{"id":2386,"date":"2023-05-21T13:38:01","date_gmt":"2023-05-21T13:38:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pj.rit.edu\/capstone\/?p=2386"},"modified":"2026-05-26T01:25:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T01:25:07","slug":"absence-presence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pj.rit.edu\/capstone\/2023\/05\/21\/absence-presence\/","title":{"rendered":"Absence & Presence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Absence & Presence<\/h1>\n\n\n
Vincent Alban<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n
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Launch Web Project<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Raising my kids in this environment is sickening,\u201d says Jasmin Vega, a mother of three children, rereferring to the high rates of gun violence in her native Rochester, N.Y.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2021, Rochester made national headlines as it surpassed Chicago for its per capita homicide rate, and while many Americans may attribute the spike in gun violence to the pandemic, bail reform, and a sense of lawlessness in urban centers, it is important to note that racial segregation plaguing neighborhoods for decades plays a critical role in the rise of community gun violence across the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This strain of trauma brought on by gun violence within Rochester is largely not shared by its suburbs. It has been manufactured by a long history of racial, social, and economic differences, creating a stark contrast between communities that are just miles apart. \u201cRochester is just like any other city with the same demographics as us,\u201d says Devon Reynolds, a longtime resident of the city. \u201cThis is all by plan, nothing is by chance. It is all systematic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAbsence and Presence\u201d connects the rise of gun violence in Rochester to the city\u2019s history of segregation, while showing the community trying to make a change.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Jasmin and her daughter, Za\u2019Ryah Hernandez-Ruffin, 11, visit the gravesite of Za’Ryah’s father at Riverside Cemetery in Rochester, N.Y., on Oct. 23, 2022. Deavoghn Hernandez-Ruffin was shot and killed on June 18, 2012,6 when Za\u2019Ryah was only eight months old. The pair visited Deavoghn\u2019s grave to mark Za\u2019Ryah\u2019s 11th birthday.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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In 2021, Rochester made national headlines as it surpassed Chicago for its per capita homicide rate, and while many Americans may attribute the spike in gun violence to the pandemic, bail reform, and a sense of lawlessness in urban centers, it is important to note that racial segregation plaguing neighborhoods for decades plays a critical role in the rise of community gun violence across the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2168,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[328,339,340],"tags":[323,324,327,325,26,326,322],"class_list":["post-2386","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-328","category-storyessay","category-website","tag-gun-violence","tag-poverty","tag-race","tag-red-lining","tag-rochester","tag-segregation","tag-vincent-alban"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pj.rit.edu\/capstone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pj.rit.edu\/capstone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pj.rit.edu\/capstone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pj.rit.edu\/capstone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pj.rit.edu\/capstone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2386"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/pj.rit.edu\/capstone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2386\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2458,"href":"https:\/\/pj.rit.edu\/capstone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2386\/revisions\/2458"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pj.rit.edu\/capstone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pj.rit.edu\/capstone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pj.rit.edu\/capstone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pj.rit.edu\/capstone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}