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Today is Memorial Day, the holiday in America in which we honor the men and women who died while serving in the U.S. military. I get particularly emotional during this time. I too lost a loved one in a war, although he is a Marine Vet, I did not lose him while he served. I lost him to the unnamed war on the streets of Baltimore City.

Please know this post in no way is meant to negate the sacrifices of the brave men and women who lost their lives while serving in the military, but it’s simply to bring attention to the harsh reality that there is a war happening now in the City of Baltimore.

This weekend 8 people lost their lives to senseless violence in Baltimore City and my heart aches for everyone of their survivors. Their journey of navigating through the unbearable pain of grief begins. Many say the deceased were not necessarily innocent victims, some were part of a vicious cycle of criminal activity or the byproduct of a retaliatory reaction. Ultimately does that matter? The were someones’s child, someone’s father or mother and no one deserves to be brutally gunned downed.

Can you imagine if the sense of urgency to rid Baltimore City of this violence was the same urgency we have to mitigate Covid-19? We would have the National Guard helping us or private-public partnerships to help get to the root-cause and eradicate this disease that has plagued our city for so many years. Imagine a shelter in place or curfews at each spike in the numbers?

As we remember and honor those who have made the greatest sacrifice by giving their lives in service to our country. Let’s also take a moment and remember those countless men, women and children who have lost their lives in this unnamed war currently happening in the City of Baltimore.