Peace is a lifestyle for Erica Ford, and now she’s peacing out from LIFE Camp, Inc.—the company she built from the ground up—to focus on her well-being. The leading gun violence prevention guru celebrated her retirement with a “sneaker gala” where she quite literally passed the baton to her successors.
“This is it,” said Ford. “For those of you who said ‘I am not doing this’ I want to let you know I have to do this. You either want Erica Ford to live or you want somebody to go out there and die
so that people can’t die. You gotta respect the process. I have to do this.”
Ford announced her planned departure roughly a year ago on the Angie Martinez Show, pointing to health concerns. She said the gala, held this past Sunday, April 7, was her first and last one, eschewing jubilees and the typical money moves attached to them in favor of the actual groundwork.
For two decades, the Queens-based LIFE Camp tackled gun violence prevention through community-based efforts. Ford’s advocacy dates back a decade-and-a-half longer, working with Tupac Shakur on anti-violence efforts and championing reparations on the frontlines of the December 12th Movement.
“She’s accomplished so much that has changed so many lives through her beloved LIFE Camp,” said City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams. “Her life’s work, her passion, to help our youth, our single parents, our families, has helped to make our community—my community—safer, more secure, and more knitted together as neighborhoods and as neighbors.”
“Before there [were] cameras, before there was money, there was a woman with an afro who was begging people to care about Black children who were dying in the streets,” added Public Advocate Jumaane Williams. “And no one can take that away from Erica.”
Next up are current Co-Executive Directors Diana “Princess” Lemon and Tiffany Lamela, who were handed literal batons to symbolize the changing of the guard. There are big shoes to fill—bedazzled Nikes, to be specific.
“I cannot be Erica Ford, and I don’t plan to be,” said Lamela, “but I plan to be committed [and] dedicated to the process, and to continue to be a voice for my youth and Southeast Queens and my community.”
Ford’s honorees at the gala ranged from publicist Rachel Noerdlinger to Parkland shooting survivor-turned activist David Hogg to Amsterdam News’s very own publisher, Elinor Tatum.
“Erika Ford is a trailblazer and Lifecamp has changed lives,” said Tatum. “I am honored to…be one of her ‘Black Queen Sovereign Aura’ award recipients.”
Tandy Lau is a Report for America corps member who writes about public safety for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep him writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1.