Brothers in Grief

With a starting position on the varsity football team and college acceptances already on the table, JahSun was just beginning to shine at Boys’ Prep. Several months later, an altercation at his older sister’s home ended in tragedy when JahSun was shot and killed. Over the next few months, two more of his classmates would be killed by gun violence, sending a torrent of grief through this community. Unfortunately, this is not an isolated example — every year, many people in the United States, with Black boys being disproportionately affected, die by gun violence. Brothers in Grief (University of Chicago Press) explores the often forgotten victims of gun violence: friends and classmates who must cope with this long-lasting grief. Gross, a sociologist, brings these students’ stories to life, demonstrating how the school did not provide appropriate resources and space for proper grief and coping, prolonging healing and the ability to imagine a better, brighter future for all. A raw and heartbreaking account on Black boyhood and the youth ultimately left behind, Gross invites readers to come to terms with the American epidemic of gun violence.