Durham Documentary to Screen at Parents of Murdered Children National Conference

In August, my short documentary film, The Mothers, will screen at the 26^th annual Parents of Murdered Children national conference in Arizona.

Parents of Murdered Children, a national support group for families and friends who’ve lost loved ones to violence, has chapters from New York to California.

My documentary is about a group of Durham, North Carolina, mothers who support each other through grief and healing after losing a child to murder. On August 9 in Phoenix, The Mothers will be shown to 75 to 100 chapter contacts and leaders, including Diane Jones and Mina Hampton, two mothers in my film who lead the Durham chapter of Parents of Murdered Children.

I talked last week with Beckie Miller, co-chair of this year’s national conference. She expects 300 people to attend the overall conference, which features keynote speakers and workshops covering grief, unsolved homicides, victims’ rights, the aftermath of murder and more.

Miller’s 18-year-old son, Brian, was robbed and shot to death in Phoenix in 1991. For nearly 20 years, she has led the Phoenix chapter of Parents of Murdered Children with 1,500 members.

The national conference, Miller said, is a time for survivors to connect, learn and feel inspired. “It just reminds us that we’re not alone and gives us hope that we can survive,” she said.

I’m grateful for this opportunity to share The Mothers at the conference. I hope to contribute to a larger conversation, one I’d like to expand through other screenings in the city of Durham, which had 27 murders in 2011.

I first screened this film to an overflow audience on May 18, 2012, at The Nasher Museum of Art in Durham. My film was among other short work screened by continuing education students receiving the Certificate in Documentary Arts from the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University. That night was one of the best evenings of my life.Leanora Minai, left, shares a moment with Diane Jones, right, after the May 18 premiere of The Mothers at The Nasher Museum of Art in Durham. Jones is one of the mothers featured in the film.

The mothers in my film – their strength and courage to survive and help others – inspired me to tell this story. In my years as a daily newspaper reporter, I wrote about many murders, but it was rare to have the chance to follow up on the pain that endures for loved ones long after the headlines disappear.

I am forever grateful to Diane Jones, Mina Hampton and other family members in Durham for letting me into their lives and sharing their stories.

Request a screening of The Mothers

To arrange a screening of The Mothers for your group or community, please get in touch with me. I also welcome any feedback about the film, as I consider the possibility of expanding it into a longer piece. You can post feedback or read comments left by others in the guestbook.

Durham Gospel Choir Brings Healing at the Holidays

Marlon E. West directs the 100 Men In Black Male Chorus on Dec. 13. Photo by Leanora Minai.As I’ve learned from parents who’ve lost children to homicide, there’s never really any closure, and the holidays can be especially difficult without others who understand the grief.

Last week, a local chapter of the support group, Parents of Murdered Children, hosted a remembrance dinner to support and comfort families coping with loss.

Many brought photographs of loved ones lost to homicide, placing them on a table at the front of a room inside the main Durham County Library.

There was the picture of Luciano Alejandro Cabrera, 21, killed earlier this year. In a framed photo near his, Willis Yates, 33, smiledwith his daughter. He was shot in a home invasion. And there was thephoto ofThomas Spruill, 25, wearing a Yankees cap. He was shot in a car.

The dinner on Dec. 13 featured gospel music (video below) by Durham’s 100 Men In Black Male Chorus under the direction of Marlon E. West.

“We are here tonight on the basis of everyone who has lost a loved one,” West said. “Our hearts and our prayers go out. We know that there’s healing in God, and the music that we sing tonight, we pray that you’ll find healing in that music.”

This video outtake features testimonials from several parents during a song performed by Semaj Munford, 10, a member of the chorus.

Film Outtake: Neighborhood Prayer Vigil for 2010 Homicide Victim

As part of the reporting and fieldwork for my short documentary film, I attend vigils and remembrance ceremonies for homicide victims in Durham.

Last September, I attended a prayer vigil for Rayshawn Cotton, 29. He was driving on Holloway Street in Durham on March 8, 2010, when he was shot. His car crashed into a tree, and he died two days later at Duke University Hospital.

Cotton’s homicide, one of 25 murders in Durham in 2010, remains unsolved, according to his mother, Betty Cotton, whom I spoke with briefly this morning.

“I take one day at a time,” she said.

The Religious Coalition for a Nonviolent Durham hosted the prayer vigil for Rayshawn Cotton, his family and friends on Sept. 18, 2010, on Hinson Drive in Durham.

The Religious Coalition hosts prayer vigils after homicides “to honor and publicly recognize the human worthiness of the victim, to comfort family and friends,” and “to sanctify and bring healing to the site where the violence occurred,” according to the group’s website.

Since 1997, the Religious Coalition has conducted more than 200 vigils.

In today’s outtake, a local pastor leads prayer and song before family and friends of Cotton release red balloons in Cotton's memory. Anyone with information about the homicide case is asked to call Durham CrimeStoppers at (919) 683-1200.

Film Outtake: Mother Recalls Day She Saw Son's Killer

Since launching this website on Sept. 25, I've reported and shared stories about unsolved homicides and a former crack addict who turned her life around to become an inspiration to many.

I've also begun the first of two final required classes at the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke. This next-to-last class is an independent study with an instructor who will guide me in pulling together the story for my short documentary film.

So far, I've amassed about 10 hours of footage that includes interviews with parents of murdered children, support groups, vigils and community responses to homicides in Durham.

Over the next several weeks, I'll work diligently to watch back and trim all of my raw footage down to about 90 minutes. I have some tough choices to make. The final cut will be a 10 to 12 minute film screened next year when I receive my certificate in video documentary arts from the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke.

As I work on the film, I'll share short video excerpts here on the news blog of footage that may or may not make it in the final cut.   

In today's outtake, Mina Hampton recalls the day she crossed paths in a local fast food restaurant with the man who killed her son, Tommy. Her son was shot and killed in Durham on Feb. 19, 1994. Four men were arrested in the case; she said the shooter served about four years.

"I want him to do well … But I do not want to talk with him," said Mrs. Hampton of her son’s killer, "and I do not care to see him."

Police, Residents Go Door-to-Door for Tips in Fatal Shootings

The Durham Police Department and city volunteers canvass June 29 for tips in two fatal shootings. Photo by Leanora Minai.

After two fatal shootings within two weeks of each other in June, officers from the city of Durham Police Department and resident volunteers set out on foot to canvass the two neighborhoods where the homicides occurred. The goal: offer support to the community. The hope: get information, make arrests.

The response was organized by the city's Project Safe Neighborhoods, which combats gun and gang crime through outreach and various programs.

As part of the neighborhood canvasses on June 29, police officers and volunteers visited the 1300 block of Juniper Street, the location of a fatal shooting on June 12. In that case, when officers arrived on scene, they discovered Javier Arreola Rodriguez, 40, shot in the parking lot. He died a short time later at Duke University Hospital.

The second canvass brought police and residents to the area surrouding 1214 Hearthside St, where on June 24, at about 10:30 p.m., three men were shot inside an apartment. "Investigators believe that one or more suspects entered the apartment, shot the victims and fled," according to a flier. Two of the men lived, but Cesar Nava Fuentes, 28, died.

Anyone with information about the incidents is asked to call Durham CrimeStoppers at (919) 683-1200.