Public Employee Press

Rep Pat Solomon at King celebration
Mourn the dead, help the living

By JANE LaTOUR

Each year, the Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network celebrates Martin Luther King Day with a forum on the work community members are doing to carry on his dream. On Jan. 16, Clerical Division Grievance Rep Pat Solomon addressed NAN in her capacity as head of the North Bronx/Westchester Chapter of Parents of Murdered Children, a national organization for the families and friends of those who have died by violence.

Solomon spoke from experience. On July 19, 1996, her son, Gregory, 37, was gunned down. She first came to the group for support and stayed to lend her support. She knows a lot about grief and coping with unexpected loss. "Our chapter is full of parents and loved ones who really don't want to be there," she said. "We focus on the impact on the living - the survivors."

"I felt that when my tragedy happened, this group was there for me," said Solomon who began to lead the group in 2001. "I am living a new normal, and I felt it was my duty to connect to other parents and survivors."

Solomon sees the problem of violence as a societal failure. "It's hard these days to raise a child in this environment of hopelessness. There needs to be many more after-school programs out there," she said. "If you have children who have a dream, they're not going into those prisons." The dramatic growth of the prison population has become a deep concern of hers.

She hopes to set up a special part of the chapter that deals only with men. "The men come and they're hurting, but they don't talk. They don't cry. As women, we are very outward in expressing our grief," she said.

Another of her goals is to increase the group's visibility. "Someone is getting killed every day. In the Bronx, I want them to know there's a group for them." The group meets the third Saturday of every month, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Calvary Hospital.