Shrine to opioid victim | 5700 block Columbia Pike, Bailey's Crossroads VA

I encountered this memorial to a teenager who died of an opioid overdose in the parking lot of the Aldi supermarket parking lot in Baileys' Crossroads, Virginia.

May this young man rest in peace, and his family be spared further grief.

From a post on FairfaxNow: "Two 16-year-old boys overdosed on Sunday (June 25, 2023) — one of them fatally — in a car parked outside Aldi (5725 Columbia Pike) in Bailey’s Crossroads, the Fairfax County Police Department reported yesterday. Officers were dispatched to the grocery store’s parking lot at 7:21 p.m. after receiving a call for two individuals found unconscious in a vehicle “with foam coming out their mouths,” according to a dispatcher.“[The] caller did bang on the window. However, they are not responding,” the dispatcher said.

Emergency medical services personnel with the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department were dispatched to the scene around 7:23 p.m. First responders began administering CPR and Narcan, a nasal spray that can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. Responders were able to detect a pulse from one of the juveniles after two doses of Narcan, an officer told the dispatcher at 7:28 p.m.

Both juveniles were taken to local hospitals in conditions considered life-threatening. One person later died at the hospital, while the other “remains hospitalized in critical condition,” the FCPD says. Preliminarily, police believe the overdoses are related to opioids,... Fairfax County has seen a surge in opioid overdoses since 2019, particularly among youth and often involving the drug fentanyl."

Shrines photo in Academy Art Museum Exhibition

I have a photograph of one of my DC shrines in an exhibition, New Photography II, at the Academy Art Museum in Easton, Maryland. The exhibition was curated by Phillip Brookman.

Quarantine Diary 20 | Black Lives Matter Protests, Washington DC

I again photographed at the mass demonstrations in Washington DC near the White House. DC's Mayor Muriel Bowser has named the section of 16th Street NW that intersects the park "Black Lives Matter Plaza," had signage installed, and directed that a huge street mural reading "Black Lives Matter" be painted.

There were many thousands of people peacefully  but vigorously protesting police brutality against black citizens and the oppressive policies of the Trump administration.

St. John's Church, which is on the plaza, had been used for a controversial photo-op by the president a few days prior, after demonstrators were forcible forced from the area by police wielding flash grenades, firing rubber bullets, and subjecting them to gaseous chemical agents.

Members of the Episcopal Church's clergy were present at the demonstration, protesting the use of the church for this purpose. Several of them were at the church, praying and witnessing during the protest.

There was a conspicuous military presence in the streets surrounding the White House.

Thanks to my friend and colleague Ed Rehfeld, for his help.