A crowd gathered in Cesar E. Chavez Plaza downtown on the longest night of the year to memorialize nearly 200 people who died while homeless in Sacramento County in 2025.
The vigil — hosted by the Sacramento Regional Coalition to End Homelessness, the Sacramento Poor People’s Campaign and the Black Hair and Black Hygiene Project — was the 13th annual event to honor people who died while struggling to find shelter in and around the California capital. Many of those gathered passed around a microphone for 16 minutes and took turns reading 175 names.
One of the dead was James “Captain” Little, an ingenious builder and designer who created sleeping trailers. Niki Jones, executive director of the coalition, called him a dear friend and said he had been “relentless” in advocating for himself and other people living on the streets. He was 64…