15-year-old Nisa Mickens was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Last September, her father dropped her off at her best friend’s house. That was the last time she was seen alive.
Her “badly beaten and cut” body was discovered later that evening – a day before her sixteenth birthday. The dead body of her best friend, Kayla Cuevas, was discovered the following day.
Authorities pinned the murders on the gang MS-13, which has infested Mickens’ former school and Long Island community. Nine other teenagers have been killed by gang violence in the area since the school year began.
Now, her father wants to do something about it: he’s running for school board.
“You hear from students and parents, they have concerns over about what is going down at the school,” Mickens said. “Me being a father who lost his daughter, I think I could probably help other kids and make a difference.”
The pandemic of MS-13 in Long Island has even garnered the attention of President Trump, who blamed lax immigration policies for letting “criminal scum” slip through. Attorney General Jeff Sessions visited Long Island late last month and announced that he would do everything to eradicate the gang.
As for Nickens, he is running for school board to help the fight.
“I just thought I needed to do something to make it better for other kids, to do more,” he said.
Eight candidates are running for three slots on the school board. One other candidate is Bryan Greaves, the pastor who delivered the eulogy for young Nisa.
“I want to get to the heart of the matter,” said Bryan Greaves. “I don’t want to bury another child. I don’t want to have to counsel another family. I do not want to have to try to raise a GoFundMe for a family to bury a child.”
