A solemn procession of police cars, ambulances and hearses wound through Mobile and Baldwin counties before stopping at the Fairhope Pier, where mourners carried a casket to the water’s edge and threw flowers into the bay while chanting “Bury the violence.”
The event, called Bury the Violence, brought together law enforcement, emergency responders and funeral home representatives to call attention to the toll violent crime takes on communities across the region.
“Every city is impacted in some kind of way from violent crimes,” said Prichard Police Department Chaplain Patrick Munnerlyn, who helped organize the event. “There’s nothing that happens crime wise that does not end up violently in death. It’s coincidental but a right order that the lineup today consists of law enforcement, fire and rescue ambulances and then funeral directors. That’s just what happens when there’s a violent crime.”
Representatives from several local organizations took part, including Christian Benevolent Funeral Home, the Care House Baldwin County Child Advocacy Center, Penelope House, Small’s Mortuary and the Alabama State Constables. Linda Pearce, director and chaplain of Homicide Survivors of the Gulf Coast, also attended, telling attendees the group hoped the event would serve as a deterrent against future violence.
“The incidents have escalated over the years and we just want to stop it,” Pearce said. “So this is an opportunity to bring the awareness to the community in hopes that we can at least be a deterrent to end violence in our community.”
Among those in attendance was Yosha Populus, whose 8-year-old daughter Hiawayi Robinson was reported missing in Prichard in September and whose body was later found near an abandoned building days later. No arrests have been made in that case. Munnerlyn described Hiawayi as the event’s “poster child,” saying her death helped galvanize community support for the Bury the Violence effort.
“It’s hard because it’s the last thing on my mind when I go to sleep at night and the first thing on my mind when I wake up in the morning: Who and why? That’s the closure I need right now to help me,” Populus told reporters after the ceremony. “Every day, who and why? Why? She was just an innocent child. So why?”
Organizers said they hope events like the Fairhope Pier procession will continue to bring Mobile and Baldwin county residents together around shared grief and a shared commitment to reducing violent crime in the region.