By Jazmine Steele
The Michgan Citizen

For years as a music industry executive, Shanti Das’ mission was to shape the careers of popular artists such as TLC, OutKast, Usher and Busta Rhymes. Less than six months ago, a CNN headline read: “Detroit’s Dead: Too broke to bury their dead.” It sparked another mission for her life.

Shanti Das

“I knew the city was going through a lot of financial hardships,” Das said. “I thought ‘Wow this city was once thriving and so vibrant and contributed so much to the music industry.’”

Inspired by Berry Gordy and Detroit’s Motown era, she felt compelled to help address this issue.

Das wasted no time in crafting an email to send to about 300-400 friends and family members to garner support to help Detroit bury the unclaimed dead bodies accumulating at the Wayne County Medical Examiner’s office. In the beginning she worked off impulse, completely unaware of how things would turn out.

“Death is a taboo subject and not a lot of people like to deal with the subject, so I wasn’t quite sure how people were going to react,” she said. “I was pleasantly surprised.”

Das’ influence helped bury 26 people since the formation of her nonprofit, May We Rest In Peace. She created the organization in October 2009 and has raised an additional $22,000 since its inception.

When the story broke the Wayne County Medical Examiner had nearly 70 bodies stacked in their freezers, about two times more than their yearly budget allots for unclaimed bodies.

“There are still bodies; the problem isn’t over but at least now I can see light at the end of the tunnel,” Albert Samuels, Chief Investigator and Facility Administrator for the Wayne County Medical Examiner, said.

Samuels attributes May We Rest In Peace to playing a significant role in dropping the unclaimed body inventory to around 30 bodies today.

Corpses end up in the county’s freezer as a result of the investigators at the medical examiner being unable to locate a next of kin or a families’ inability to afford a proper burial. In the cases where money is the issue, families may or may not communicate their financial problems and simply never pick the bodies up.

“It’s something we all will have to face one day but the biggest problem is this isn’t something you get to rehearse,” Samuels said. “You can rehearse a wedding, you can’t rehearse death.”

According to local funeral homes, very basic burial costs around $3,000 and $900 for cremation. The State awards need-based grants of $700 for burial and $600 for cremation to applicants patient enough to get through the system’s bureaucracy.

Cremation is the most cost-effective option with the supplement of the grant but isn’t always the most desirable one.

Thanks to supporters like Das, Detroit’s unclaimed dead can receive a burial and truly rest in peace.

“It’s a really good feeling to know my efforts have really made a difference,” she said. “It’s the best Christmas/ New Year’s gift.”

Busta Rhymes and Akon, a few of the very artists Das has supported for many years, returned the favor to help her with this cause. Kid Rock’s foundation, in the name of Detroit Clothing Company, also supported her effort.

“Too often you don’t see the great efforts that are done by hip hop artists, and not even just hip hop but also the music industry in general,” Das said.

“It’s from a human perspective. I don’t care that I work in the music industry it just touched my heart as a human being that these people had no one there to support them.”

Das’ work in Detroit isn’t over. She plans to continue fundraising until there are no unburied bodies left in the freezer at the Wayne County Morgue. May We Rest In Peace will then carry its efforts to another urban area facing the same problem.

“I don’t want anything out of this,” Das said. “I just want people to know that their family members have been taken care of, dignity has been restored and they now have the option to go visit a burial site.”

For more information about May We Rest In Peace or to donate visit, www.maywerestinpeace.org

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