Birmingham High School Graduation Honors Students Who Were Shot and Killed

By Alaina Bookman | abookman@al.com This is another installment in Birmingham Times/AL.com/CBS42 joint series “Beyond the Violence: what can be done to address Birmingham’s rising homicide rate.” Sign up for the newsletter here. As P.D. Jackson Olin High School graduates walked across the stage in their green gowns and gold stoles, proud parents and loved ones cheered them on. And when the names of the students’ former classmates were called, the Birmingham arena erupted into cheers. Since January 2022, 14 Birmingham City School students have been shot and killed. Gun violence, currently the leading cause of death among Alabama’s youth, is an epidemic in the city. On Thursday, parents walked the stage in place of five children who died before graduation. “That’s what my daughter wanted. Before she died she told me that night ‘when spring break is over mommy you’ll have senior,’ so that’s what she wanted. She wanted to graduate and she wanted to go to school. That’s why it was important,” Gabriell White said. Her 16-year-old, Jada, died in 2023. While on stage, Nichole Davis Williams, the principal of Jackson Olin, shook hands with her graduates and fixed their stoles and graduation caps before they posed for...