My Hope For Glenville: Shanita Horton

Shanita Horton lived in Glenville from the time she was in third grade until her 30s. 

She remembers as part of a high school project, she interviewed her father who was eight years old at the time of the 1968 Glenville shootout.

“He remembers the military presence. I guess it was the National Guard in the neighborhood. He remembers the curfew and having to come in at a certain time,” Horton said.

Horton is now a teacher at Glenville High School. Last school year, she was asked to lead students in a project working with a documentarian on the shootout and subsequent unrest.

“I chose the kids not necessarily the ones with the best grades, but I chose the bright ones, the ones who would ask the questions, the ones who would do the work, the ones who would get involved.”

The students researched the trial of Fred Ahmed Evans who was convicted of murder for the deaths of three Cleveland police officers and a civilian during the shootout. They spoke with people who knew Evans and met Prof. Louis Masotti who published a report commissioned by the government on the causes and events of the Glenville shootout. 

Horton says it made her students self-reflective.

“And several of them are like, ‘Oh no, I’m going to college, yes, but I’m coming back to Glenville and we’re going to fix some things.’ And they’re really gung ho.”

Horton says she no longer lives in Glenville but still sees the neighborhood as “home.”

Her hope for the future of Glenville is growth, "positive growth."

Produced by Hannah Edelman