Their Son Was Killed at Parkland. They've Grieved in Isolation

Valentine's Day marked six years of unbearable grief for the families of the 14 students and three staff members killed in the shooting massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Peter Wang was one of the murdered students, and in a lengthy piece for the New York Times, Amy Qin looks at the different shape his parents' grief has been forced to take. Linda Zhang and her husband, Kong Feng Wang, do not speak English fluently; "Peter was always my translator," Zhang says. That's left them isolated from the rest of the Parkland families and at an arm's length from some of the experiences—from group memorials to meeting with lawmakers about tougher gun control laws to easily following court proceedings—that have been an avenue for other families to channel their grief.

Qin also sets their experience against the backdrop of Chinese culture: Therapy is "still widely stigmatized" among the Chinese, so they've declined to seek any. Further, "the loss of a child is seen not only as a great calamity for a family, but as a potential sign of more misfortune to come. Out of superstition as well as grief, some choose to steer away from the tragedy rather than confront it head-on." After Peter's death, Zhang's mother-in-law went through the family home and removed the photos of Peter, for instance. "In the stairway, some collage frames that once displayed photos of Peter remain empty," Qin writes. She captures a portrait of a family whose once-festive home has gone silent, who tried but didn't succeed in setting up a foundation for their son, and who have lost their ties to most of the other victims' parents. (Read the full story here.)