Samaad was buried on Saturday January 11, 2020. By Monday morning Coach Audrey Taylor was at my house with encouraging words on our next steps. “We cannot let his name die sis.” “We have to keep his legacy going.” I agreed but did not have a direction at the time. I thought long and hard of the many ways we could move forward with her plan, which now became my mission.

The Samaad Z Frazier Youth Over Guns Walk was created after my sister-in-law Charita told me about June being Gun Violence Awareness Month and Coach Taylor sending me a picture of a shirt with Youth Over Guns on it. With June being Samaad’s birthday month it was only fitting to use this as an event month to bring the community together and showcase the talents of the youth.

There were vendors, Brittany came to inform the crowd of her products offered through NY Life, Tiwanna sold natural soaps and beauty products with her company Eva Skye Cosmetics, and Judy sold her natural hair products with her company The Vegan Curls. After the 5K walk there were performances by his brothers, Jamal aka Bank2Up, Terrod aka FivesUpRoddy, Shawn aka HumbleSmash, his friends Dylan aka Dizziablo, Giovanni aka Flako and childhood friends Andre aka Nino4p and Gamal aka Dirty6laze. The EA steppers from Franklin stepped, and Kayla sang her heart out! Our guest speaker of the day was Justin Stewart Samaad’s childhood best friend from Hillside. He gave the motivational speech and shared his love and experiences with Samaad in their childhood. It was such an honor for all of them to come together and give us an outstanding day to remember!

Even COVID could NOT stop the turn out at this event! I had 41 volunteers alone who wanted to be apart of this special day along with the people who came to walk and enjoy the show. The Franklin Reporter came out to cover the event and do an interview with me and Ken Reid a former police officer and current 3rd District Fire Commissioner in Franklin.

With the money that was raised I was able to start my basketball league Team Maady Legends with my youngest son Nyle’s age group. The concept of my league is to a provide unique basketball experience that not only develops the youth into great basketball players but also teaches them life skills needed to become future leaders in their communities. Samaad was an outstanding basketball player and it cost me dearly to keep up with his talent. Not all parents can afford to give their child that experience and because of that I am using a fundraising concept to keep the cost low and provide a more enriching basketball program experience.

Stay tuned because the Samaad Z Frazier Youth Over Guns Walk will be an annual event that will grow and evolve bigger and better as the years go on! I want to THANK and show my sincere APPRECIATION to everyone who took out the time to come out, support, spend money, donate, and to help out! A special THANK YOU to Nicole Mills, my alumni from Union High School Class of 1992, she really helped me bring the day together with her experience, expertise and donations! 🖐🏽💙