MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (FOX 9) – In a library in Minneapolis on Sunday, LaTanya Black fastidiously organized objects that reminded her of her daughter, Nia, and put them in a white wood field.

There was a photograph of Nia smiling and carrying a blue baseball cap, her skilled enterprise card — Nia was a widely known make-up artist — and a stone from her remaining resting place.

Nia Black, who glided by the nickname “Brooklyn,” died at age 23 in June 2020 after she was shot following a combat exterior a nightclub in St. Paul. A 36-year-old man was arrested, and in August of final 12 months, he was sentenced to seven years in jail after pleading responsible to first-degree manslaughter. 

However her mom has not discovered closure. 

“Two years does not make it any higher,” she mentioned.

As gun violence charges have elevated within the state in recent times, there are increasingly more moms like LaTanya Black in Minnesota. In keeping with the nonprofit Everytown for Gun Security, the speed of gun deaths in Minnesota elevated 23% from 2011 to 2020. Because the nonprofit notes on their web site, meaning in 2020, there have been 117 extra gun deaths in Minnesota than in 2011. 

Nationally, the rise in gun violence deaths has been even steeper, with a 33% climb in the identical time interval, in keeping with the statistics maintained by Everytown.

 Within the library in Minneapolis, volunteers collected objects from different relations who misplaced family members to gun violence and thoroughly organized them into baggage that will probably be shipped to Washington, D.C, to be a part of the Gun Violence Memorial Mission, an exhibit on the Nationwide Constructing Museum. 

The memorial consists of 4 reproduction homes constructed with 700 glass bricks, referencing the variety of individuals killed by gun violence within the U.S. each week. Over time, every brick within the memorial will show private objects despatched by households of gun violence victims like Nia Black, reflecting the human price behind the rising demise toll from gun violence within the U.S. 

Everytown, which advocates for stronger gun management legal guidelines, organized the challenge. “It helps actually put the give attention to the truth that they don’t seem to be numbers, they don’t seem to be statistics, these are individuals,” Everytown challenge supervisor Tina Meins Meins advised Fox 9. “They lived lives. That they had passions. That they had desires.”

LaTanya Black, who based the nonprofit Moms In opposition to Group Gun Violence (MACGV) after Nia’s demise, nonetheless struggles to come back to phrases together with her daughter’s demise.

“With the whole lot I do for her, it by no means feels actual,” she mentioned.

“You by no means recover from it,” LaTanya continued. “You simply attempt to handle day-after-day … You return to what regular is meant to be, however you do not even keep in mind what regular is … You are by no means the identical. You, the siblings, the daddy – you are by no means the identical.”

Now, Nia Black and different Minnesotans will probably be amongst lots of of individuals honored on the memorial in D.C. by way of Might 2023.

LaTanya Black holds a field of things representing her daughter, Nia Black.  (FOX 9)