LA Matters

The Push for A Permanent Memorial for the Victims of The Grim Sleeper

3 March

Justice Didn’t Save Them. But a Memorial Can Make Sure They’re Not Forgotten

I know what it means to fight for Black lives when the world would rather look away. I know what it means to scream into the void, demanding justice for people this city would rather forget. I know because I did it. I did it when Black men were dying in West Hollywood in Ed Buck’s apartment, and the system shrugged. I did it when a young woman named Mitrice Richardson went missing after being released from a jail in Malibu. I did it when the media treated those deaths like footnotes, when law enforcement dragged their feet, when the city failed them at every turn. And now, I’m watching Reclaiming Our Sisters Everywhere South LA (ROSE SLA), a project of the Black Coalition Fighting Back Serial Murders, fighting that same fight for the Black women whose lives were stolen by the Grim Sleeper.

The Grim Sleeper was a serial killer who preyed on Black women in South Los Angeles for over two decades while law enforcement looked the other way. His real name was Lonnie Franklin Jr., but his reign of terror—murdering at least ten women (likely more) between 1985 and 2007—was met with silence, indifference, and outright neglect from the system that was supposed to protect them. Most of his victims were poor, vulnerable, and battling addiction, making them easy targets in a city that has never valued Black life the way it should. While he was finally convicted in 2016, the real crime is how long it took, how little the world cared, and how easily these women could have been saved if their lives had mattered to the powers that be. Franklin died while in prison in 2020.

The only reason the Grim Sleeper didn’t get away with it forever is because of Margaret Prescod, along with attorney Nana Gyamfi and others in the community who refused to let these women be forgotten. Black activists, families, and South LA residents fought relentlessly—calling out law enforcement’s negligence, demanding media attention, and forcing the system to act. Groups like the Black Coalition Fighting Back Serial Murders, founded by Margaret, made sure these victims’ names were spoken, their stories told, and their lives honored. Without that pressure, without that fight, justice wouldn’t have come at all.

I don’t have to tell you that the through line is clear. Different names, different locations, but the same story: Black victims, ignored. Black pain, dismissed. Black lives, erased. The women the Grim Sleeper killed were Black, poor, and largely forgotten by a system that never saw them as worthy of protection. The men who died in Ed Buck’s apartment? Black, vulnerable, and just as discarded. The patterns are the same. The indifference is the same. And the demand for justice? That has to be the same, too.

Renowned artist Michael Massenburg shows off hs concept for the public memorial.

Fun fact. Attorney Nana Gyamfi (right) worked with both Margaret Prescod (center) on the Black Coalition Fighting Back Serial Murders and with me (left) on Justice for Gemmel Moore and All of Ed Buck’s Victims?

A candle covered with the faces of the Grim Sleeper’s victims.

That’s why the push for a permanent memorial for the Grim Sleeper’s victims in South Los Angeles isn’t just necessary—it’s non-negotiable. Because when Black people are murdered, the world moves on like nothing happened. No statues. No plaques. No public outcry that lasts longer than a news cycle. But these women existed. They lived. They mattered. And their stories shouldn’t just disappear because the city is uncomfortable with what they represent.

Public memorials aren’t just about grief. They’re about accountability. They’re about making sure history doesn’t sanitize its sins. They’re about forcing this city—this country—to look at the harm it allows to happen, the violence it ignores, the lives it chooses not to value. A memorial for these women means they can’t be erased. It means their families, their community, and anyone who sets foot in South LA will be reminded that they were here, that they were loved, and that they deserved so much more.

As far as I’m concerned, South LA needs two public memorials for the Grim Sleeper’s victims—one in the community where these women lived and were stolen from, and another smack in front of LAPD headquarters. Because the Grim Sleeper didn’t act alone. He had an entire system backing him up—one that ignored missing Black women, dismissed grieving families, and let a serial killer roam free for decades. Remember, no human involved–NIH? The phrase, used by the LAPD to classify cases involving marginalized victims—particularly Black women, sex workers, and those living in poverty. A memorial in South LA honors these women. A memorial in front of LAPD forces the department to sit with its own failure—every single day. They looked the other way when these women were alive–don’t let them look away now.

I know what it’s like to demand justice when no one wants to listen. I know what it’s like to make the world pay attention to Black death when it would rather pretend nothing happened. ROSE SLA is in that fight now, and they deserve our full support. Because when we remember these women, when we say their names, when we refuse to let the world forget, we do more than honor them—we make it harder for the next tragedy to be ignored. And that? That’s how we make sure history doesn’t keep repeating itself.

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As far as I'm concerned, South LA needs two public memorials for the Grim Sleeper’s victims—one in the community where these women lived and were stolen from, and another smack in front of LAPD headquarters.

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