NEW ORLEANS — For years, Deacon Luigi Mandile has written the names of murder victims from all over Southeast Louisiana onto a memorial known as "The Murder Wall."
Since 2007, more than 2,000 names have been written on that memorial outside St. Anna's Episcopal Church in Treme.
"It's hard. It's real hard," Mandile said. "There are so many young people that have been killed. They could have been anything."
On Saturday, his work changed forever.
What was known as "The Murder Wall" is now "The Tree of Life" — a new sculpture memorializing the loved ones our community has lost to violence.
The current list goes all the way to the end of 2019, where you'll find Jace Scott's name.
Scott was killed on SUNO's campus while he was a student working the small business incubator.
It's something his mother will never forget. And now, neither will the community.
"Our kids are not forgotten. Our loved ones are not forgotten," Shonta Scott said. "All we have to do is think about them, and we hold them close in our heart."
She said she didn't know about the memorial until she saw someone post about it on Instagram. Seeing her son's name on the wall means a lot to her.
"I would never think anybody would do anything like this and have my son's name up there like that," she said. "I think this is beautiful."
It's about more than just honoring the dead. City and civic leaders came together at the memorial Saturday, promising to take action to stop the violence plaguing New Orleans.
"We have something to celebrate," Dr. Darryl Durham, founder of Anna's Place, said. "With the installation of this memorial comes hope that we the people will come together to offer up solutions which will bring peace to our community."
A promise to honor the memories of those we lost, by making our community a safer place to live.
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