Alton Sterling's Memorial



Reflections by Eleanor Kimbro

 Before leaving on this trip, I was under the impression we were going to be walking through the past, touring long-gone pieces of history and learning about the mistakes and victories of those not around anymore. 

Seeing candles lit under a mural of Alton Sterling just a few feet away from a boy waiting for his dad to be done shopping was striking and it made me realize-we weren't just learning about historical events. We were suddenly in the middle of a community still piecing itself together after a recent tragedy. 

Early in the morning of July 5th last year, Alton Sterling was shot and killed outside the Triple S Food Mart by two police officers who claimed they feared Sterling would shoot them. That same night, demonstrators gathered and chanted "no justice, no peace." In the days following, loving neighbors left cards, stuffed animals, candles, and spray painted messages and pictures on the walls of the store. The community reacted quickly, and with compassion. 

It was extremely powerful to see all kinds of loving messages painted on the walls, and chilling to see a man setting up to sell CDs as the sun set just as Sterling had, but possibly my favorite moment from this whole trip thus far occurred as we began to pray together. A man walked over to our group and asked if he could join us. We welcomed him into our circle and showed him which parts of the prayer he would read. Afterwards, he told us he had known Sterling personally, and he was grateful we were visiting his memorial. Then, just as quickly as he had appeared, he was gone. 

It was a grounding moment, seeing how a neighborhood shaken by such an inhumane attack came together and created something that did not attempt to pull attention away from the killing, but instead honored Sterling and demonstrated the compassion the community felt towards him. The best way to combat this hatred is to react with love, and for communities to build themselves back up stronger than before.



Reflections by George White


On July 5, 2016, a young man named Alton Sterling was shot and killed by a police officer in the parking lot of the Triple S Food Mart in Baton Rouge. An anonymous caller reported that a man believed to be Sterling was threatening him with a hand gun while simultaneously selling DVDs. The community got together and made a mural and memorial in remembrance of this pointless tragedy. We visited the memorial and stood staring at the graffiti made for Alton. We then proceeded to gather in a circle next to the memorial to pray. As we were praying, a man joined us and the man knew Alton personally. He really appreciated what we’d gathered to do, and he joined us in prayer and reading Scripture. I thought that it was really cool that we could connect with a friend of Alton’s while we were visiting. 






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