3 Billboards Inside Chicago

A mother takes up the mantle of activist to honor her slain son and fight for gun control laws

- Tonya Burch

WE ARE LOSING TOO MANY of our loved ones to gun violence. My life was forever changed after my son, Deontae Smith, was killed because of gun violence.

Deontae was killed on Aug. 1, 2009, at the age of 19 while attending an unauthorized block party in Chicago on the South Side. It was a hot summer day, the kind when restless young people—at least 150 to 200 people were in attendance—like to gather and enjoy themselves. After the shooting, witnesses stated that two young women got into a fight and someone in the crowd started shooting.

After the police arrived, the first thing an officer said to me was, “Is he in any gangs?” I replied that my son was not in a gang. I wanted to say to the police, “Ask me if I’m his mother, or what his name was, instead of assuming he’s in a gang.” Deontae was in college. My son was looking forward to joining the Air Force.

I remember passing out after turning to see his body on the ground. That was the beginning of a nightmare that is all too real and breaks my heart every day. Especially since my son’s case remains unsolved. I am on my fourth set of detectives.