x
Breaking News
More () »

Mother's message to gangs using music videos to promote violence: 'Your microphone should be silenced'

Tonya Love lost her son Prosper in 2014. She says gangs are using his name, and others, in music videos to promote shootings.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Prosper Johnson was shot and killed five days before his 18th birthday in 2014.

Since then, his mother Tonya Love has been an advocate for stricter gun laws, but she's noticed a trend that she says is amplifying a message of hate.

"It seems like to me, music and murder and mayhem have just all been linked together now," she told First Coast News.

It's something the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office has publicly acknowledged, too.

Rival gangs are using social media and music videos as an outlet to intimidate and retaliate against each other.

Love says her son has been mentioned in the videos, even seven years after his death.

"You hear rumors and you are just using my son as a way to get more views," Love said. "You are using all these murders as just a way to get attention to yourself."

She started this online petition, which would require social media companies to take down violent videos.

Love says she supports free speech, but she doesn't condone threats or groups that promote bad behavior.  

"One music video goes up, and the next thing you know, that person's feelings are hurt because you are making fun of a person who has been murdered," Love explained. "Then they go murder someone, and then they put up another music video."

Love started a non-profit after Prosper's death. If you would like to learn more, click here

    

Before You Leave, Check This Out