Public Soul Announcement's series of Young, Gifted, Black and Dead!!! posts came to an end because finding articles on the d
eaths of young African Americans proved to be difficult and time consuming. However, I came across the story of Chicago teenager Kiyanna Salters last night. On October 5, Kiyanna boarded a CTA bus headed home after spending the day caring for a sick aunt. It is quite possible that while 17 year old Kiyanna rode the bus, with her cousin Jasmine Wilcox, she thought of her fellow classmate, Blair Holt, who was killed on a CTA bus 18 months prior. I'm sure she never thought she would meet the same fate. I'm sure she never thought a petty quarrel would turn violent, shots would be fired, and a bullet would hit her in the head. I'm sure she never thought her life would come to an end on a city bus. Unfortunately, it did. Kiyanna Salters died 30 minutes after being the innocent victim of senseless gunfire. Another sad example of black on black crime. According to the Chicago Tribune, at one point during the bus ride a young black male got on the bus and accidentally touched an older man's hand. Words were exchanged and both men then flashed guns at each other before the younger male got off the bus. As the doors of the bus began to close, the young male fired a round of shots at the bus. Kiyanna, an aspiring doctor with a flair for fashion, was the only person shot. Her aunt remembered her as a good kid, “If you’ve got a good child and you know they’re not doing anything wrong, you don’t too much worrying about them because you know God’s got them,’’ she said, tears streaming her face. “I guess it was her time to go. He just needed her. He needed her.’’
A surveillance video inside the bus captured footage of the alleged suspect. The mother of the alleged suspect, Milton Wardlow, pleaded with her son to turn himself in after she saw the video on the news. Wardlow surrendered to authorities and has been charged with murder and ordered held without bail.
