Princess Titus Remarks at a Conversation After the Death of 11-year-old Amir Atkins

 

This excerpt is from a talk given by Princess Titus — founder of a healing group for people facing trauma — one week after 11-year-old Amir Atkins was killed by a bullet in a Minneapolis community park. The discussion featured other community leaders at Folwell Park, where Amir was killed, and was organized by Angela Williams.

 

This is not normal. This is not acceptable. And this must not continue.

We are all missing someone because of loss — to group gun violence or police gun violence or community gun violence. All the ones we have lost, we wanted to see them grow. We were their friends, laughing at lunch tables with them, dreaming about summer. Why could Amir not get to do that? When we say your name today, we say ‘enough to the system that plagues us and enough to our souls that accept this culture of violence as our culture.’

I stand here as the mother of Anthony Titus, [on nearly the anniversary date when] my son was hit by a bullet intended for another child.

I have watched his friends overdose. I have watched people return to prisons and then inside prison take their own life.

I’ve worked on myself before I serve the community, with Standard Edition Women, answering a mother’s call at three in the morning as she screams. I’ve partnered with Innovative Soulutions; people who have done the work on their selves is what we need.

I hear this senseless voice of violence written in the footnotes of trauma, shouting in our silence, in the screams of that mother at 3am and that father who can’t sleep. I hear it in the thoughts of his classmates who are going to go to school and wonder ‘where is my friend?’

There’s so much violence that happens to young children before a weapon is even introduced. We must reimagine what our children see, what they hear, and the messages that we allow them to believe. The music, the movies, it all must shift — not just to censor and keep entertainment away, but to heal.

We need stories that show survival without violence, strength without domination, and supremacy and manhood without destruction.

I’ve served this community for 30 years, coming from the city of Chicago. I’ve asked all the children I’ve seen if they’ve liked their teachings. They’ve talked about situations that disrupt their harmony, their ability to be a child in the schools, in those doctors’ offices, in the school system. We’re calling those violences out as a system.

Today I’m also speaking to the souls of the Black people, because policy will not save us alone. We need a cultural shift. We must cry in front of our children and hold them when they cry. We must walk two by two.

Someone has to ground you in your grief. You cannot do it alone.

We have to walk only on those pathways that lead us away from death and towards dignity and a restoration of our humanity. I see our pain, but this is our work. This isn’t just a public health crisis. This is a spiritual crisis. It speaks to the profound wounds that are carried in the DNA of our communities. We must tend to this untreated grief, pain, and trauma. We must stand in our standards and seek that innovative soulution.

Gun violence has become too common as the background noise. We must demand policy change. We must demand accountability. We must invest in our communities instead of incarceration.

I’m speaking to the soul of the community, because witnessing isn’t just about bullets. What our people need isn’t just punishment. They need nurturing. They need connection. Our children deserve strong, attaching relationships. Love. Consistency. How can you love when you’re broken? We have to show up and not disappear. We need rest — not just sleep, but an emotional safety that allows our nervous system to regulate a deep breath from the chaos.

We need freedom to feel our emotions: the anger and the sadness, the joy and the confusion. We need the ability to play outside in nature, where there are tree canopies, where there is not a food desert. We need real food for real people. We must create these conditions. Don’t let shame keep you quiet. Don’t let fear keep you isolated, because it’s the secrets that keep us sick.

This commitment starts at home. Everybody makes mistakes. There are no bad children, there are no bad people. There are bad choices. And in this environment, we’re offered a lot of bad options in messaging.

We have to remove the violence — not just from the streets, but from our screens, our headphones, our mouths, and our memories.

I lived in the 16 years and two weeks that Anthony brushed his teeth, played hockey, and babysat people’s children, before that July day when he passed away. When that hurts me, I’m grounded with women, and people like the ones who sit behind me today, to help me heal.

We must learn to live in harmony inside of ourselves and see that in others. We coexist and connect in our hearts. We must allow the trueness of pain in our minds. We must carry the light — the light of the mirror, the light of the lost loved ones — and let that guide us back to love. That’s how we build and protect the next generation, seven generations forward. Not in our silence, and not in our surrender.

Thank you.

 

A crowdfunding account has been set up to help Amir’s family.

Anyone with information about this shooting is urged to email policetips@minneapolismn.gov or leave a voicemail at 612-673-5845. Those wishing to remain anonymous can contact CrimeStoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or submit tips online at www.CrimeStoppersMN.org. All tips to CrimeStoppers are anonymous, and information leading to an arrest and conviction may qualify for a financial reward.

Case number: 25-172084

6-23-2025 MR 25-172084 – Minneapolis Police Investigating Mid-Afternoon Shooting That Killed 11-Year-Old Boy.pdf

 

 

 

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