Kids Plant New Life At Murder Spot

Endorsing life over death at the Newhallville intersection where 14-year-old Tyriek Keyes was murdered in a drive-by shooting, boys planted vegetables Saturday in a community garden in his memory.

A dozen adult males from Friendship Baptist Church​‘s men’s ministry and from the community met with the boys, ranging in ages from approximately 10 to 14, at the fenced-in plot of land on the corner of Bassett and Newhall Streets. A masked gunman shot Tyriek Keyes there on July 16; Tyriek later died in the hospital as the city reacted in outrage.

The Rev. Brian Odem Bellamy, senior pastor at the church, referenced the Bible, Isaiah 2:4 at Saturday’s gathering: ​“God will judge the nations and that the people will beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks.” Bellamy said the passage pointed to how people could take an act of violence and use the garden to do something positive, and do not have to wait until the end of time.

“We ultimately wanted the children to know that they cannot live in fear in their community,” said Bellamy. ​“We have to be sad because Tyriek’s death was a tragedy. But we cannot live in fear because fear is paralyzing. We will never change the neighborhood if we continue to live in fear, So the first step is coming out to the very spot where the tragedy took place and to do something positive.”

Bellamy noted that gardening also embodied the greater planting and reaping lesson, where the kids would return to harvest what they had planted.

The boys in the program all live or worship in the neighborhood. Harry Reddish, a leader at Friendship Baptist Church, maintains the garden, which is conveniently located steps from his home down the street. The City of New Haven over the past year granted permission to Reddish to maintain the longtime garden at the 4,700 square foot lot. Now a rich assortment of nourishing vegetables including corn, tomatoes, collard greens, beans, cucumbers, cabbage, peppers, and sweet potatoes, plus watermelon flourishes. He sets up tables on the sidewalk and shares with the neighborhood free, fresh produce. ​“When harvest comes, everyone comes and gets it,” he said.

Reddish, who is 76, moved to New Haven in 1978. He learned about caring for and harvesting vegetables, growing up on a farm in Macon, Georgia. Reddish woke up every morning at 5 a.m. to milk cows and help his parents who were both farmers. After serving as a cook in the Navy, he ended up in Brooklyn, N.Y. The clean and beautiful outdoors of Connecticut motivated his move to New Haven. Reddish still works full-time as a contractor repairing and renovating houses. In the past years, he had tended the garden.

James Lewis, who lives in the neighborhood came to Saturday’s event and took home a bag of squash. Lewis laughed, saying he has long intended to help Reddish with the farming but has never quite gotten around to it.

The boys in the program will work in the garden one day once a month. ​“It used to be a lot of work but now I’m going to have a lot of help,” Reddish said and smiled.

Along with other church elders, Reddish said he wants to mentor the boys.

“Young men growing up without fathers need someone to train them, so they don’t go out and do the wrong thing, The kids will really love it [gardening] and it take their minds of negative things.” Meanwhile, city police are continuing the investigation into Tyriek’s fatal shooting.

Jerris Moye’s mother signed him up for the program. The 10-year-old knew Tyriek, who was his sister’s cousin and a cousin’s friend. He learned about the murder from his grandparents and found it unsettling. ​“At night, I’m outside by myself in the dark and anybody could come around and do anything to me,” he said.

However, the gardening, even on his first time, served as a reminder of a supportive community. ​”I feel better because I’m around people. I feel protected,” he said.

Jerris enjoyed the afternoon, which felt more like play than labor. ​“It was like a contest who could get the highest or tallest plants,” Jerris said.

Tyrese Cloud, who is 12, was glad to get his hands dirty, scooping up soil in the garden. He also enjoyed spending time with friends. When asked how the garden related to Tyriek, he answered: ​“There was kid who got shot, but don’t be afraid. The community is going to still try to get better. Don’t let negative things ruin you, Today, we planted plants on the ground and tried to help the community stay better.”

Tyrese plans to continue working in the garden. ​“I’ll come back to see the peppers” he said, as he likes salads. (He smiled and offered advice to this reporter, who buys vegetables that all too often are left uneaten: ​“Try to eat them before they spoil.”)

Reddish emphasized other benefits the children would gain from growing their own food. ​“When they grow up, they can plant their own vegetables. You can save money. You’re getting fresh vegetables. You’re not getting all those chemicals. What comes in the can you don’t know what you’re getting and what you’re eating,” he said.

After gardening, the guests played checkers and horseshoes, and socialized with a hearty lunch of hamburgers, hotdogs, barbecued chicken, potato salad, corn on the cob, chips, watermelon and soda.

Bellamy, who teaches at the University of New Haven, grew up in New Haven and remains committed to building community in the city. He pointed out that Newhallvillle at one time had the largest amount of black homeownership from New York to Boston. However, he said with the closing of plants, the loss of jobs, the introduction of drugs and crack cocaine, neighborhoods kept taking hit after hit. Bellamy graduated from Morehouse College and returned to New Haven to earn two master’s degrees from Yale University Divinity School, and subsequently a Ph.D. in social ethics from The University of Exeter, in a program with Hartford Seminary. His dissertation was on black churches, community engagement and moral obligation.