awyattmann
Registered
52
Found on another board whose name escapes me:
Where is the outrage that the Negress is working on her sixth niglet with none of the fathers (probably six different ones) to support her (it's the taxpayers responsibility).
Jennifer Porter
TAMPA - Bryant Wilkins would have been 14 today.
But instead of looking forward to a celebration Saturday at Busch Gardens with a buddy with whom he shares a birthday, Bryant was memorialized Thursday with posters, stuffed animals and streams of pink and blue ribbons.
Bryant was crossing 22nd Street on Wednesday ni
ht with his three younger siblings when all four were hit by two vehicles near 142nd Avenue. His 3-year-old brother, Durentae Caldwell, also died. Their sister, Aquina Wilkins, 8, and brother, Lajuan Davis,
2,
were injured.
The siblings were half a block from home, heading back
after watching a neighborhood basketball game at the University Area Community Center.
Malissa Wilkins
Their mother, Malissa Wilkins, told The Associated Press it was the first time she had allowed her children out on their own since they recently moved to the area.
The single mother said she had told her children to stay at the center until she came to get them and was walking out the door when she saw her neighbors running to the street.
``My babies were taken from me, and I didn't even have a chance to say goodbye,'' Wilkins said as she gathered wit
h her neighbors Thursday outside their small apartment.
Neighbors, outraged at the deaths and at the two drivers who hit the children and sped off, stood at the intersection Thursday to
pray
. Th
ey left ted
dy bears, flowers and goodwill messages. Ribbons and balloons were wrapped around the intersection's sole crosswalk sign.
On one poste
r taped to the utility pole, a Ms. Betty wrote, ``I will always remember your beautiful smile, gentle ways, love you much.''
Another one simply read, ``I love you all, from your cousin, Shunda.''
Close friends and relatives described Bryant as a protective older brother who was safety- minded. He enjoyed playing PlayStation video games, riding his bike and shooting hoops.
``He was a kid. He did what all kids do,'' said godmother Cyteria Williams. ``He was like the man of the house. He was good.''
Their mother was cautious with her children and almost never let them out on the street, she sa
id.
Wilkins was at home with her youngest child, a 1-year-old boy, at the time of the accident. She told the AP she never let her children go out alone because of dangers in
the neig
hborhood
. But Bryant had be
gged her to take them the two short blocks to the community center to watch a basketball game, and his younger siblings immediately clamored to go along.
She said she wa
lked her children to the center and told them to stay there until she returned. About 45 minutes later she headed out the door to get them. She said she doesn't know why the children set out for home on their own.
``This was a chance for them to get out, they were excited,'' said Wilkins, who is expecting a sixth child, a girl, in July.
``I said, `Don't cross the street; I'm coming to get you,' '' she remembered telling them. ``I was coming out of the door to get them when someone grabbed me and told me my babies were hit.''
She said witnesses told her tha
t Bryant saved his two surviving siblings by shoving them, preventing them from getting hit worse, calling him ``her hero.''
Wilkins described her eldest
son as the f
amily's
protector, a seventh-grader
at Liberty Middle School who earned good grades and dreamed of being a football or basketball player. Durentae was the child who snuggled next to her in bed each night. Aquina is a first-grader at Clark Elementary S
chool.
``It's just me and the kids. We did everything together as a family,'' she said.
``They [the drivers] have to have a heart. Somebody has to talk. They left my babies on the side of the road like that.''
Wilkins moved to MK Apartments at 2005 142nd Ave. about a month ago from another apartment in north Tampa. They lived on the bottom floor of a small two-story complex, where children spend afternoons riding bikes in the parking lot.
Sheliah Gayton, another godmother to the children, stood at the memorial Thursday mornin
g. ``Yes,'' she said, ``it is devastating to all of us.''
School social workers were at Liberty and Clark to counsel children either in
dividually or in
small groups.
The community center also is offeri
ng free grief counseling at the complex.
A community candlelight vigil will be held this evening near the basketball courts at 7:10 - the time of the accident two nights earlier.
