A group called “MOMS” has put up seven billboards in Mississippi to raise awareness for murder victims, and their next one is to go up in the city of Jackson.
A group called "MOMS" has displayed seven billboards in Mississippi to raise awareness for murder victims, and their next one is set to go up in the city of Jackson.
MOMS, or "Mothers of Murdered Sons," is a non-profit support group in Mississippi for women who have had their sons murdered. They are expanding into the Jackson area and taking aim at what they call the shortcomings of local law enforcement.
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View on Rumble"We have seven of them across the Mississippi Delta but the need is here too," Jessica Frazier, the founder of MOMS, who lost a grandson and had her daughter wounded in a shooting incident, told WLBT.
"It was March 3, 2020, at exactly 8:30 in the morning. We were there when it happened. We were actually there. Parish passed away in my arms," continued Frazier. Parish is the name of her now-deceased grandchild.
"At the same time my grandson was murdered, Tiffany was shot three times. And she's not; she's just not able to, she's not ready. We're just trying to put our life together," she said, referring to her daughter.
"We're originally from the Delta, and that's where we took my grandson's body and started this organization. But we want to bring awareness to gun violence here [to Jackson]. We want to let the police officers know that you still have work to do," Frazier added.
As with other parts of the country, violent crime has been surging in Mississippi since the start of the pandemic, and MOMS wants to do something about it.
"It's one thing to see it on the news or read it in the newspaper, but we put it on a billboard because we want it to stay in your face. think I have like 100 young men between the seven billboards, and it’s just growing - it's growing," Frazier said.
She continued, also saying that seeing their relatives' photos up on the billboard is good therapy for grieving mothers.
"The greatest pleasure that we get out of the billboards is to ride by every morning before they go to work to look at their sons on the billboard. You'll never understand what it's like until you're in our situation, but when these billboards go up, there's not one dry eye."
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