Church plants 136 crosses, each with the name of a KC homicide victim — and one more to go

There are 136 white crosses standing in rows outside a small church in Kansas City’s Northeast area and the pastor knows that at least one more must be pounded into the ground.

Each one bears the name of a homicide victim killed this year in Kansas City. Each recognizes and pays tribute to a life taken prematurely by violence.

There have been 137 homicides in the city this year, so one more cross is needed.

“We just didn’t have that name,” said Pastor Peter Judd before Sunday morning services.

Members of the Norton Heights Community of Christ church erected the crosses Saturday for a prayer vigil. The church is at the corner of Thompson and Norton avenues, just one block north of Independence Avenue.

“We are in an area of town where there’s a lot of violence and difficulty and people who really struggle in their lives,” Judd said. At least five of the city’s homicides have occurred within a mile of the church.

None of this year’s homicide victims were members of the church, but one man, Harlan Dunbar, had attended a few times. He was killed in late October, about two blocks north of the church.

The idea for the crosses came to church member Leon Berg after he heard that Kansas City was experiencing one of its most violent years when it came to homicides.

He was pondering what could be done when he envisioned white crosses covering the church’s lawn and he heard the phrase, “Just remember them.”

He brought up the idea during the church’s annual congregational business meeting and other church members caught the spirit.

Within days, they were sawing wood and building crosses.

“I like to say we planted the crosses into the ground with the representation that this is our neighborhood, this is our city, we’re part of it and we won’t let violence overtake us,” Berg said.

In other years, area residents and churches have used white crosses to visualize the toll taken by society’s ills. Last year, Leawood Baptist Church planted 188 wooden crosses to mark the homicide victims that year in Johnson, Wyandotte and Jackson counties.

A 1997 HBO documentary, “27th and Prospect: One Year in the Fight Against Drugs,” featured a lot where residents built a symbolic cemetery of white crosses.

Gathering the names and building the crosses was a labor intensive effort by members of the small church, who chose to build the crosses themselves. Judd typed the names of each victim into his computer.

Church members used a sledgehammer to drive the crosses into the earth. While they didn’t personally know each victim, they knew each life was valued by the victim’s loved ones.

And with each blow of the hammer, they could feel the loss and sadness from the tragedy and how important that person was, Judd said.

“It’s important to remind ourselves as a church and also as people in the community that unfortunately too many times people have used violence and taking of another life to settle their differences,” Judd said. “We as a church hope that there is a better way.”

And with a few weeks remaining in the year, there likely will be more homicides. The church plans to erect crosses with those victims’ names as well.

This story was originally published December 10, 2017 at 3:36 PM with the headline "Church plants 136 crosses, each with the name of a KC homicide victim — and one more to go."