LEE'S SUMMIT, Mo. — AsNational Gun Violence Survivors Week comes to an end Feb. 7, one mother in Lee’s Summit is taking her pain and turning into a powerful movement honoring two loved ones she lost to guns.
“I want to bring awareness to the world, not just to Kansas City, that gun violence is plaguing the lives of so many,” Cartesha Hutson, founder of Breath In Me Life In You, said.
Hutson has dealt with loss due to guns, losing two men in her life. Her younger brother, 18 year old Jamond Dillard, was killed in 2014 by a friend playing with an unsecured gun.
Then, in 2017, she lost her 19-year-old son Christopher Hutson to road rage.
“He was driving home from a doctors appointment and he was trying to get direction from me and my husband," Hutson said. "I literally just talked to him and a few minutes after, a guy drove up on the side of him, because he said he was driving too slow, and then he screamed at my son and shot my son."
It was after her son's death that Hutson realized the anger her son's killer felt, in that moment, is something others are likely experiencing, without knowing how to channel their emotions.
“I kind of thought about like, how it is in general life, like day to day life," Hutson said. "You get angry, you’re frustrated, and especially with young children, they don’t know how to channel that anger."
Now she's turning those tears she cried into tools for success by teaching kids about conflict resolution.
“(We are) Focusing on basically mentorship to children, young boys and girls elementary age up until high school, so basically giving them a big brother, little brother type of situation teaching them how to interact in a regular environment as far as frustration and anger,” Hutson said.
That's what her organization Breath In Me Life In You does.
“The reason why we call it Breath In Me Life In You is because as long as there is breath in us, there will always be life into the loved ones that we lost due to guns violence or situations of violence,” Hutson said.
Hutson, her family and others a part of her organization are working to ensure that the names of those lost are not forgotten.
“Our way of doing it is making sure we get out into the community and do the ground work — connecting with fellow constituents and just coming together and brain storming how we can do things,” Hutson said.
Now in the early stages, Hutson hopes her organization can raise awareness about gun violence in and around Kansas City, during more than just National Gun Violence Survivors Week
“It’s up to us to continue that legacy. It’s up to us to continue what they left behind, and build on those bricks that they created,” Hutson said.
