Player’s killing leads to research

Black-on-black violence focus

— Derek Olivier’s name will not be on this year’s Arkansas Baptist College football roster. Instead, it will adorn a new research center at the school.

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The Derek Olivier Research Center for Black on Black Violent Crimes, named for the Arkansas Baptist freshman football player who was killed in a drive-by shooting on campus last September, is scheduled to hold a dedication ceremony early next month. College president Fitz Hill said the center will bring students in from various academic tracks, especially the urban community leadership, religious studies and criminal justice programs, to study a national phenomenon and then test possible solutions.

“There have been a lot of things happen here over my seven years here, but [Derek’s shooting] was by far the day that stands out in my career,” Hill said. “Derek’s death, through this research center, will resurrect life ... . He will not live physically, but he will live spiritually through this center.”

Olivier’s Sept. 27 death rocked the small campus of the historically black college, one that has often had shootings occur in its surrounding downtown neighborhoods, but never so close to the campus, according to Hill.

The day after the player’s death, Hill said that Olivier’s death, though tragic, was not unique. He was a young black man shot by another young black man.

“The No. 1 cause of death for young African American males is homicide,” Hill said. “This is an epidemic.”

Hill said that high-profile murders often bring discussion of the problems in the black community with violence. But then, after the talk, little is done, he said.

He wanted Olivier’s death to amount to more than talk. He wanted it to bring action.

“We don’t need another ‘Stop the Violence’ rally. We need information we can take to people making decisions and say here is the recommendation based on data, and can we make these decisions based on this information to stop the violence,” Hill said.

“East St. Louis, New Orleans, Memphis, Flint Michigan, Detroit ... you say black-on-black violence is a problem, but you never have specific solutions, then you will never fix the problem.”

Hill said the center will officially start operating in the fall but that he has already hired a director. Student research, which will feed the center’s quarterly journal and be shared with other academic and community organizations, is already under way.

The research will be far reaching, Hill said, examining economic, social, educational and even moral dynamics. When asked if such research, and any solutions that come from it, could ruffle feathers and bring about resistance, Hill shrugged his shoulders.

“If the truth will set you free, we will only report the facts as the research indicates,” Hill said. “In order to really be healed, you have to deal with the pain of the truth, that’s what we must do right now ... . Why would we not address [black-on black violence] as a systematic problem? Because we’re scared of what other people might think? No.”

Olivier’s father, Joe Olivier, said he hopes the new center, whether through research or outreach, can have an impact on what he sees as a problem hardly unique to Little Rock. The family plans to attend the center’s dedication.

“It was just senseless. [The gunman] didn’t even know my son,” Joe Olivier said.

“The investigator told me it wasn’t his bullet ... it’s a hard pill to swallow.”

Joe Olivier never got to see his only son play college football. Derek, who played for the same high school in New Iberia, La., that his father did decades ago, came to Little Rock’s Arkansas Baptist to play football and to get a degree.

Two days before his 20th birthday, and two days before he would make his first road-trip with the team, the freshman defensive back was gunned down at the intersection of West 16th and Bishop streets, just across the street from the campus.

According to police, Olivier was helping teammates change a tire when the gunman opened fire on the group, killing Olivier and wounding one other.

The gunman has yet to be arrested even though an anonymous donor is offering a $10,000 reward through the Little Rock Police Department for information that leads to an arrest in the student’s death.

Derek’s father said the pair’s bond over football lasted until the final moments of his son’s life.

Derek Olivier was shot around 7:19 p.m., minutes after he talked to his father on the phone, according to Joe Olivier.

He was at a high school rivalry game in Louisiana, and Derek wanted to know what was happening.

“I spoke with him before it happened, I guess the good Lord has a way of making that happen,” Joe Olivier said. “He asked me, ‘Dad, what’s the score?’ I said, ‘Seven-nothing. It’s a good game.’”

Joe Olivier was expecting his son to call back later for another update. Instead, he got a call from Derek’s mother, Alma Olivier, who was too grief-stricken to say what had happened.

Derek’s parents had hoped their son might make his impact in athletics.

Failing that, they were excited that their son was devoted to getting a degree in criminal justice.

“Growing up ... he used to always hear about all kinds of things like people getting shot, going to jail for drugs,” Alma Olivier said. “ ‘I’m [going to] put the bad boys in jail.’ He used to always say that.”

Instead of letting her son’s death fade into obscurity as another statistic, Alma Olivier said she is proud that his name will live on through research, through a greater good.

“Arkansas Baptist College isn’t forgetting about my son,” Alma Olivier said. “His name won’t be forgotten. His name won’t go in vain.”

Arkansas, Pages 7 on 02/11/2013

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