Lyoya’s story hits close to home to me for many reasons. When I first moved to the United States and settled in Grand Rapids, Mich., the city seemed mundane, conservative, and plain. I quickly became a part of a sparse but growing community of African immigrants who had come to the U.S to find a better life, so seeing Grand Rapids all over the news has been jarring. The most poignant part of following this tragic story has been seeing the searing pain in Dorcas Lyoya’s eyes from one publication to the next. As a Black immigrant mother, watching Dorcas’s face break out in tears as she mourns the loss of her son is gut-wrenching. In an article for The Hill, Dorcas says that she was “surprised and astonished” that her son was killed in America after they fled the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo for a chance at a safer life in the United States. The irony of the tragedy is unfathomable.

Dorcas lyoya