Ernest Willingham, a 19-year-old from Chicago's West Side, testified on gun violence's trauma at the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.
Ernest Willingham, 19, testified in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee this week about his experiences with gun violence. His brother, cousin and father have all been victims of gun violence and his best friend Jahnae Patterson, 17, was shot and killed in 2018.How could he not be, with a childhood spent cautiously inside, after family members — a father, a brother, a cousin — all shot. With the memory of Jahnae, his best friend killed by a gunman when she was 17.
Willingham’s grandmother took him to live with her in part to protect him from the violence. Willingham remembers her waking him up in the middle of the night at the sound of gunshots. The two would drive down their North Lawndale street to check on an uncle to make sure he was OK. When she was killed, Jahnae had been at a party three blocks from Willingham’s house for just a few minutes when two men, whom police have never identified, began firing into the crowd.,“We attended more funerals than weddings,” Willingham told the Senate committee.
He lost another friend, 18-year-old Tamyreon Jordan, in the weeks before he left for college in August 2020. The two had been close since kindergarten. Willingham had to miss Jordan’s funeral when he left. He said he doesn’t talk about his death a lot. Willingham said he was thrilled, but ready when U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin invited him to speak to the Judiciary Committee.
“The harms of gun violence go beyond bullet wounds,” Durbin said. “Helping children cope with traumatic experiences is vital to breaking the cycle of violence.”Willingham and his mother want to see legislation further restricting access to guns and more funding for projects like the Chicago Youth Programs, which Willingham participated in. The program provides at-risk children everything from vaccinations to coats and field trips.
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