Found on another board whose name escapes me:
Where is the outrage that the Negress is working on her sixth niglet with none of the fathers (probably six different ones) to support her (it's the taxpayers responsibility).
Jennifer Porter
TAMPA - Bryant Wilkins would have been 14 today.
But instead of looking forward to a celebration Saturday at Busch Gardens with a buddy with whom he shares a birthday, Bryant was memorialized Thursday with posters, stuffed animals and streams of pink and blue ribbons.
Bryant was crossing 22nd Street on Wednesday ni
ht with his three younger siblings when all four were hit by two vehicles near 142nd Avenue. His 3-year-old brother, Durentae Caldwell, also died. Their sister, Aquina Wilkins, 8, and brother, Lajuan Davis,
2,
were injured.
The siblings were half a block from home, heading back
after watching a neighborhood basketball game at the University Area Community Center.
Malissa Wilkins
Their mother, Malissa Wilkins, told The Associated Press it was the first time she had allowed her children out on their own since they recently moved to the area.
The single mother said she had told her children to stay at the center until she came to get them and was walking out the door when she saw her neighbors running to the street.
``My babies were taken from me, and I didn't even have a chance to say goodbye,'' Wilkins said as she gathered wit
h her neighbors Thursday outside their small apartment.
Neighbors, outraged at the deaths and at the two drivers who hit the children and sped off, stood at the intersection Thursday to
pray
. Th
ey left ted
dy bears, flowers and goodwill messages. Ribbons and balloons were wrapped around the intersection's sole crosswalk sign.
On one poste
r taped to the utility pole, a Ms. Betty wrote, ``I will always remember your beautiful smile, gentle ways, love you much.''
Another one simply read, ``I love you all, from your cousin, Shunda.''
Close friends and relatives described Bryant as a protective older brother who was safety- minded. He enjoyed playing PlayStation video games, riding his bike and shooting hoops.
``He was a kid. He did what all kids do,'' said godmother Cyteria Williams. ``He was like the man of the house. He was good.''
Their mother was cautious with her children and almost never let them out on the street, she sa
id.
Wilkins was at home with her youngest child, a 1-year-old boy, at the time of the accident. She told the AP she never let her children go out alone because of dangers in
the neig
hborhood
. But Bryant had be
gged her to take them the two short blocks to the community center to watch a basketball game, and his younger siblings immediately clamored to go along.
She said she wa
lked her children to the center and told them to stay there until she returned. About 45 minutes later she headed out the door to get them. She said she doesn't know why the children set out for home on their own.
``This was a chance for them to get out, they were excited,'' said Wilkins, who is expecting a sixth child, a girl, in July.
``I said, `Don't cross the street; I'm coming to get you,' '' she remembered telling them. ``I was coming out of the door to get them when someone grabbed me and told me my babies were hit.''
She said witnesses told her tha
t Bryant saved his two surviving siblings by shoving them, preventing them from getting hit worse, calling him ``her hero.''
Wilkins described her eldest
son as the f
amily's
protector, a seventh-grader
at Liberty Middle School who earned good grades and dreamed of being a football or basketball player. Durentae was the child who snuggled next to her in bed each night. Aquina is a first-grader at Clark Elementary S
chool.
``It's just me and the kids. We did everything together as a family,'' she said.
``They [the drivers] have to have a heart. Somebody has to talk. They left my babies on the side of the road like that.''
Wilkins moved to MK Apartments at 2005 142nd Ave. about a month ago from another apartment in north Tampa. They lived on the bottom floor of a small two-story complex, where children spend afternoons riding bikes in the parking lot.
Sheliah Gayton, another godmother to the children, stood at the memorial Thursday mornin
g. ``Yes,'' she said, ``it is devastating to all of us.''
School social workers were at Liberty and Clark to counsel children either in
dividually or in
small groups.
The community center also is offeri
ng free grief counseling at the complex.
A community candlelight vigil will be held this evening near the basketball courts at 7:10 - the time of the accident two nights earlier.