New Haven Independent

His mother, sisters, god-brother, niece, and baby daughter came out in full force Thursday night to convince aldermen that such a street corner would inspire Hill residents who had looked up to Craig. They made their pitch to the Municipal Services Committee, which voted in their favor. The matter now goes before the full Board of Aldermen.

Craig’s mother (pictured) said that her son had always wanted to serve in the military. “Andre said, ‘If I stay in these streets, I’m gonna die in these streets, so I want to go in the army,’” she recalled.

After Craig’s death last June, she was shocked by the number of letters and phone calls she received from people telling her of all the ways her son inspired them. “I know he will never be forgotten,” she said.

Before he was killed by an explosive device in Baghdad, Craig visited home and met his then-newborn daughter, Taylor. If the corner of Rosette and Wilson Streets were named after Craig, his mother said, Taylor could “go back and look at it and say, ‘My father was a hero.’”

“His daughter’s been testifying all along,” Alderwoman Dolores Colon said of Taylor, who babbled happily while her grandmother cried.

Valencia Cook, Craig’s sister, described her brother as a role model for young people in the Hill who don’t want to give in to drugs, violence, and the other temptations of street life. “Some of those gentlemen in that neighborhood could stand on that street corner, and he could be an inspiration in spirit,” she said.

THe committee’s aldermen repeatedly expressed compassion for the Craig family and admiration for their son’s accomplishments.