Latasha Norman Funeral

Service held for slain student
Overflow crowd told to express forgiveness
Richard Lake

Those who knew Latasha Norman and those who did not squeezed themselves into the aisles and onto the stairways of Rose E. McCoy Auditorium Monday to hear this:

No one should have to leave as she did, allegedly at the hands of a man.

She will leave at Jackson State University, where she was a junior accounting major, a legacy that will make a difference.

And the right thing to do now, with her gone and the man accused of killing her charged with murder, is to forgive.

These messages came from some who spoke at the campus memorial service for the 20-year-old Greenville native - 20 days after she went missing and four days after her body was found.

Her ex-boyfriend, fellow JSU student Stanley Cole, 24, also of Greenville, was charged with her death on Thursday. Her body was found in a wooded area in northwest Jackson.

Norman's pastor, the Rev. John Evans of Cathedral AME Zion Church in Jackson, fired up a crowd of students, faculty and family members on Monday. There were so many people in the 1,500-seat auditorium that they lined the walls and spilled out the doorways.

Evans urged them to forgive the person who killed her, which gave her uncle pause.
"God will handle all of that," the uncle, Matthew Norman, said after the service. "He will handle it. We're going to leave it in the hands of God."

The service took on an unusual tone, with frank talk about domestic violence - not just from clergy but also from university officials.

Norman had dated Cole for two to three years before breaking up several months ago, according to friends and family. In addition to the murder charge, Cole has been accused of assaulting her in October.

He was in Pearl Municipal Court to make an initial appearance on the assault charge when he was arrested. He is now being held without bond in the Hinds County Detention Center.

JSU President Ronald Mason spoke of what an intelligent woman Norman was said to be. He called what happened to her "nonsensical violence."

"Latasha's death was a case of a social ill in this country: relationship violence," Mason said. Police, however, have not provided a motive for her death nor discussed the circumstances leading up to her disappearance.

Mason implored any woman who suffered abuse to "get the help that you need."
"Get out now," he said. If you don't, "It will lead to you getting hurt - or worse."

Mason announced that the university's center for social and clinical counseling would be renamed after Norman.

The announcement was paired with a similar one by Glenda Glover, the dean of JSU's College of Business, that the university would establish a symposium on domestic violence in Norman's name.

"If even one is saved, then her death will not have been in vain," Mason said.
Lafreda Lockridge, 22, a friend of Norman's from Greenville, described Norman as "destined to be somebody."

It was Evans who delivered the message loudest. He urged young women who are being abused to put an immediate stop to it.

"That ain't love. That's slavery. Yes, it is. That's slavery. I thought we got out of that," he said.

Link:

The Latasha Norman Memorial