Diana lost her son to violence at the hands of police. Rather than giving in to hate, she's working toward healing and change. As the office manager of Precious Blood Ministry of Reconciliation, she helps others get through the pain of losing a loved one. The ministry offers a place for those impacted by violence and incarceration to come together and find both support and reconciliation.
"It's just an ongoing theme of violence," Diana shares. "So we're always here to make sure that they have a safe place to come to and express those feelings and emotions. And there's always somebody to understand them and help them walk through that."
Video Transcript
Diana: This is my son that I lost to the violence. Police. He was the lovable one that’d hold your hand and kiss you, and…such a good little boy. So that was another thing I'm struggling with, I think, is the police part. I see them, and I kind of panic — that anger…
Well, we had a student from the school downstairs, alternative high school, that left school and when he came out — a drive by. And they shot him and killed him right here. So always the kids, the students, family always comes out and puts stuff here for him. Yeah. Sad
Diana is the office manager for Precious Blood Ministry of Reconciliation. They serve people impacted by violence and incarceration.
Everybody that comes up here, I think I have an understanding of why they're here.
This is me and one of my sons. This is my son that just got out of prison three years ago. He was in there for 21 years, and we went up to the mountains.
Come here, Francie. He was an abandoned dog too, see? And he's now my best buddy. Are you my best buddy? Okay. No more.
I'm not sure where she's calling it now. It's like a little healing or prayer — I come in here and seek healing. Meditation room. There you go.
Joseph: How y'all doing?
Diana: This is my other chief, right here.
Joseph: Man, this is the boss. She really runs the place. Don't let her tell you nothing different. She makes sure the whole office operates, and it operates effectively. Without her, we'd be sitting outside, writing and taking notes.
Diana: No, he's playing with you. Wow.
These are some of the kids that we've lost. Adults, kids. Mostly kids. And some of them are their moms.
Producer Ben: How are you able to forgive the policeman? How are you able to forgive... Yeah.
Diana: I have to learn how to move on and forgive or I'm going to be stuck. And the kids are like, "Oh, I heard the cops killed your son and they're this…You don't want to put that on our kids to hate police, to hate. Because I'm teaching them we're trying to change.
Producer Ben: You mind saying that again? What all you've seen around here?
Diana: We've had kids that were shot around here or innocent people, and we do prayers. They come out here. Our whole staff will come out and do a little prayer vigil any time somebody is killed. But those are also hard to do. These are our little neighborhood breakfast places here.
I think every one of our kids, even us staff, have lost kids to violence. So we all know the pain and here's where they're able to sit in a circle. They're able to heal, they're able to talk about what is going on on the streets. They're able to share how they feel about their friend getting killed, their brothers getting killed, their sister, some of their mothers. It's just an ongoing theme of violence. There's no end to it. So we're always here to make sure that they have a safe place to come to and express those feelings and emotions. And there's always somebody to understand them and help them walk through that.
