The graceful arch of the Throgs Neck bridge and the silvery skyline of Manhattan loom in silence across the water. The only sounds are the crunch of gravel underfoot and the cry of birds nesting in the tall grasses.
Related Coverage
Street Homeless Numbers Jump 03.25.10
Fewer Services For The Homeless 03.08.10
News Topics
Justice
Housing and Development
Author
Eileen Markey
About | RSS
The group – McNair, Rogers, a seminary student and this observer – gathers at a wooden gazebo beside a monument commemorating the dead and Rogers speaks. "We are always looking for a goodbye. We recognize that in God's name these are our brothers and sisters. That's what calls us to be here," he said. "There is an uneasy peace to this place. It's not an easy life or an easy death that brought them here."
After a few moments of silent reflection the group returns to the ferry dock. They haven't walked among the rows of marble posts marking the communal burial plots that occupy the center third of the island. On this day, Thompson said, there is too much debris from a recent storm to venture through the fields. Still, they pay their respects to some of the city's most marginalized citizens.
Once back on City Island the group talks about future goals. "I'd like corrections to start allowing church groups to come and mourn and grieve," said Rogers.
He would like to see chaplains or other clergy present when people are buried. A DOC spokesman said the department tries to work with family members who want to visit loved ones and religious or other groups who want to honor those who rest in the island's uneasy peace.
"The ideal would be to see the island become less of a prison for the dead," Rogers said.
