UPCOMING SERVICES
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Jones was a student at the East Oakland School for the Arts located on the Castlemont High School campus. He played piano and drums. He recently had enrolled in classes at Laney College and planned on attending Cal State East Bay to study music.
During the Friday night vigil, Jones' mother, Brenda Grisham said, "We need to stop this violence. It makes no sense."
Friday night vigil attendees, including many who have been involved in the Justice for Oscar Grant Movement, hoped that the same type of energy could be used to stop horizontal violence ("Black on Black" violent acts)."We must take a stand about this senseless violence and murder in our community, said Mama Ayanna Mashama. "It is important for us to come together and create a culture of resistance to the conditions that create these acts." Two of Mashama's children were also senselessly taken by violence.
When one attendee noted that people had not come out like other protests, Minister Keith Muhammad of the Nation of Islam mentioned previous "Stop the Violence" protests that had taken place earlier last decade in which many walked the streets, and that they were not only in response to law enforcement shooting Black people.
| "We must take a stand about this senseless violence and murder in our community. It is important for us to come together and create a culture of resistance to the conditions that create these acts." Mama Ayanna Mashama |
Jones was remembered as a bright spot in the lives of all he encountered.Oakland Tribune reports, "Chris Jones' teachers were confident he'd become a professional musician. Not only did he appear to have perfect pitch, but he possessed a hunger for learning and the grades to get into a four-year college."
A musical celebration for Jones will be held Sunday, Jan. 9 at Seventh Avenue Baptist Church, 1740 Seventh Ave in Oakland. A funeral service will be held Monday at 11 a.m. at St. John's Baptist Church in West Oakland on Market Street.
