Dear Acres Homes Community:
The past few years have proved challenging for the residents of Houston’s historic Acres Homes Community. While there has been forward motion on the uphill road to progress, the unsolved murders of six Black females have haunted Acres Homes like the “bat in the attic” that no one can seem to find. The silent lurk of such a depraved animal in human form has been especially daunting and frightening to the area’s females.

They had to come to grips with the gut-wrenching reality that they were ALL potential targets who could be abducted, sexually assaulted, stabbed and left for dead behind a local church or in the midst of a weeded lot. This is precisely what happened to one of the aforementioned six victims. The Houston Police Department recently arrested LaMarques McWilliams who is said to be linked to the Acres Homes murders.

While McWilliams has already been linked to more than one assault and fingered by one of his alleged victims out of a police line-up, we are still awaiting DNA evidence that proves either his involvement or exoneration from the six unsolved murders. Some residents see this as a reason to “breathe easy.” I totally disagree.
The protection of women and girls in our community must be seen as a divine and sacred duty to be carried out by the men of that community. A community of men who cannot protect its women and girls is a group of men unworthy of respect. It would be foolish of us to look at this recent arrest as a reason to relax the “threat level”.

We must raise the “threat level” and declare all-out war on sexual predators seeking to violate the sacredness of our most precious family members and neighbors; our women and girls. We must remember that we’ve been down this road before. The Houston Police Department previously arrested Bilford Dwight Junious, a man that we were made to believe was possibly responsible.

Whether the most recent arrest points to this individual’s involvement or not, we must remain vigilant, alert, wide-awake and aggressive to protect our communities. Do not let your guard down. We are not out of the woods, yet.

We are urging the men of the community to come out of their homes and keep a watchful eye on our children as they traverse to and from school. We must courteously encourage women and girls to never walk the streets alone, especially at night. We must be quick to report, to law enforcement, any suspicious activity including individuals who exemplify predator-like behavior.

We must encourage young girls to dress appropriately that they may be less attractive to a would-be sexual predator. We must “team up to clean up” and do something about the weeded lots that provide a haven of camouflage for this type of deadly activity.
I don’t care what the police department says we must raise the antennae of awareness and take responsibility for our own. Through unity, organization and mobilization we can make our community a safer place to live. Let us send a clear message to the sexual predators that the Acres Homes community is no longer “easy pickings”.