For a decade, Nashvillian has been voice for murder victims

Earl Jordan, founder of Partners In The Struggle, touches a memorial erected to honor Leif Brittain, an 18-year-old killed at a South Nashville car wash in June, during a vigil for victims of unsolved murders in an anti-violence march earlier this month.

"Rutta Simon, 19, attends events honoring her mother, Freweini Gebremicael, who was fatally shot and burned in South Nashville two years ago.

Her mother's murder remains unsolved, but she can count on Jordan to remember her every year until somebody is arrested. He has become a father figure to Simon, inviting her and other families over for cookouts, or offering support any time.

Since 2006, Simon has continued to attend every Partners In The Struggle event she can."

July 22, 2008

For a decade, Nashvillian has been voice for murder victims

By RACHEL STULTS
Staff Writer

The names of Nashville's murder victims, the dates they died and the ways they were killed are etched in Earl Jordan's mind.

The information spans more than a decade, but Jordan doesn't forget.

He remembers, even when others don't, because he doesn't want victims to be forgotten, especially while their killers continue to roam.

Jordan, 38, is the founder of Partners In The Struggle Inc., an organization dedicated to combating violence and speaking out against the city's unsolved murders.

The group, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, began with one man who wanted to do something to help those who lost loved ones to gun violence. Today, more than 100 people in Nashville and across the country are part of the organization, coming out in force each month to rally, to march, to pray for victims of violence.

Girl's death spurred him

Jordan grew up in Nashville's J.C. Napier housing development, struggling to avoid the future of crime and violence he saw ensnare many of his peers.

His parents were good parents, he said, involved in his life from the beginning. Even when Jordan was 14 and his father died, his mother parented her five children, instilling in them a sense of responsibility and common sense.

As a teenager, Jordan took an interest in mentoring children. He was a counselor at basketball camps, and worked with urban services at the YMCA, visiting public housing developments and teaching youth there.

Then, in 1995, something happened.

Jordan saw news reports detailing how 12-year-old Adriane Dickerson had been gunned down outside a grocery store near Hickory Hollow. Jordan clutched his 1-month-old daughter, Klenesia, and thought of Adriane's parents. He couldn't sleep. He couldn't eat. He had to do something.

Jordan spent the next two years putting himself through school, raising his family and thinking about how he could increase awareness among Nashvillians that the violence had gone too far.

In 1997, Jordan contacted Dickerson's mother. Time had passed, and still Adriane's killer had not been found. He organized a rally in his old neighborhood, J.C. Napier Homes, to remember Adriane and 15 other victims of violent crime.

More than 200 people participated. And that's when Jordan knew his future was in speaking for those who can no longer speak for themselves.

"I never thought today I would be this brother who is a voice for families who have been murdered," Jordan said, remembering those days 10 years ago. "I have this baritone voice and God said, 'You're going to use this not to be a singer, not to be a football coach; you're going to use this voice to galvanize people around protesting this gun violence that's going on across our country."

The next year, Jordan founded Partners In The Struggle.

He's a shoulder to lean on

Over the past 10 years, Jordan has organized more than 500 events protesting gun violence. He has presented more than 1,000 plaques memorializing the deaths of Nashville residents. He has traveled across the country speaking to groups and finding others with stories to tell, and bringing them back to Nashville to share their brushes with violence, and how they survived the pain.

He wakes in the middle of the night with ideas about his next event. As a Metro schools employee who works with children with severe behavioral issues, it's the time when Jordan can think how best to convey the message.

And, he promises, he will not stop until each case has been solved. Rutta Simon, 19, attends events honoring her mother, Freweini Gebremicael, who was fatally shot and burned in South Nashville two years ago.

Her mother's murder remains unsolved, but she can count on Jordan to remember her every year until somebody is arrested. He has become a father figure to Simon, inviting her and other families over for cookouts, or offering support any time.

Since 2006, Simon has continued to attend every Partners In The Struggle event she can.

"Sometimes I feel hopeless but this is one of the ways I can do something,'' Simon said. "Even when my mom's case is solved I will still be doing this if it's still going on."

After hundreds of events, the least Jordan hopes for is that community and state leaders will join together and map out a plan for stopping the violence. He wants harsher sentences that will keep killers in jail and community involvement that will keep children from taking guns to school.

"I've seen the breakdown of pain of having to bury your baby because somebody out there isn't thinking about the choices they make in this world," Jordan said. "We've got to keep these victims and their memory in the public eye."