His hand, much like his heart, is heavy. Gripping the side of the mahogany casket, he carries his friend into the cold, unforgiving streets. This is not the story of Jamiel Shaw Jr. This is the legacy of Los Angeles, Calif.
In a metropolis where hard rap and hype clutter the streets of the inner city, it's easy to get caught up in the bravado of gang life and hustler hijinks.
Los Angeles will not come to a standstill today. It has wept one too many times in the past week, month and year. There is no more room for remorse.
The pavement is soaked in cold blood and defeated hopes. Motionless, I wonder how I call this foreign terrain home.
This is death by percentages.
According to recently released data by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), as of the end of March, 93 people had been killed in Los Angeles -- a 35 percent increase from the same time last year.
This, the unrelenting reality of everyday life, has become chillingly routine for inner city residents. As the days, weeks and months elapse, the carnage grows worse than the previous year.
Of all the Latinos killed in Los Angeles thus far, 87 percent of the murders were by other Latinos. For blacks, 65 percent were murdered by other blacks.
But even in circumstances where a Latino is believed to have killed a black person or vice versa, the LAPD said that there is no evidence that points to race being the principal factor in the murder.
Despite the killings not being linked to racial strife, there is still a serious problem that cannot be ignored. Young people are dying, being forced to live in a world where wearing the wrong color outside or even looking someone in the eye merits death.
For 17-year-old Shaw, it was being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
He was gunned down on the sidewalk near his home after a gang member demanded to know if he belonged to a gang.
He probably didn't.
But neither do most young black and Latino kids his age. And still, they are too often faced with staring into the barrel of an unfamiliar gun and an unfamiliar face.
This is death by disgrace.
Similar cities suffer comparable fates. Philadelphia had the highest murder rate of any big city in the country in 2006, with 406 killings - more per capita than even New York City, which has six times the population.
New York City hit a record number for murders in 1990, with more than 2,000 deaths. While the murder rate has decreased heavily since then, nearly a 26 percent decrease since 2001, the "Big Apple" continues to endure almost 500 murders per year.
Sorrowfully, your streets are just as bloody as mine. And as more and more young people are being killed in inner cities, situations continue to get worse.
The cancer is spreading at a rapid rate. Soon there will only be room for self-hatred. For desolation. For death.
The graves are all but full.
