The end of the school year is a very exciting time for many of Boston’s youth. However, the beginning of the summer brings about anxiety for many Boston residents, especially parents of young children. If you have lived in the city long enough, you know that the change in weather signals an onslaught of violence in our inner city neighborhoods. While families are eager to begin their summer vacations they are also uneasy. They know that by the end of the summer, erected in their neighborhood, will be another shrine dedicated to a murder victim.
As of July 7th, there have been 27 murders in Boston, an alarming 14 in Dorchester alone. The evidence of this can be found on the nightly news as well as on the streets of Boston; near schools, in playgrounds and in front of the house next door. Relatives of murder victims commonly create shrines out of candles, flags, pictures, stuffed animals and empty alcohol bottles. These shrines, which are usually located at either the site of the murder or in front of the home of the victim, are maintained for an undetermined amount of time. But how do Boston residents feel about the numerous memorials that are crowding public sidewalks and are tucked into the corners of local playgrounds?
While it is clear that grieving is a necessary process for families and the city when a murder occurs, some feel that the shrines are eyesores on public property and should not be allowed. Unquestionably, relatives of murder victims should not hide behind closed doors instead of bringing attention to their unfortunate loss. Contrary to that statement, Sue Bard, a Dorchester native for 16 years and mother of two middle school children, believes that the city should provide a public mourning space dedicated to the murder victims of Boston. Bard said, “I feel for the families (of murder victims) but my children have to walk by them every day on their way to school, camp or to the store. It’s depressing. It’s not fair to them. A central location would be a better solution.”
Many parents share Bard’s sentiments, such as Gregory Tapp, whose 10 year old attends the John Marshall Elementary School and Community Center, where a 22 year old man was shot twice at a pick-up basketball game. “I definitely feel like shrines should have an expiration date. Our children don’t feel safe. I feel like they wear the pins and t-shirts and make the shrines to grieve but also they make them feel immune to the violence. Maybe they feel like, if the violence is this close to me, the next time it will skip me.”
In addition to being the reminder of violence and loss, the shrines, t-shirts and pins are an indicator, states Bishop Mealy, a single father and Dorchester resident. Mealy says that “you can tell what sides of the fight they are on by what shirt or pin they are wearing. The shirts and pins in some cases are telling the murderer that, I am your enemy because you killed my friend or family, so watch out!” This kind of tension can create a gang mentality in a thickly settled neighborhood, such as Dorchester.
Another longtime resident and community worker, John Pauls, believes that fashion and death should be separated. He states that, “The pins could be gang affiliated, but sometimes I see kids with pins of people from different areas in Boston. They are just pictures of their friends. They get dressed every day and line their pins up neatly on their shirts and bags like it is a fashion statement. Like they want to see who has the most murdered classmates or family members.”
In some cases the shrines are not an indication of gang affiliation, but simply an indication of grief. Such is the case of the shrine erected in 2002 for 10 year old Trina Persad, killed by a bullet meant for someone else. Ironically, Persad was murdered in a Dorchester park named in remembrance of another murder victim, Jermaine Goffigan, only 9 when he was murdered in 1996. The family of Persad commemorated her life for at least 5 years by maintaining a shrine of flowers and a picture of the slain girl.
The memorial was established along the fence of the park, located across the street from an Early Education Center. The idea that neighborhood children and students see the shrine and think that they may be next is not too far-fetched. While the shrine may be therapeutic for the family, it can be a traumatic reminder of the place in which we live. Maybe it is not the shrine that is the issue here but the violence: maybe by getting rid of the shrines we hope to erase the mark revealing the proximity of violence to us.
These are sad sentiments with four more weeks of summer vacation looming. High murder rates are not new to the city; the city has been dealing with this problem for many years. However, the culture of violence has changed and the residents of Boston are being directly impacted. There are many families who send their children to schools on the outskirts of the city through the METCO program to escape the violence and the overall hardening that the stress of this environment creates. Others keep their children inside or visit parks in other neighborhoods.
The city of Boston is a community in great need of a resolution. The youth growing up in the midst of the violence are reminded constantly of the fragility of life. It is clear that the city has a problem, what is unclear is how the youth are dealing with the constant bombardment of death and grief. Also unclear is the solution to the problem. As the summer nears its end we can only brace ourselves as the death toll climbs and pray that it is not our family building the next shrine.
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