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My Friend, Meleia
"I couldn’t stop the tears from flooding my face as I approached the mass of burning candles and incense, pictures, letters, and notes written on the ground in chalk."
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By Emily Schmookler
Meleia was a friend of mine. I visited the tree outside of her apartment that has been transformed into a memorial. I couldn’t stop the tears from flooding my face as I approached the mass of burning candles and incense, pictures, letters, and notes written on the ground in chalk. One of the many pictures posted on the tree was of Meleia when she was around seven or eight years old, and I thought back to childhood, when we were in an after school program together at Live Oak Park.
Being at that unofficial memorial was a really intense experience. I wanted to record what was happening. But then I saw one of the girls who was with Meleia the night she died being totally invaded and interrogated by the mainstream media. I thought it was disrespectful. It totally didn’t feel like the right time to be a reporter, and I was in mourning myself, so I left.
I still don’t know whether to be angry, hurt, or just nauseated. Homicide isn’t something that happens in Berkeley every day, and it makes me very sad that Meleia is gone. But it’s also very upsetting to me that we lose young wonderful people all the time in Oakland and Richmond too. They’re our neighbors, but their lives, and deaths, aren’t really given any acknowledgement. There have been at least seven murders in the Bay Area this month, youth under 25 years old, shot down, just like Meleia. And those are only the ones that received media attention – I found them by researching youth murder rates in local papers. Imagine if I took the time out to search for the names of people under 25 who have died from a violent crime across the entire United States.
I don’t think we should wait until violence affects our own community to teach people how to love each other. I was talking with my best friend about Meleia’s death. Referring to the person who shot her, he said “Why did they have to bring that to Berkeley? Leave that in the hood where people are used to that.” And I understand where he’s coming from. But I also don’t think violence should stay in the hood. It shouldn’t be there in the first place.
Related YR Links:
» View photos from Meleia's memorial site
» Read Gabriel Long's report:
Young Life Ends in Shooting
 Listen to an audio montage of Meleia's messages to her dad
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