Remembering ‘Mr. Phil’

This is the anniversary of the killing of Philando Castile, who was shot to death in Falcon Heights two years ago.

Castile was the “lunch man” at J.J. Hill Montessori Magnet School, so this week’s StoryCorps episode on NPR talked to Leila Ramgren, 10, and her dad, Chad.

“He used to have secret handshakes with people,” she tells her dad, Chad Eisen-Ramgren. “And if you didn’t have enough on your tray, he would pull out graham crackers or something. And he did it with his own money.”

It’s heartbreaking.

At the scene of his killing, small crosses and memorials still dot the small lot next to the road, the Star Tribune says.

The Falcon Heights City Council has named today as “Restoration Day” and tomorrow “Unity Day” in the city.

At the Minneapolis Institute of Art, Art and Healing is on display through the end of the month. The exhibition features work by community members memorializing Castile.

“This exhibition is about a painful, divisive tragedy which shows how the community responded in ways that speaks more to than just what words can do alone,” Nicole Soukup, the assistant contemporary art curator at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, tells The Guardian.