On the corner of 300 West and 800 South, the walls of the abandoned buildings of Salt Lake City’s fleet storage facilities, also known as Fleet Block, are lined with over 20 murals depicting victims of police brutality. The faces, painted in pink and red, sit above planter boxes. Some planters are filled with.
Across the U.S., artists paint murals to memorialize victims of police violence. For some, they serve as public gravesites, spaces of remembrance and community. For others, they are difficult reminders of loss.
When Freddie and Karina Palacios arrived at their brother’s grave, they swept away old flowers and placed fresh roses and daisies. Then, they looked at the things others left behind.
They’ve found skateboards. Bags of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. Soccer and golf balls. A rubber toy snake, similar to his pet python that still lives in a tank in Bernardo Palacios-Carbajal’s room at his mom’s house. When the family gets to the gravesite, others are often there paying respects.
But on this Wednesday night, it was just them.
It had already been a long day, with multiple interviews about what happened in the year since their brother, Bernardo Palacios-Carbajal, was killed by Salt Lake City police, a shooting prosecutors later ruled legally justified.
KSL TV
6PM: Downtown rally after Chauvin verdict
KSL TV
KSL TV
SALT LAKE CITY The chants and signs were the same, but a sense of renewed hope appeared to replace anger at a protest Tuesday evening in Salt Lake City soon after a jury convicted former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin of murder in the death of George Floyd. It knocks the wind out of you. I ve never seen justice before today, and that was a long road to see it, said Lex Scott, founder of the Black Lives Matter Utah Chapter as a rally formed at the Salt Lake City Department of Public Safety.