides continue at a record-setting pace for Columbus.
A man who died Saturday afternoon following a shooting early that morning at the Spotlight Lounge in the Hilltop — which left four others injured — is the latest homicide victim in a grisly year that could set a record for homicides in Columbus.
There have been 124 homicides this year in Columbus, with 25 of them occurring in what has become a particularly deadly month of July.
For comparison, in 2020 — itself a record-setting year for homicides in Columbus with 175 people killed — 16 people were killed during the entire month of July and the city's death toll from homicides stood at 75 for the year by the end of that month.
Columbus has had no shortage of shootings this year involving both juvenile suspects and victims, a fact that strikes close to home for the estimated 250 or so women in the group who Thomas-St. Clair says have lost their own children to gun violence.
Many of the mothers said they joined the group not only in an effort to keep their own children's memories alive, but to make sure no one else suffers such a loss.
Tracy Tate, 57, of the South Side, who was there Sunday, lost her 25-year-old son Jaleel Carter-Tate to gun violence last September.
It took her awhile to overcome the worst of her grief and join the group, but she said she's glad she did.
"This motivates me to keep my son's name alive and get justice for him," Tate said. "It's easier when you see you're not the only one going through it."
Meshell Blair, 48, didn't hesitate to join the organization immediately after her 19-year-old son Cameron Kates was fatally shot in late March.
"I'm his only voice now," said Blair of North Linden. "I need to make sure his story is told."
