The day after Mother’s Day in 1988, Charlotte's only daughter, Ja’Mee, was murdered at the age of 13 in a case of mistaken identity by five gang members. Then again in 1996, Charlotte’s 25 year-old son Corey was also killed by gang members who thought his blue work uniform represented a rival gang’s colors.
Indeed Charlotte was dealt poison but made medicine going on a mission to first ensure that Ja’Mee’s killers met justice, then working through all levels of government to change criminal justice laws, notably being the catalyst and driver for the Victim’s Impact Statement which humanizes a victim at sentencing and California’s Three-Strikes Law.
Charlotte has been a beacon of hope and love for her community, providing direct support and care to mothers who had lost children due to homicide; and hundreds of children consider her their mother, too.
Charlotte addressed the root of the problem by creating a jobs programs for young at-risk youth to get off the streets and find meaningful work in the community.
EPISODE SUMMARY
Our story begins in Los Angeles in 1988
Charlotte was a single mom to five children; four boys and one daughter
Charlotte worked hard to make sure the family had dinner together every Sunday and maintaining a strong foundation for them as a single mom
It was the day after Mother's Day in 1988 when Ja'Mee was killed
Charlotte was preparing food for her youngest children when she heard multiple gunshots
Physically she felt something drop from her - she believes it was Ja’Mee’s life leaving her body
Ja'Mee and her friend Nikki had been killed by 5 gang members who had thought the two girls were the sister of a rival drug dealer that had duped them earlier
Ja’Mee was hit 15 times with bullets including one through her head
At the time, “drive by shootings” wasn’t a legal offense so the five murderers were being charged under a lesser misdemeanor crime that had a likely sentence of 18-months
The death of Ja’Mee triggered a series of changes including having to find new homes for her foster children, fearing black men in her community, and losing her job; Charlotte’s life became a mission to represent her daughter and get justice
In 1996, her son Corey was killed by gang members that thought he was wearing rival gang colors; Corey was wearing his work uniform
In court, Charlotte’s daughter was referred to not by her name, but as her ‘toe tag’ which is assigned in the morgue; there was also no ‘victims impact statement’ where Charlotte could tell the jury who her daughter was, what her dreams were
Charlotte is the catalyst and driver of several major criminal justice laws that are common today, including: Victims Impact Statement and Three Strikes Law
Through loss she gained so much from the community - but she still misses her babies
QUOTABLES
“So I built a strong foundation for [my children], even though I was single."
“I got up and I went to the stove and I started preparing, warming up the meal that I had already prepared for the babies. And I heard all of this gunfire. And while I was standing at the stove, it was like a really strange feeling, like I had dropped something. And I always say it was her soul. It was like something fell for me. And I started looking for it to see what that was. at the funeral home, they said Ja'Mee had defensive wounds, and I didn't know what that was. They needed gloves. And the defensive wounds just because she saw them, and she put her hands up for protection. But that day was a horrible, horrible day for me. My only daughter. I had dreams, I was preparing for her to be a young woman, 18, the debutante balls, the classes, wanting her to be groomed, all of those things, and the life that I did not experience, I wanted to help her to be able to experience those things. And they cheated me. They cheated me. You know, it's 30 years, and it gets better, but it doesn't go away. I still miss my daughter.”
“Laws, we did not have any laws on