Stop Stuff Q&A with Sakeena Shaw, Mother and Advocate

Aug 8, 2017
4 min read

One of the best things about what I do is meeting amazing people like Sakeena Shaw.

One of the worst is meeting parents and siblings who've lost loved ones to gun violence.

Sakeena's son and Ebonie's brother, Kevin Shaw, Jr. was gunned down at 26 years old in Mount Vernon, New York in 2015.

No, he was not a gang banger.

Kevin was the founder of a sports and entertainment brokerage company, had his masters degree from George Washington, and was an assistant basketball coach.

He is a perfect and sad example of the fact that gun violence affects us all.

I recently sat down with Sakeena to get her views on life, the world and Stopping Stuff.

How would you describe yourself to the world?

I am a pretty open-minded person and respectful of the views of others.

I pride myself on achieving my goals through honest hard work.

I enjoy helping those less fortunate than myself.

I am a spiritual person. I love learning and seek others who are like minded to stimulate growth within myself.

What are you most passionate about and why?

My passions have changed over the course of my life.

My concern for the African American family and particularly males is more of a focus.

Since the untimely death of my son, Kevin, due to gun violence, this reality has become a driving force in my life.

It has taken on a life of its own, a transference of the life of my son into the lives of so many who are less fortunate than he was.

As I felt for my son, our young men deserve the opportunity to be the best they can be.

Even with my son's charisma, intelligence, and degrees, he'd say to me “Mom why can't I just get a break?”.

Those words live in my heart and soul today!

As his mom, I would shelter and give him the world if I could.

But unfortunately, life doesn’t work that way.

I was able to support him in his efforts and stand firm with his father in his efforts to raise a young African American child in this day and age.

So many of our youth do not have the structure, love and mentorship that Kevin had to propel them toward realizing their dreams and goals.

This position, the mother, the mentor, the encourager and the supporter is where I continue to live.

What have you personally overcome and what advice would you give others experiencing the same thing?

As a child and through my young adult years, I was shy and had little confidence in my ability to succeed.

Surround yourself with motivated, outgoing folks who are looking to grow.

I was blessed with a husband who was one of the strongest individuals I have ever known. (Sadly, Sakeena lost her husband to illness recently.)

He feared but fear was a challenge he would always face head on.

Face your fears head on.

Slowly chip away at all the negatives that are hiding your inner strengths.

What do you think we need to stop and why?

Destruction of the black family and Black on Black crime.

The main reason our culture has trouble improving is their upbringing and miseducation.

I see a future of improvement due to the emergence of technology and social media.

There are now funnels for the less fortunate to attain information that they wouldn't otherwise receive from neighbors and peers.

In places where our youth lack information, education and resources there are few outlets for growth, expansion and opportunity.

In those cases, brute force often seems like the only option.

What can we do to make the world a better place?

Improve race relations.

I think step one is for people to spend some time learning about the historical timeline, going all the way back to slavery and beyond.

There are reasons why disparities exist.

I would recommend that we have an open mind and quit defending ourselves when it comes to the issue of race relations.

Society needs to have the necessary conversations with people who have lived under these disparities, injustice, hopelessness and poverty day in and day out.

Media propaganda doesn’t allow information like this to be mass distributed or consumed.

We need to figure out a way to get the right message spread to the public more frequently rather than focus on non-constructive protests.

The bottom line is we must sit with all races and have the difficult conversations

What words of encouragement would you give others?

Over the past few years many races have been coexisting much better.

Innovation has broken barriers, giving people hope that they can make something of themselves.

Hard work is beginning to develop positive benchmarks in more industries than before.

Historically, African Americans are known to be creative and the driving force of new ideas and trendsetting.

Now that there are more outlets for exposure, music, sports, and gang life are not the only options. It appears that people are beginning to recognize and believe that.

It is going to take a few more respected people to put in a hands on approach, but change is happening.

Do you believe we can change the world?

Yes, I have to believe.

Without hope I cannot look towards the future.

Kevin's family set up a nonprofit, The Kevin Shaw Jr. Memorial Scholarship Foundation, to raise money for graduating seniors in New York to go to college.

I had the pleasure of meeting their entire caring and committed board.

Their annual event in New York is coming up on August 19, 2017 in Hartsdale, New York.

If you would like to support their cause and get more scholarships funded, you can use the code "SHAW" at www.stopstuff.com and proceeds will go directly to their foundation.

If you have a message to share and are interested in being included in STOP STUFF™ STORIES, please email me at info@stopstuff.com.

I am deeply humbled,