On January 19, 1989, Alton "Dunnie" Wooten Jr., the 35-year-old son of Myrtle Faye Rumph,was killed in a drive-by shooting on the streets of South-Central Los Angeles. Faye coined the phrase,"Catch the Vision!" in 1989 when she conceived the idea to open a youth center as her way of addressing the needs of our youth. These are her own words to describe the theme of the Al Wooten Jr. Heritage Center, founded in October 1990. My Vision is so big it's scary. I see my son's name all over this city... on buildings, vans, buses, and so on. When I heard he had been killed in a drive-by shooting by a black man, I wondered what kind of world are we living in when your life can be taken away from you by a stranger. That means someone doesn't care about the quality of life.

I felt like going downtown and standing on top of City Hall and telling my black brothers and sisters 'it's time to stop the killing,because the pain I feel I don't want anyone else to feel this way.With that one bullet, someone took away my reason to live. I would tell them to please stop the killing, the pain is "FOREVER."

If everyone could catch the vision of my pain and turn it into something positive for our community,we would be able to save the next generation of kids. We as leaders must change our community's focus by offering our kids education, jobs, love, understanding and compassion.

"I see my son in the eyes of every child I meet."

- By Myrtle Faye Rumph. April 1993