THERESA WILLIAMS, MOTHER OF JAVON JACKSON:
Mother of slain student pieces together mementos of an unfinished life
“If any good can come out of this, protecting someone else from going through this heartache, that would mean Javon’s life was not in vain.”
Theresa Williams was packing up the last of her son’s belongings in his apartment on Lisbon Avenue on Tuesday afternoon when she found the Mother’s Day card tucked among his schoolbooks and personal papers.
“Mama, you’re always so good to everybody else,” Williams read aloud, her voice filled with emotion. “. . . You don’t take time for yourself. So today, just sit down and relax. Try doing nothing for a change. (You might like it!)”
It did not matter that the words she read had been printed in a card factory or that the card lacked a personal inscription from her son. The card was meant for her, but Javon R. Jackson could not hand-deliver it because a gunman fatally shot him at about 3 a.m. Sunday on Main Street near the University at Buffalo’s South Campus, just hours after he had graduated from UB.
“Even though he was so far away, Javon was thinking of me,” the New York City mother said as she clutched the card.
And his card was not the only memento she held closely.
Williams and her 9-year-old daughter, Mya, hugged the framed bachelor’s degree Jackson had received in electrical engineering. Earlier Tuesday, university officials gave it to the family.
The document was proof of the 23-year-old Jackson’s determination to get ahead in life.
“His plans were to come home for the summer and work construction in the plumbing trade and then return to UB for a master’s degree in engineering,” Williams said.
But all of that is now gone, taken away for eternity in a flash of gunfire or, as Buffalo police describe it, a senseless act of violence against an innocent victim. The killer is still at large.
Williams says more security is needed to protect students attending UB, particularly those who live in the neighborhoods surrounding the South Campus.
Campus police and city police, she said, need to increase patrols on neighboring blocks.
“Knowing that Javon’s life was taken, maybe it could have been spared if there was more security, especially on an evening when students were out celebrating,” Williams said. “If any good can come out of this, protecting someone else from going through this heartache, that would mean Javon’s life was not in vain.”
City police said UB President John B. Simpson has reached out to Mayor Byron W. Brown to see if more can be done.
“UB, City Hall and police officials could be meeting in the next couple of days,” said Buffalo police spokesman Michael J. DeGeorge.
Mya, who looked up to her older brother as a role model, cannot understand why someone would kill him.
“I feel so sad” were about the only words the little girl could bring herself to say.
Yet amid the tragedy, Jackson’s family has experienced what Buffalo is known for—care and love for those who are hurting.
“They’ve given us overwhelming concern and comfort as we prepare ourselves to bring our son home,” said Williams, holding up a planter filled with fresh white daisies that strangers had dropped off.
Williams read an inscription on a card that came with the flowers: “When God takes angels, he only takes the best.”
Before Jackson’s remains are transported to New York City, students and friends of the UB graduate will have a chance to pay their respects from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday in Providence Memorial Chapel, 1275 Sycamore St.
Friday, a funeral will be held in Harlem’s Abyssinian Baptist Church, 132 Odell Clark Place, between Lenox Avenue and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard.
The family will be present there from 2 to 7:30 p.m., with the service set to start at 8.
But on Tuesday afternoon, inside the apartment Jackson had scrubbed clean last week in anticipation of his family’s arrival for his graduation, his loved ones continued to tie up the loose ends of his life.
There was the sound of movers taping up eight cardboard boxes containing his clothes and Williams wondering what she would do with all the clothing:
“Maybe I’ll donate them,” she said.
Taped to the walls of his bedroom were dozens of glossy magazine pictures that made for a photo gallery of professional athletes and models. A computer was still atop Jackson’s desk, and his bed was neatly made.
All of it served as signs of a life unfinished.
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