St. Louis 6-year-old calls for an end to violence in viral Facebook post
His mother told a local paper that the boy was afraid to die.
— -- A poignant Facebook video is racking up views with its message of peace.
The messenger is "Lil J," a 6-year-old boy who asks people to "stop killing each other" in the video that was posted by his mother, Leanndra Cheatham, one week ago.
Since that time, the video, which Cheatham told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch was her son Jeffrey's reaction to the drive-by-shooting death of her cousin, has received 80,000 views.
"I'm really serious," the boy says before mentioning the drive-by-shooting. "Because I'm really scared to die. And, I'm really scared for my family to die."
Cheatham calls the video a "PSA" in her post, and its message is in part a request for older people to pay attention to the impact violence has on children.
"I'm a kid," the boy says at one point. "I'm not supposed to be knowing about all this stuff. I'm not supposed to be knowing about all these guns."
Jeffery also passes along a message of faith in the video.
"God is my weapon," he says to the camera.