Death of 10-year-old 'lit a fire' in heart of Memphis teacher
Laura Testino
When Jadon Knox worked on school assignments, he thought about his siblings. He picked a color for each of them in a painting exercise, former teacher Earl Wilson recalled.
The 10-year-old was fatally shot in Orange Mound over the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend. Two other children were shot in Hickory Hill and remain in extremely critical condition, Memphis Police Department said.
"Jadon kept a smile" in class, Wilson said.
Knox is the first student Wilson has lost to gun violence. In a Facebook post about Knox, Wilson said he awarded him the "Koolaid smile award" because he could make anyone smile.
The student's death is tragic for the family and a chilling reminder for kids and parents across the city, board member Joyce Dorse-Coleman said.
The firearm homicide rate for children in Tennessee is one of the highest in the nation: these kinds of deaths are most highly concentrated across 16 states, including 7 states in the south, according to a study published in Pediatrics journal in 2019.
Across age groups, the Tennessee's firearm mortality rate is ranked 11th in the country, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data shows.
The problem is well-known to Wilson, a South Memphis native who, while a student himself, watched former teachers lose his classmates to gun violence. Knox's death has made the unfortunate possibility a reality, he said. Hearing about the death of his former student felt like he'd lost his own son.
"This tragic loss has lit a fire in my heart," he said in an email, "a good fire."
More:3 children shot in 2 shootings over holiday weekend in Memphis
More condolences than congratulations
Children shouldn't live with the fear that their fellow classmates may not make it back to school after the weekend break, Dorse-Coleman, the Shelby County Schools board member, said Tuesday.
"Our children deserve so much more," she said. "They deserve better."
The loss of children to gun violence is both tragic and senseless, said Dorse-Coleman, whose district includes Orange Mound. She said she offered the district's assistance to Knox's school, Aspire Hanley Elementary, which is a charter school in the Orange Mound neighborhood and part of the state-run Achievement School District.
"We're offering condolences more than we're offering congratulations now," she said.
Guns are not the answer, Dorse-Coleman said, encouraging anyone who knows about the suspect to speak up. Preliminary suspect information provided by police indicates the suspect fled the Orange Mound shooting scene in a vehicle described as either a white Nissan Altima with a black front bumper or a white Infiniti with a black front bumper.
Dorse-Coleman noted that the presence and threat of violence and crime in Orange Mound affects teacher recruitment, with some educators turning down opportunities to teach in communities with higher rates of violence. Parents also may choose a different school for their children because of safety concerns, she said.
"So nobody is winning," she said.
In 2017, the Orange Mound school Knox attended this year was one of the lowest-performing in the state. In the 38114 area code of Memphis at that time, 62% of children lived below the poverty level, and the median household income was $21,599.
From 2017:Tennessee's two worst schools fight to improve
Wilson taught Knox, a fourth-grader this year, during his second and third-grade years at Aspire Hanley Elementary School, Knox wanted to be around you if he trusted you, said Wilson, who is now a teacher at another school.
In the Facebook post, Wilson said that after he gave Knox the smile award, "his face glowed" and Knox began to trust him more.
"He would always walk behind my desk to 'tell me a secret,'" Wilson said. "I knew he did not have a secret, but I let him cling."
Here to help, here to stay
Memphis has to do better for its youth, Wilson said, "from the ones in the school to the ones on the streets."
In a statement about the violence over the weekend, Mayor Jim Strickland described losing children to gun violence as unconscionable.
"Reducing violent crime and keeping people safe has been and remains our number one priority," Strickland said, noting efforts to recruit and retain police officers and bring "good-paying jobs" to the city.
The study in Pediatrics shows that firearm-related deaths are the third leading cause of death for children.
When looking at the intersection of poverty and violence, recruiting more police officers and better-paying jobs are one of many improvements to be made, Strickland said.
Strickland also noted raising early childhood literacy rates, historically low in Shelby County Schools and the subject of one of the district's main initiatives.
Strickland also noted stricter sentences for violent criminals and said the availability of guns is "too easy."
The Pediatrics study stressed that firearm violence is not an isolated crime, and suggested that it not be treated as such when developing interventions.
According to the study: "It is also important to address poverty and the other contextual factors that mediate and moderate the risk for these forms of violence."
Suggested violence reduction strategies include: Outreach programs that reduce gun and gang-related violence, early childhood education, school-based programs and therapeutic approaches.
"I work every day to change the life of those in my city, but I am only one person," Wilson said. "I love Memphis. I am here to help, and I am here to stay."
Commercial Appeal reporters Micaela A. Watts and Samuel Hardiman contributed to this story.
Laura Testino covers education and children's issues for the Commercial Appeal. Reach her at laura.testino@commercialappeal.com or 901-512-3763. Find her on Twitter: @LDTestino