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As a group of nearly 100 people surrounded Rubin’s Market on Sept. 2 at the corner of 26th and Folsom streets—many of them friends, teachers and family of the late 14-year-old Rashawn Williams—Victoria Morales prayed for her grandson “Shawnito.”
She was not alone.
“I think about Rashawn everyday,” said David Johnson, who taught Williams in sixth grade at Buena Vista Horace Mann. “So I don’t want Sept. 2 to be the only day that we think about Rashawn.”
The group was gathered at 26th and Folsom streets on the one-year anniversary of Williams’ death, the exact location where he was fatally stabbed after being approached by two individuals.
A suspect was arrested shortly after the attack, but charges against that individual were later dropped after surveillance footage showed that someone else was responsible for stabbing Williams.
As of press time, no new information about the case has been revealed by the SFPD, and the status of the second suspect is unknown.
Remembering Rashawn
Before arriving at the corner of 26th and Folsom streets, the group—which wore mostly green clothing in a show of solidarity—marched from the corner of 23rd and Valencia streets, passing Buena Vista Horace Mann before turning left on 26th street. Some marchers held signs and banners dedicated to Williams while chanting, “Long live Rashawn.” Others pushed a wheeled alter that had Williams’ photo.
“It means a lot of love, and a lot of support, especially through this hard time,” said Maria MacMurray, Williams’ aunt.
Johnson agreed.
“I think it’s great, because usually when a black or brown kid dies, there’s an assumption that he was doing the wrong thing. And this kid was doing all of the right things,” Johnson said. “We need to remember him. I mean, the mainstream media [didn’t]. We wonder how the tables would’ve been if he was a different color.
Williams, who was Salvadoran Lenca on his mother’s side and black and Lakota on his father’s side, was a standout freshman football player at Sacred Heart Cathedral, where he earned a near-full academic scholarship after graduating from Buena Vista Horace Mann.
Johnson, an Archbishop Riordan High School alumni, remembered the day when Williams had decided to attend Riordan, only to later change his mind and attend Sacred Heart. Even after the switch, Williams still came to school wearing a sweatshirt with a large “R” on it.
“I said, ‘Dude, how are you going to wear a Riordan sweatshirt?’” Johnson remembered asking Williams. “He said, ‘man, this stands for Rashawn.’”