On July 29, 14-year-old basketball star Semaj Miller was gunned down in South Los Angeles.
At six-foot-seven-inches tall, the Compton teenager was expected to go far with the L.A. City Wildcats, an association that helped launch the career of NBA player James Harden.
Now the community is mourning his loss.
"Semaj was such a talented kid who lost his life too soon," Rapper Percy “Master P” Miller, a coach and part-owner of the team, told Cheddar. "We have to stop this senseless killing, gun violence in our community. It's not the police. This is us killing us."
Miller lamented that gun violence is robbing the next generation of its talent, as well as those who could find success and come back and invest in their communities.
"This kid could have been the next LeBron James, could have been the next James Harden," he said. "We'll never get to know how talented this kid could have been."
Stepping outside of the rhetoric used in recent protests against police violence, the rapper said it was the responsibility of citizens to stop the violence in their own communities.
"I know we're out here protesting for Black Lives Matter, but my thing is, 'Okay, our kids matter,'" he said. "This is our future."
Miller didn't outline specific preventive measures but emphasized parenting and education.
"It's got to start in our community. We have to stand up for these kids. We have to protect them. We have to educate them," he said.
Three white men who chased and killed Ahmaud Arbery have been sentenced to life in prison, with a judge denying any chance of parole for the father and son who armed themselves and initiated the deadly pursuit of the 25-year-old Black man.
Europe's sky is filling up with near-empty flights that even airlines admit serve no purpose except securing valuable time slots at some of the world's biggest airports.
2022 is shaping up to be snowy, Pope Francis has some thoughts, and every day is a good day for taco fans. Here is all the news you Need2Know for Friday, January 7, 2022.
Cheddar recommends "Harlem," "Encanto," "Seance," and "Hilda and the Mountain King."
The Duchess of Sussex will receive a nominal 1-pound payment for invasion of privacy plus undisclosed damages for copyright infringement.
Locked in a dispute over his COVID-19 vaccination status, Novak Djokovic was confined to an immigration detention hotel in Australia on Thursday.
Powerball tickets sold in Wisconsin and California were winners of the latest jackpot and will split $632 million.
One year since the Capitol riot, the Grammys postponed, and a historic pardon. Here is all the news you Need2Know for Thursday, January 6, 2022.
Officials say a large house fire in Philadelphia has killed 13 people, including seven children, and sent two people to hospitals.
The U.S. and the Iraqi military say a Katyusha rocket has struck an Iraqi military base hosting U.S. troops at Baghdad’s international airport, and in Syria, eight rounds of indirect fire hit a base where members of the U.S.-led coalition are deployed.
