I drove my granddaughter home Tuesday night from our house. And as I returned home, I was forced to detour because the street was blocked by a police car with flashing lights. I circled the block to get home, parked and walked down the street to see what had happened.
A reporter from a local news station told me there had been a shooting. A "black male, late teens to early 20’s" had been found dead on the sidewalk by Rockhurst University security. I could see the covered body on the other side of the crime tape. I was asked if I had heard anything by the officer blocking the street.
It was obviously very unsettling. Nobody wants a shooting near their home or family. Nobody wants to imagine that it could happen on their street. Everyone wants to rationalize that there was some "reason" that it occurred at that place and time. "Maybe it was drug related." "Maybe somebody just dumped the body there." "Must have been a fight, those damn kids are always fighting".
The truth was much sadder. It believed to have been a robbery. There was $45 missing from his pockets according to the victim’s mother. The killer took the money but left the college application that the victim was filling out. The victim went from "black male, late teens to early 20’s" to Nelson E. Hopkins, 17, honors student from Alta Vista Charter High School. He was a musician, poet, student council member, big brother and loving son. He was just one more victim of the streets. He was shot walking home at night from the bus stop. He had been studying at the Plaza branch of the Kansas City Library.
I had seen Nelson around the neighborhood. He was a face on the corner. You saw him a lot. Never a problem, always polite....one of those kids you like seeing around. A familiar, friendly face. He once stopped my wife as she left the neighborhood beauty shop to tell her how beautiful her hair looked. It made her day that day and left her in tears the night she saw his face on TV.
A part of you wants this to be a bigger story than it is. You want non-stop coverage on the news, police with dogs searching the streets, vigils and arrests. But it’s just one of many such murders that happen in every city in the country. And so life moves on.
But Nelson’s fellow students at Alta Vista refuse to let that happen easily. They decided to do something positive to remember their friend and fellow student. They’ve established the Nelson Hopkins Jr. Scholarship Fund. If their friend couldn’t go to college...someone else could in his memory.
So, if you want to help remember a tragedy with some little bit of goodness, you can send contributions to THE NELSON HOPKINS JR. SCHOLARSHIP FUND in care of the Mazuma Credit Union, 106 W. 11th Street, Suite 1520, Kansas City, MO 64105.