Hand On My Back

The culture stood vigil last night.

In couldn’t go. Masking and distancing is still to fraught with danger for me. If I caught the virus my body couldn’t produce enough red platelets to fight it. So, I found this portrait, which I made out of another picture and thought that I’d share it and some information about Big Queen Kim’s murder.

I think I mentioned that she was shot as she left a repast for a funeral. She was wearing a memorial t-shirt for the man who had also been killed near I-10 in New Orleans East. The drive by shooters weren’t targeting her or her companion. They just shot at anybody they thought was part of the funeral party. It was a revenge killing.

At least that’s what the NOPD think at this point.

This scares the hell out of me. Revenge leads to revenge. While I have a lot of respect for Black Masking Indians, I know that there are some pretty heavy hitters among the tribes or gangs. I know that there are a lot of Bouttes who are awfully upset at the murder of their family member. Neither will take this lightly.

I hope that cooler heads will prevail, but in this hot summer during the age of CoVid-19 when violent crimes are trending upward anything can happen.

Have a good thought for all of us. We don’t need more violence. We could all use a little peace about now.

The Picture

This is another photograph that I made at the Louis Armstrong Festival in Treme. It took some cropping to make the picture be what I wanted, which was to show her smile, but it worked. Her smile is how I knew her. Her smile is how most of us knew her.

Rest in Heaven Big Queen Kim Boutte.

Stay safe. Wear your masks and keep your distance. Enjoy every smile.