Shamari Jackson is a mortician for a Black-owned funeral home in St. Louis County, Baucom’s Life Celebration and Cremation Services. She came to the job after gun violence took her boyfriend’s life, and in her work, she has cared for the bodies of friends and classmates, as well as strangers. Among the people she’s worked with are three of the young men from The Marshall Project’s “ Remember Me” series: Mario Fox , Tyrin Williams and Courtney Williams .

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My job is what I would term a “last responder”: When you think of a first responder, they work holidays, birthdays — when their job calls, they have to go, and that’s how it is on our side, too. We are technically first responders, we’re just the final call. As a licensed funeral director and embalmer,

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