Gold: Keeping Them Alive
"Celebrating their life keeps them alive," says Persephone Modeste, a therapist based in Rochester, N.Y., where friends and family pay tribute to loved ones killed by gun violence using customs and rituals that signify death is not the end of life for the deceased. Loved ones are celebrated and kept close through objects and events that honor their legacy. "Sometimes, the pain bears you down so much that you have to think of something joyful to be able to move on because it can be debilitating," says Modeste.
JaQuincy Honors Yasier
JaQuincy Bostick poses for a portrait with his track spikes that feature pictures of his late cousin, Yasier Clark, in Rochester, N.Y., on Jan. 6, 2023. Bostick, a track athlete and football player, runs track at Graceland University, where he is currently a sophomore. He had the track spikes custom-made soon after his cousin was killed. Clark was shot and killed outside of a nightclub in downtown Rochester on June 11, 2022, following a verbal altercation with the perpetrator earlier that evening. "Track and football are basically like me venting, but in a different way," says Bostick. "I don't vent to people. Things that I go through, I just let it out on the track and football field."
