The Bulls honored the life and legacy of Benjamin “Benji” Wilson during a private pregame dinner for his loved ones on March 15, 2023 — the night the Bulls faced the Miami Heat and what would have been Benji’s 39th birthday.

Benji was a rising basketball star from Chicago whose life was tragically cut short by gun violence at just 16. In honor of his legacy — and the Bulls’ ongoing commitment to ending gun violence in Chicago — Bulls Creative Strategy and Design Advisor Don C. created a commemorative gift for dinner attendees: a graffiti-style memorial T-shirt presented inside an airbrushed “shoebox lunch,” blending two deeply rooted elements of Black history and culture.

Don C. asked me to write the copy for the inside lid, weaving together the story of the Great Migration — where shoebox lunches originated — and the resilience, tragedy and enduring greatness that define Black life in Chicago and beyond. The piece honored both Benji’s legacy and the broader story of Black life in America.