Clergy members, activists and community members came together Thursday, April 21 to mourn the death of Jorevis Scruggs, two days after the 15-year-old was fatally shot by St. Louis police.
Around three dozen people gathered, placing teddy bears and “Black Lives Matters” signs in the residential alley where Scruggs died near St. Louis Avenue and Bacon Street.
Police say the teen was shot after he pointed a gun at an officer who gave chase as Scruggs jumped out of a suspected stolen car.
The interfaith group lit candles, prayed and called for changes in community-police relations. They held hands near a laminated photo of Scruggs tacked to a utility pole as Rev. Robert Scott of Central Baptist Church led a prayer. Many wiped away tears.
“There’s a family that has lost a son, a brother, a cousin, a nephew,” Rev. Scott said.
“I am sick and tired of going to prayer vigils for young black men and women who are being shot by police. We’re sick and tired of having to come together and deal with the same thing over and over and over and over and over here in the St. Louis region.”
Rev. Scott alluded to a man who had come to the gathering and paced in front of Scruggs’ photo, looking distraught, before taking off.
“An uncle came down,” Rev. Scott said. “He couldn’t even stay because he’s in so much pain. This is our pain. A mother is hurting somewhere. Siblings are hurting somewhere.”
Beverly Jones, a St. Louis resident, hugged a friend as tears rolled down her cheeks. She pointed out the economic disparities that plague the region.
“If the economic conditions were a level playing field, we wouldn’t have to worry about this young man being in a stolen car because he would know that by the time he turns 18, he can get one of those – because the opportunity would be there,” Jones said.
“See, we have to look at this as a broad spectrum. Not just a murder in the street. There’s a reason why our kids do what they do. Because you have not leveled the playing field.”
Rabbi Susan Talve of Central Reform Congregation placed her hand alongside Scruggs’ photo as she spoke.
“We need to grow a generation that sees a future,” she said. “Not a generation that doesn’t think they matter, doesn’t think that they have a future. We have to lament the future that this young man lost. And maybe didn’t even think that he had.”
Rabbi Talve recalled the words of Syreeta Myers, mother of VonDerrit Myers Jr., whose 18-year-old son was killed by an off-duty St. Louis police officer in 2014.
“I heard Syreeta say once that VonDerrit wasn’t perfect, but he deserved to grow up,” Rabbi Talve said. “How many of our kids make mistakes?”
Myron Winston, who works in the area, volunteered to light a candle in honor of Scruggs.
“I saw that young man running for his life and shot in the back,” Winston said.
“This is not my first vigil. This is not my first time standing in an alley mourning a black life. And what’s happening around here is there is no regard for humanity.”
Winston also brought up the stray bullets that went into homes and cars as the officer shot at Scruggs – something that raised concerns and incensed neighbors.
“Whatever happened that caused this encounter – was it really worth risking bullets in this neighborhood?” asked Rev. Traci Blackmon of Christ the King United Church of Christ.
“Was it worth the little kids that could’ve been playing in their yard … and could’ve been hit by a stray bullet? Was it really worth that? Is a car worth that? Are there material possessions that are worth that kind of recklessness? We have to get outraged about the devaluing of life.”
Between prayers and calls to action, the group sang together and comforted one another. A lit candle was placed on the exact spot Scruggs died, among dandelions in a backyard.
Leaders closed the vigil with a call to action by Rev. Karen Anderson of Ward Chapel AME Church.
“You have the right not to remain silent. We have the right to lift our voices in protest. We have the right to cry out in lament. We have the right to cry out in disgust at a system that proclaims that we are all free and equal and we are not,” Rev. Anderson said.
“Build relationships with folks that don’t look like you. That don’t act like you, that don’t think like you, that don’t worship like you …That’s how we change things. Put aside our differences. And understand that my child is as valuable as anybody else’s.”
