© 2025 Connecticut Public

FCC Public Inspection Files:
WEDH · WEDN · WEDW · WEDY
WEDW-FM · WNPR · WPKT · WRLI-FM
Public Files Contact · ATSC 3.0 FAQ
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Detroit Memorial Honors The City's Victims Of The Pandemic

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

One of the most excruciating parts of the pandemic is that people often die alone. Loved ones have no chance to say goodbye. Often they can't even attend a funeral. Now the city of Detroit is holding a memorial for those lost. It's on an island in the Detroit River, which is also a state park. Laura Herberg reports from our member station WDET.

(SOUNDBITE OF STREET AMBIENCE)

LAURA HERBERG, BYLINE: A white hearse leads a funeral procession of cars across a bridge to Belle Isle Park. The daylong procession includes hundreds of cars and 15 empty hearses symbolizing the 1,500 Detroiters who've already died from COVID-19. As the vehicles cruise down the roadways of the island, they pass - one after another - poster-sized pictures of the deceased, nearly 1,000 portraits in all. Nykisha Mays is slowing down her car so that her kids can take a look.

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: Mommy, all these people have coronavirus?

NYKISHA MAYS: Yeah, all these people had coronavirus, baby.

HERBERG: Mays says she's known people who died from the virus, but her family didn't come here for anyone in particular; rather, they're here for everyone.

MAYS: And we're trying to get through without crying. I don't know. We're trying to get through without crying. It's sad.

HERBERG: Rochelle Riley is the city's director of arts and culture and the lead organizer for this event. She hopes the unique memorial will help people to understand not just the lives that have been lost but the scale of the losses.

ROCHELLE RILEY: I think that some people are having a hard time seeing this because, unlike the Vietnam War where there were flag-draped coffins coming off of planes every day, they're not seeing it happen. People are dying alone in hospitals or in their homes, and they're just gone. They're just going away.

HERBERG: Detroit was an early hot spot in the pandemic and one of the first places to show the virus' disproportionate impact on people of color. The city is more than 80% African American, and nearly every person commemorated is Black. As seagulls fly overhead, Hope Cannady stands in front of a portrait of her mother, Marguerite (ph) Hemphill, who in the photo is wearing bright red lipstick and a blue dress with sparkles.

HOPE CANNADY: This is the closest that I'll ever get to a viewing because we had to have her cremated because of this. So this is all I got.

HERBERG: Ozie Pye IV owns a funeral home in Detroit. He says a citywide commemoration like this could help residents process the losses.

OZIE PYE: And I think that the whole city will kind of just breathe a sigh of relief, you know? And that is something that's really important that we all need to do because we've been through a lot in 2020.

HERBERG: Pye says death has a way of bringing people together, and it certainly is doing so here. So many people already tried to visit this memorial on Sunday that the 1-1/2-square-mile island hit maximum capacity. The commemoration continues through tomorrow.

For NPR News, I'm Laura Herberg in Detroit.

(SOUNDBITE OF TIGRAN HAMASYAN'S "LILAC") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

Laura Herberg

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT is an initiative from Connecticut Public, the state’s local NPR and PBS station, to elevate Latino stories and expand programming that uplifts and informs our Latino communities. Visit CTPublic.org/latino for more stories and resources. For updates, sign up for the SOMOS CONNECTICUT newsletter at ctpublic.org/newsletters.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.