Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Wyshina Harris — another senseless murder in Dallas

By Michael Davis of Dallas Progress

Saturday morning, my friend Wyshina Harris was murdered. Another senseless killing in our city.

I will always remember when Wyshina lived in Turner Courts and we talked about how she was constantly going up to HS Thompson School to make sure her children got a good education. She worked with Central Dallas Ministries for a while, and was chronicled along with others in an article last year in the Morning News. She was a big part of the Turner Courts After-School Academy.

Whomever you are that killed Wyshina, know this - you hurt a whole family and an entire neighborhood and community. You left two young kids without a mother. You have no idea how many lives you affected with this senseless act of gun violence.

A $5,000 reward is being offered for information about the shooting death of Wyshina Harris. Help us find out who killed our friend.

Wyshina was an Air Force veteran and a mother of two.

Call the DPD Homicide Unit at 214-671-3661 or the North Texas Crime Stoppers tip line at 1-877-343-TIPS (8477) if you have any info.

Janet Morrison, who worked with Wyshina and knew her much better than I, posted this over the weekend.

Dr. Gerald Britt of Central Dallas Ministries wrote about Wyshina on his Change the Wind blog.

Also, Darla Miles of Channel 8 did a story about the tragedy on Saturday night.

Here is a speech that she did at a Central Dallas Ministries event when she lived in Turner Courts (h/t to Larry James' blog). In Wyshina's passing, feel her words and testimony. She is shown here with her son Jordan in a picture from Janet Morrison's CDM Blog.

My name is Wyshina Harris and I am a resident of South Dallas. I have two kids--a 10-year-old daughter and a 5-year-old son.

I want South Dallas to become a place where I don't have to worry about my kids' safety every day. We see violence and drug dealing all around us. We hear gunshots fired regularly. My kids still get scared when they hear the gunshots. I don't want my kids to get over being scared of that. Kids aren't supposed to get used to hearing gunfire outside their front door.

There are as many liquor stores as churches in South Dallas. I'd like to see that change. We need a decent grocery store, clothing store, and gas station. It's hard to travel all the way to North Dallas to buy a decent pair of sneakers for my kids.

My kids go to H.S. Thompson Elementary. When people outside of the neighborhood find out where my kids go to school, they say, "Oh my gosh. You let your kids go to school there?!" Well, what's my alternative?! That's the neighborhood school. I can't afford private school for my kids. Our school needs good teachers and counselors who will fight to get kids on par with their grade level rather than sticking them into slow learning classes. We need resources to enable our kids to learn technology and to explore the arts. We can't allow our schools to set our kids up to fail.

I will tell you that there are a lot of things that need fixing in our neighborhood. I will also tell you that there is a lot of hope and a lot of strength in our neighborhood.

I think sometimes people think that people in poverty are just too lazy to pull themselves out. That isn't true. My neighbors talk to me about desperately wanting to find work and wanting to go to school to change their lives. We want the same things for ourselves and our children that you want for yourselves and your children.

I'm not giving up on South Dallas. I ask that you not give up on South Dallas either. We don't need a handout. We need authentic, impactful partnerships to help us solve these issues.

I don't share this with you today because I want your pity. I share this because I want your partnership. I want to work with you, and with the future mayor of our great city, to make Dallas a better place for all of us.

Thank you for listening.

Related stories

• Dallas Progress: For those we left behind… (Dec. 31, 2008)
• Wyshina Harris — too many questions, not enough answers (Nov. 24, 2008)
• Pegasus News week in view: Accolades edition (Nov. 19, 2008)

See more stories in:

• Crime > Murder

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