A Family, one of many, wounded again and again

The Rush Gallery hosted the second exhibition of Souls Shot: Portraits of Victims of Gun Violence last year. A girl studying the interactive portrait of Zakiyy Alford got to know him through a variety of images on the piece. Zakiyy, or ZiyZiy Man as his grandmother Sonya Dixon called him, and his brother Chip had a joyful young life. He and his brother, pictured below as boys and as young men, were well loved in their communities and were a joy to Sonya, their MeeMee. Both of these young men are now missing from their communities due to gun violence. They left behind children, parents, nieces, nephews, grandparents, aunts and uncles. They represent many more families suffering the same ripples of grief again and again and again. A woman recently contacted us who lost her husband to gun violence and weeks later her only son, who had vowed to help his mother stay strong, was also gunned down.

These lives were treasured. These tragedies must be stopped. Please visit our resources page on this site for how and where you can take action to end this epidemic.