The Memorial T-Shirts of Inner-City America

Example of a memorial T-shirt
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Some people might think that wearing a T-shirt to a funeral or memorial service would be disrespectful. However in many urban areas throughout the United States, memorial T-shirts are a popular way to pay tribute to loved ones who have died.

The memorial T-shirts usually have a pixelated photo of the person who has died. Or the picture could be an airbrushed drawing. Words such as “Rest in Peace,” “Gone Too Soon,” “In Loving Memory,” “The Good Die Young,” etc. can accompany the picture as well. Sometimes the sayings are written to resemble graffiti, essentially creating a memorial mural on the shirt.

Rest in Peace shirts started off as more of a novelty item when they debuted and became popular in late 1990s and into the early aughts. Now, memorial T-shirts have become ubiquitous in urban areas. They are usually made by local artists and sold or distributed in neighborhood markets and clothing stores. The profits made from the shirts are generally donated to memorial funds to help cover funeral expenses.

Groups will wear them to nightclub parties honoring the person who has died. Teens will wear memorial T-shirts to school, and numerous shirts can be used to create walls of remembrance. The shirts can be extremely colorful, have other images such as doves or crowns, and may have numerous photos of the person who died. Anything that represents the person who died can be included on a memorial T-shirt.

An Unclear History

The history of memorial T-shirts is a bit hazy. One story places their origin on the West Coast of the United States, particularly California. The trend may have been initiated by gangs as a way to memorialize fallen gang members. Another possible place of origin is New Orleans, growing from the famous jazz funeral processions.

Another story plants the roots even further in West Africa and the Caribbean. Mourners in these regions sometimes wear scarves or handkerchiefs adorned with the face of the person who has died.

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Memorial T-shirts were initially used to remember a young person who had died. Usually their cause of death would be accidental or as a result of violence. The shirts were worn almost exclusively by young black men in urban areas with high rates of gun violence.

“It’s a way to show sympathy, mourning and grief,” said clothing store owner and photographer Aswad Hayes of Oakland, California. He was one of the first to make R.I.P. shirts in the 1990s. He took countless photos of neighborhood friends growing up. Then as they all grew older, he found that many of them started dying from violence.

“It’s immortalizing them on a T-shirt,” he said. “It’s like, if you love him, why don’t you have a shirt?”

More Than Just a One-Time Memorial

Memorial T-shirts represent many things to the people who wear them. They are a way to put a face to the name, to showcase their loved one to strangers. The shirts represent a way to combat the aura of anonymity that tends to accompany urban violence. The shirts are a way to remember loved ones and also ensure that a friend or family member does not end up as just another statistic.

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The shirts also last for a long time. This allows the wearer to continually honor their loved one for years after they died.

“Urban youth experience an onslaught of death and loss in ways unparalleled to what people in more affluent parts of society experience,” psychologist Ronald Barrett told SF Gate in 2004. “R.I.P. [shirts] is a way of establishing significant linkings with the deceased, and the shirts give people something tangible they can hold onto.”

Memorial T-shirts are a home-grown method of remembrance for urban communities in America. They represent another way to honor loved ones who have died, particularly young victims of violence. And they are another thread that helps to connect us all through the messy world that is grief.