TheDignityof A

AMonster, about the missing and murdered Black children in Atlanta during the early 80s, and to reflect on the passing of Edwin Hawkins as well as the dignity of Black mourning ensured by the Black church and the rapidly disappearing Black-owned funeral home.

The “end” of the Atlanta Child Murders predated my move to Atlanta by about 5 years, but I can recall the fear I felt and flashes of what I can assume was the 1985 film, The Atlanta Child Murders, and Monica Kaufman’s voice asking “Do you know where your children are?” I can’t say I recall the exact moment I realized the life of a missing Black child is not treated with the same level of importance as the life of a missing white child, but listening to Atlanta Monster touched this sore spot in my soul.

Patrick Baltazar, the first child mentioned on the podcast, was killed at age 11. When Master Baltazar’s brother recounted the battle he fought to hold a second homegoing service at a church in their Louisiana hometown, I began to weep. In 1981, a white church refused to hold Master Baltazar’s funeral service because he was Black. Even in mourning the death of a loved one, a child at that, his family had to fight, had to persist in a way that makes one weary to the bone. Master Baltazar made history in 1981 and not as a murder victim. He made history when he integrated the white church which ultimately relented and held his homegoing service.

Master Baltazar’s body was found, asphyxiated, in DeKalb County, Georgia. DeKalb County, Georgia is where I learned Black people could excel in any profession including doctors, lawyers, teachers, college professors, principals, mayors of major cities and radio personalities. Mike Roberts and Carol Blackmon narrated my elementary school mornings on V-103. I could tell not just the time of the morning, but also the day of the week, when the first few bars of Edwin Hawkins’ “Oh Happy Day” crescendo-ed through my brother’s clock radio. 7 am on Friday. Black radio was still an institution in Atlanta with its pulse on the community.

When I heard Edwin Hawkins had passed, I immediately