Ode To De'Kayla And Our Slain Chicago Daughters: We Remember, Let Us Never Forget

By John W. Fountain

Amid the impending arrival of summer 2026, we brace for the inevitable, even as we seek to end our city’s scourge of premature autopsies for the young amid a sea of violence that ebbs and flows.

And yet, we remember, in this video, the pain of families whose little girls were slain. Say their names...

“...Tyesa, Rashonda, Diamond, Tionda.

Hadiya, Heaven, Frances, Kaylyn.

Jonylah, Tanaja, Tiara, De’Kayla.

…Daughters gone too soon. Somehow we failed you.

Ain’t no sunshine standing in the crosshairs. Baby girl brown eyes. Pearly whites in the sun’s glare. Braided jump rope slappin’ hard concrete. Double Dutch singin’ while Evil—thirsting blood—creeps.

Ice-cold demons ‘round here never ever seem to sleep. They got me screaming from the mountain peaks: Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone…

Clear blue skies quickly turn to cloudy-day cries. Steel-jacketed bullets rain. And our little brown girls die...”

Special thanks to Orbert Davis & William “FITF” Lockhart (R.I.H., lil cuz)

Email: Author@johnwfountain.com