Paulette Smith’s son was killed in a homicide in 2021 and three years later she’s still paying off the apartment where she found his body. Caught in a vicious debt cycle from the tragedy, and her savings depleted, Smith now lives in a close friend’s basement.
“You have to rebuild your life,” she said. “And it’s really, really hard and there’s not much help out there.”
Just off Cleveland Avenue in south Atlanta on Thursday night, Smith’s story echoed others who gathered and shared their experiences with gun violence — either as victims or as family members.
Some said they were forced to leave their jobs when their employer wouldn’t give them time off to grieve, and that the high cost of therapy was keeping them from receiving mental health services.
Advocates say the startling lack of short- and long-term support for crime victims isn’t unique to Atlanta but a deep-rooted issue that persists across the country. That’s why thousands are expected to gather in the nation’s capital for the Crime Survivors Speak March on Washington event later this month.