Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Spray Paint Memorial

Photo courtesy of Kristen Longley/The Flint Journal

Friends of a shooting victim memorialize him by spray painting graffiti on his family's Eastside home.


10 comments:

  1. Lewis Franklin, King Of the EastsydeAugust 25, 2009 at 9:06 PM

    You can't get much more Flint than this.

    The people who did this are dumb. Yes, they are grieving, but if this is how they mourn it is a dumb way to mourn.

    If the neighbors attempt to erase the graffiti they will likely be subject to violence.

    Gotta agree with the Journal comment though, the bra is a nice touch.

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  2. What ever happened to going to a wake and throwing a few back?

    Flint does seem to have a small segment of hard core criminally stupid.

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  3. I believe most ExPat readers are touched by the obvious outpouring of sympathy for the loss of this young man. It is very sad. However, the mourners method of communicating their sympathy, reminds me that I am too far gone from Flint to understand their thought process. Heck, maybe it's exactly what was needed for this grieving family.

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  4. Agreed...there's genuine sentiment here, which I can understand. But the method of expressing it is hard for me to relate to. But this may be one of those cases where it's the thought that counts.

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  5. We're better than this aren't we? Can't we show respect for the deceased without disrespecting the neighborhood with the graffiti?

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  7. Well I'm not so far gone from Flint and have been back to the old neighborhood recently enough to know descendents of the old BGD gang tags when I see them. The blue paint, the stars of david, the G, the 'forks up' (fokes). I don't know if this kid was a member. And I'm not saying this to belittle the death of a young teen or judge him in any way, but in street terms, this is like full military honors, not vandalism.

    I do agree its hard to get your head around it, it really is a different world.

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  8. mann to all you hatin on how we honnor the "G" whos life was cut short at only 17... show some ph**in respect... today the markings arnt there it was a mourning factor....after the funeral we all pulled together to celebrate the life of DUSTIN COOPER at the mabel street house were his life was taken.. Dustin wasnt a banger he was a lover but that was the way hed like to be remembered for noone to forget ,,, and i promis it will never happen....... noone could feel what the family and very close friends felt that day they found out they lost a special friend brother uncle and son but one thing that would help is for yall HATERS to shut yer mouths bout how things were handled

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Thanks for commenting. I moderate comments, so it may take a while for your comment to appear. You might enjoy my book about Flint called "Teardown: Memoir of a Vanishing City," a Michigan Notable Book for 2014 and a finalist for the 33rd Annual Northern California Book Award for Creative NonFiction. Filmmaker Michael Moore described Teardown as "a brilliant chronicle of the Mad Maxization of a once-great American city." More information about Teardown is available at www.teardownbook.com.