Artists Unveil Mural of Trinity Gay, Hope it Sends Message to Lexington Teens

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ)-The death of 14-year-old Angel Juarez in a Thanksgiving shooting marks the second time in just a week a teenager has died from gun violence in Lexington. Both deaths come after one that served as a call to action for many in the Lexington community, the death of 15-year-old Trinity Gay in October.

Friday, artists officially unveiled the mural they have been working on to honor Gay. Gay’s family and the artists have a clear message, “pass the baton”.

It was just a month ago that Olympian Tyson Gay pleaded with his community to end gun violence at the vigil for his daughter. Trinity wanted to be a track Olympian, just like her dad so the phrase “pass the baton”  is a play on words the artists and Gay’s family are using to ignite change in the community.

They are challenging people to take up Trinity’s work, to take that baton, to save other young people from having their dreams cut short.

“Everybody just listen. Take this in. I’m just trying to give a good message to everybody. It’s about trinity. Let’s go,” Lexington rapper River Greene said before performing the rap he wrote in honor of Trinity.

We have to change. That was the central theme of the mural unveiling. The attendees say they are not sure why, but more kids are shooting and killing each other in Lexington and it has to stop.

“Hands up. Guns down. I love my brothers and sisters,” Greene raps.

His song set the tone at the home of the Lexington Legends as graffiti artists Dani Greene and Raymond Mueller unveiled the mural they hope will speak to teens. It is a 40 foot portrait of Trinity Gay next to the words “pass the baton”.

“It’s a movement. It means that trinity is passing the baton to other victims to be memorialized,” Dani Greene said.

“No words to describe how I feel. It’s just amazing,” Shoshana Boyd, tearfully, said to the crowd.

For the first time since her daughter’s death, Boyd spoke to the community. Nothing is more clear than her plea.

“I  hope everybody just understands that this just has to stop. Her life was taken away. She had so many dreams so many goals and she doesn’t get to continue them,” Boyd said through tears.

The  two young men shot and killed this week also do not get to try to achieve their dreams. It is a list of names the people at the unveiling hope will not grow with a Lexington legend at Legends Park to serve as a reminder of the work to be done.

“Hands up. Guns down. No more R.I.P pictures,” Greene rapped.

Dani greene says her Trinity Gay mural is the first, but not the last. She wants to plaster the whole city with similar murals of others who have died from violence, including a childhood friend.  Greene says she was just about to graduate eighth grade when her friend was murdered. As for her next project, Greene says she wants to do a mural of Mariyah Coleman. She says she hopes to get the community involved in Winburn where Coleman and her unborn son were shot.