As homicides spike in US cities, a New Orleans church remembers victims with a ‘murder board’
Hundreds of more Americans are being killed in the streets of big cities.
The Council on Criminal Justice reports murders have gone up by 44% since the pandemic.
New Orleans is one city off to a grim start in 2022, as 19 homicides have been recorded so far, double the number the city had this time last year.
Soon, each of those victims’ names will be written on a wall that stands outside St. Anna’s Episcopal Church in the heart of New Orleans. It’s known locally at the city’s “murder board.” Hundreds of names tell the story of over a decade’s worth of murders in South Louisiana.
“It’s a stark reminder about human loss,” said Father Bill Terry. “What it simply does is present an age, a name, and a method of murder. We found that has huge impact.”
Terry started the murder board in 2007, after a year violent crime. Fifteen years later, he says very little has changed.- READ MORE
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