A law firm is setting up a trust fund for the surviving baby who was allegedly thrown off a bridge into the Mississippi River by his mother, the child's grandmother said today.
Supreme Knowledge Allah survived the 75-foot fall from the Wabasha Street Bridge in downtown St. Paul on the Fourth of July, as did his mother, but his 14-month-old twin brother, Sincere Understanding Allah, died.
The boys' paternal grandmother, Sharon Sanders of Duluth, said the Apple Valley law firm of Guzman, Kallheim and Sharpe was doing the trust work for free.
Checks should be made out to the Baby Supreme Trust and sent to P.O. Box 16228, St. Louis Park, MN 55416, the grandmother and the firm said.
The boys' mother, Naomi Gaines, 24, of St. Paul, was charged Monday with second-degree murder and attempted murder. She did not enter a plea at her first court appearance, where bail was set at $500,000.
Prosecutors said Gaines pushed her stroller partway across the bridge, which was crowded with onlookers, kissed her babies and said she was sorry before throwing them into the river and then jumping in, shouting "freedom" on the way down. Gaines and Supreme were rescued. Sincere's body was recovered Sunday.
The boys' father, Khalid Allah, said Supreme seems lonely now.
"He's used to being right next to his brother," Allah said. "They sleep together, they bathe together, they eat together."
Ramsey County court records show Gaines has a history of depression and manic behavior. Last year, a doctor wrote in her file that she was "unable to care for self; found wandering street talking and singing nonsensically, with her four small children; psychotic." In August, Gaines agreed to treatment for mental illness at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis to avoid a pending court-imposed commitment.
Family members described Gaines as an artistic single mother who struggled with mental illness
Gaines grew up in Milwaukee, had her first baby at age 16 and, afterward, was a different person, her brother Nathaniel said. This wasn't just a teenage mother forced to grow up quickly - she seemed depressed, he said.
In 1996, Gaines moved to St. Paul and started a life with the father of her son Jalani, now 7. They had a second child, a daughter, Kaylah, now 2, before splitting up. Once again, Gaines' mood suffered. She eventually was diagnosed with postpartum depression and other mental illnesses, family members said.
"I don't think she got the help she needed," said aunt LaLita Stevenson, who added her niece was still suffering from depression when she came home from the hospital.
The twins were named in the fashion of the Five Percenters, a sect that split from the Nation of Islam and believes black people are gods. Five Percenters often adopt Allah, the Arabic name for God, as a surname during their quest to be "self-sufficient as a people," according to a Web site for the group.
The family said Gaines didn't practice as a Five Percenter, but that similar themes of overcoming oppression were present in her poetry and other artwork. Gaines recorded a CD of songs at a friend's St. Paul studio and, infrequently, took the stage at local clubs for spoken-word poetry performances Very often, she focused on a long-standing concern that society oppressed women, especially African-Americans.
"My niece has a big problem with how society was. She basically felt we were slaves without the chains," McMillan said.
Family members said they couldn't speculate on whether those themes may have echoed Friday night as she jumped screaming "Freedom."
"We don't condone what happened. I can't say we even understand it and I don't know if we ever will, but we still love our niece very much and will continue to support her," said Gaines' aunt LaShon McMillan.