Life is a blessing and murder is its denial, a tragedy for victims, their families, their friends, and to the community we live in.

The memorial project's goal was to remember, to grieve for, and to memorialize the homicide victim's of Oakland for the year 2003. While newspaper reports facts and statistics, we wanted to hold onto the thought of these people as human beings and the sadness of their passing.

The project started with 113 empty picture frames, which was the number of homicide victims in Oakland in the year 2002. As the year progressed the frames slowly filled with the names of the victims. The ongoing nature of the project was meant to constantly remind people of the seriousness of this problem and not let it slip out of sight.

The project was first at the California State University Art Gallery and for the reminder of 2003, in two locations, Laney College and the Cal State Hayward University Library, and included the support of the Oakland Police and Clergy committee.

Oakland City Hall, second floor rotunda, November 2004

This list of names is not meant to trivialize these individuals, by including so little about them. Each one of them was a unique person,with family, friends, hopes and dreams.

1. Isom Rodgers, age 22, January 5

2. Sunny Thach, age 31, January 7

3. and 4. Ray Robinson, age 64,
        Victoria Robinson, age 60, January 7

5. Marisa Zaras, age 31, January 12

6. Darrell Jones, age 43, January 29

7. Anthony Wadsworth, age 32, Febuary 2

8. Gregory Frank, age 34, Febuary 7

9. Carlos Jimenez, age 31, Febuary 7

10. Alfred Louis Brown, age 73, Febuary 7

11. and 12. Daniel Martinez, age 22
       Maciel-Galeana, age 47, Febuary 18

14. Ernesto Ortega, age 21, Febuary 21

15. Rachine Green, age 25, Febuary 21

16. Carolyn Ann Newton, age 65, Feb 25

17. Darrel Johnson, age 20, Febuary 26

18. Marco Segundo, age 13, Febuary 26

19. Carl Anthony Lee, age 26, March 4

20. Stacey Alexander, age 32, March 4

21. Brian Anderson, age 25, March 9

22. Albert Raines, age 28, March 10

23. Darry Baines, age 38, March 13

24. Jose Cruz, age 33, March 16

25. Dahyoh Thomas, age 22, March 16

26. Glynn Coleman, age 30,March 17

27. Timothy Jones, age 20, March 27

28. Sterling Burroughs, age 24, March 29

29. Shamar Gray, age 26, March 29

30. Demita Rice, age 33, March 31

31. Tonia Penn, age 38, April 2

32. Laron Mercado, age 19, March 25

33. Mack Carlis, age 56, April 5

34. Angela Williams, age 35, April 8

35. Tyrone Coffey, age 28, April 8

36. Shreika Lawson, age 26, April 10

37. Jamal Christy, age 28, April 21

38. Velez Bell, age 19, May 2

39. Isaac Joseph, age 23, May 7

40. William Scott, age 22, May 12

41. Murle Westmoreland, age 41, May 18

42. Reginald Jr. Wyatt, age 1, May 18

43. Rafael Diaz, age 20, May 21

44. Elena Romero, age 50, May 21

45. Aaron Crawford, age 19, May 23

46. Harold Brinkley, age 36, May 23

47. Kenneth Facon, age 45, May 27

48. Devarian Gordon, age 25, June 7

49. Mario Gaston, age 35, June 12

50. Olutokombo Oluwole, age 22, June 14

51. Rogecio Jacson, age 45, June 15

52. Matthew Watson, age 19, June 17

53. Chris Huie, age 31, June 24

54. Theodore Wafer, age 46, June 27

55. Amin Smith, age 30, June 29

56. Clayton Jr. Pierre, age 22, July 5

57. and 58. Gloria Solano, age 27,
          Francisco Lopez, age 43, July 7

59. Robert Perry, age 19, July 8

60. Lavance Cooper, age 26, July 11

61. Jonathan Bartlow, age 26, July 19

62. Eric Johnson, age 26, July 19

63. and 64. Ricardo Diaz, age 25,
                    Juan Carreno, age 22, July 20

65. Albert Wallace, age 64, June 5

66. Marcellus Ashley, age unknown,July 23

67. Daniel Bates, age 31, July 29

68. Gary Dooley, age 55, August 2

69. James Jarrett, age 43, August 7

70. Michael Van Buren, age 37, August 14

71. Daryle Anderson, age 23, August 15

72. Stacey Tidwell, age 26, August 15

73. Marcus Ringo, age 40, August 22

74. Pal Bajwa, age 27, August 23

75. Bridgett Townsend-Thomas, age 42,
      August 24

76. Wayne Campbell, age 18, August 25

77. Victor Agullar, age 27, August 25

78. Wardell Young, age 48, March 12

79. Tho V Tu, age 26, August 27

80. Lawrence Denton, age 52, August 18

81. Marco Bautista, age 27, August 30

82. Sheila Washington, age 48, August 30

83. James Knox, age 26, September 1

84. Marvin Brooks, age 31, Seeptember 1

85. Thomas Anderson III, age 17, September 2

86. Michael Thompson, age 22, Sept 2

87. Maurice Holcomb, age 35, September 5

88. Marcus Talley, age 19, September 6

89. Song Hak, age 48, September 10

90. Rogelio Higareda, age 25, September 10

91. Darryl Davis, age 25, September 13

92. Nathaniel Holt,age 27, September 14

93. Chararus Hill Jr, age 3, September 20

94. Jose Roberto, age 24, September 26

95. Jose Ochoa, age 17, September 25

96. Leon Reese, age 35, October 1

97. Marques Scott, age 20, October 4

98. Alphonso Carbajal, age 29, October 20

99. Steven Wilder, age 61, September 30

100. Lovell Robinson, age 24, October 22

101. Valerie Estrada, age 45, October 23

102. Alicia Moris, age 33, November 2

103. Stanley Traylor, age 38, November 6

104. Saul Ramos, age unknown, Nov 9

105. John Jose Mestrre, age 31, Nov 28

106. John Doe, age unknown, December 1

107. Perla Hilarrios, age 16, December 2

108. Yemereu Kassaye, age 37, Dec 15

109. Jamela Brown, age 2, December 19

110. Derrick Swan, age 35, December 25

111. Bruno Bastos, age 21, December 30

112. James Jackson, age 18, December 30