Here’s what some young people spent Friday morning in New Haven doing: attending funerals, one hour and two blocks apart, for two more young men killed in the city’s recent spree of gun violence. Barbara Fair (pictured) and her children knew both boys; she had this to say.
The two men were killed hours apart in apparently retaliatory shootings after midnight earlier this week by the Church Street South housing complex.
The first funeral took place at 10 a.m. on Dwight Street. Family and friends gathered inside and outside the Curvin Council funeral home to mourn Carlos Ortiz, 23, known as Carlitos. A loved one cried over his body, laid out in an open casket. Then she collapsed, and was helped to a seat by two other women. To listen to the sound of grief, click here.
Many of the young people wore the T‑shirts emblazoned with a photo of the deceased, which have become the uniforms of the grieving teens and young adults who attend way too many funerals, even as their elders dress in black.
In this case the photo shows a handsome and mischievous-looking young man, with a gleam in his eye.
An hour later, the funeral of Aaron McCrea, 26, took place around the corner on Chapel Street at Immanuel Baptist Church. He left behind a fiancée, Quaneysha Poindexter, and an unborn daughter.
A member of the Poindexter family spoke movingly of how both families had been looking forward to gathering for a wedding, not a funeral.
Another woman sang a song about the joys of going to heaven. Click here to listen.
Police in squad cars and on horseback were stationed between the two sites. A minister from the pulpit elicited applause when he said that was an insult to the community.
Speaker after speaker urged the young people to trust God for justice, and not to take revenge themselves. Prison reform activist Barbara Fair was also angry at the police presence and called for the community to come together. click here to listen to her comments.