Kenneth Jr. was slain inside his place of business, the Boutique on U at 1100 U St. NW, and when Barnes took to the streets to question people about the murder, he found most people to be unresponsive and slow to give information.

"When I first found out, nobody wanted to talk about it. Nobody knew anything," he said. "People would tell me that they knew [information], but they didn’t want to go to the police."

And since the incident happened on a rainy day, when the area was still cleaning up from the previous week’s storms, he felt that the police didn’t – or couldn’t – act quickly enough.

He thought that if a murder had taken place in a boutique in Georgetown, the community and the police would give the incident much more attention. And that angered him more.

So Barnes went to the police himself and was informed that a suspect in his son’s murder was wanted for two other homicides in the District. Upon hearing this, Barnes was further moved to action. He contacted the mayor’s office and various media outlets to tell his story, to get something done.

The suspect, 19-year-old James Hill, would later turn himself into police and plead guilty to three counts of second-degree murder and one count of assault with a dangerous weapon.

Barnes is using Hill’s scheduled sentencing date on Nov. 22 to draw attention to a new nonprofit group he founded to facilitate change in the community’s apathetic attitude that he feels fosters a culture of violence here and elsewhere. Called ROOT (Reaching Out to Others Together), the organization is committed to advocacy, education and intervention on behalf of families and individuals that have been victimized by homicide.

"We wouldn’t have gotten (Hill) off the street had I not pushed, if the community hadn’t come together," Barnes said. He said he believes the media attention that he was able to focus on the crime put pressure on Hill from the "word on the street," which compelled him to own up to the crimes.

Through ROOT, Barnes said he wants to bring together residents, law enforcement officials, political leaders and the news media to effectively solve homicides, to prevent violence and to combat the apathy that he feels can stagnate the community.

"We need to start looking at the problems we face and try to take back our community," he asserts. "We cannot blame the media or the police. It begins with our apathy."

Barnes has rallied the help of lawmakers and other community organizations. D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton and Ward 1 Councilman Jim Graham have offered their support, and Barnes has been invited to become a member of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives. He also is co-producing a video public service announcement that will be devoted to the problem of violence in the community.

Barnes said he continues to keep his son’s business running and has launched ROOT with his own resources.

"I don’t want his death to be in vain," Barnes said. "I want to turn this negative into a positive."

Copyright 2002, The Common Denominator