Central Los Angeles : A FAMILY’S GRIEF
Lashing out at “racial divisiveness” in Los Angeles, the family of slain toddler Stephanie Kuhen Wednesday appealed to city leaders and residents to unite around crime victims, particularly children.
Their plea, on the steps of City Hall, came a day after the conclusion of the O.J. Simpson trial, and on what would have been Stephanie’s fourth birthday. The toddler was killed when gang members opened fire on a car that had turned the wrong way down a Cypress Park dead-end Sept. 17.
“We need healing, we don’t need racial divisiveness,” said Steve Gooden, an Orange County youth minister and spokesman for the Kuhen family.
Gooden and Tina Dalton, the aunt of Stephanie Kuhen, announced that they would form a nonprofit foundation to bring the issue of violence against children to the forefront of political agendas.
“Whose child is it going to be tomorrow?” Dalton asked. “It [violence] happens day in and day out in Los Angeles and other cities in this country.”
Kuhen also expressed sympathy for the families of Ronald Lyle Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson, who were shattered over the acquittal of Simpson on murder charges.
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