By Ryan Michaels
The Birmingham Times
This is another installment in The Birmingham Times/AL.com/CBS42 joint series, “Beyond the Violence: What Can Be Done to Address Birmingham’s Rising Homicide Rate?” Click here to sign up for the newsletter.
Corey Bishop, whose son 19-year-old Wanya’ Letrec Conner was shot and killed in February 2019, said he has dealt with his grief by mentoring others.
Bishop, a business owner in the Five Points West community, is responsible for a retail and real estate mentoring program that has seen 1,300 attendees, ranging in age from 12 to 55, he said. Of those, he has seen hundreds of success stories across in the program’s existence. His son was interested in carrying on the family retail business, Refresh Clothing, by starting a franchise, Bishop said.
“[What has] helped [my family and mentoring organization] push on is finding more mentees in order to breathe life into them by doing the same thing that Wanya’ would have done—leadership in business,” said Bishop, one of several Birmingham fathers who have lost children over the past several years.
Murders are taking a toll on the Magic City. Homicides in Birmingham have escalated over the past several years, with 144 recorded last year, the most since 1991.
“Step-by-Step Process”
With Father’s Day on June 18, Bishop likes to think of the day as a time to honor his son. He believes the first year is always difficult.
“It’s a step-by-step process,” he said. “It’s nothing you’re going to run through, and everybody’s feelings are going to be different. I just think if everybody takes the time to kind of channel their inner thoughts and work on their mental health, it’ll be easier every year.”
Words of encouragement have helped him through the pain of losing a son, said Bishop, who also has two daughters, ages 14 and 22, and has been like a father to several young people he has mentored.
“Remember to take the right actions after [losing a child to gun violence] because not only is the rest of your family looking at you, but the other person’s family is looking, too, and we can always use these things as steps to grow. Yeah, we’re hurting right now, but we can grow from this if we take the time and look at it from the right standpoint,” said Bishop, who emphasized that “revenge is never the answer.”
“Revenge only continues the hurt,” he continued. “We need to get more fathers to understand that revenge only hurts other people and for every action there is an invoice. We have to realize that that invoice is coming if we take the wrong action. But, again, the invoice is coming if we take the right action, as well.”
Bishop believes parents need to help children realize the value of their own lives to avoid these sorts of tragedies.
“I don’t think our kids have enough value for their own lives,” he said. “If we let our kids know how valuable their lives are, I think a lot of this will start to curve. … Once they realize [their lives are] valuable, then they start changing the way they think.”
For more stories in the “Beyond the Violence” series, visit www.al.com/topic/birmingham-violence.
