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RIP shirts are t-shirts with the name and photos of a deceased person, often from violent crimes, and are commonly associated with high crime urban areas. They are a way of expressing grief and reminding others of the loss, but can also be associated with gang affiliation in some areas. The hope is to honor and remember the person who died.
A RIP shirt, lettered from the standard “Rest In Peace” acronym, is a shirt with the name, and perhaps photos, of a person who has died, often from violent crimes. The RIP shirt trend began in the 1990s, and is commonly associated with high crime urban areas. Usually it is close friends or family members who order a RIP shirt for a lost loved one and wear it to remember that person.
Like wearing mourning clothes, wearing the RIP shirt is a way of expressing grief and reminding others that one is in the midst of grief. Most are plain t-shirts, and the designs are screen printed by t-shirt screeners. Your shirt order can be large or small, depending on the popularity of the victim and the number of people who want to honor the deceased.
In one sense, the RIP shirts are a youthful, individualized message of remembrance and mourning, but in another, they are a deeply sad comment on people who live in areas where violent crime is common. Urban areas with high homicide rates try with every death to remind others that these deaths are not simply statistics, but the death of a person. Some silk examiners in high crime areas comment that the RIP shirt seems to be their most popular request. Most make no money creating these, charging only for the materials.
In high crime areas there is an inevitable association between the RIP shirt and gang affiliation. Some members of the police are concerned that RIP shirts for victims of gang violence could promote it by reminding people of deaths in their own gangs. Also, the “fame” of being in a RIP shirt might seem like a noble death for a young man deeply immersed in gang life.
It would be a mistake to assume that the RIP T-shirt exclusively commemorates victims of gang violence. In areas with high murder rates, only some of the murders are gang related, while others may have nothing to do with gangs. People can wear RIP shirts for parents just as easily as parents wear them for children. The hope of family and friends when wearing a RIP shirt is that a person’s existence is honored and not forgotten. It is a way of holding on to the dead and affirming that those who died were loved and important.
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