‘I see him in nature, in colors, in rainbows, and in the world around me’
BOSTON, Mass., Nov. 26, 2024–With a stated goal of educating the public and government officials about the profound impact that homicide has on the loved ones of those killed, the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute on Nov. 21 kicked off its annual recognition of Survivors of Homicide Victims Awareness Month at a ceremony at the State House.
“This is an opportunity to come together, to be in unity together, to celebrate, to grieve, and then also to use this month to educate policymakers about what our legislative priorities are and make sure we’re impacting policy that positively impact survivors of homicide victims,” said Alexandra Chery-Dorrelus, Co-Executive Director of the Peace Institute, which is based in Dorchester.
Members of the Peace Institute and partner organizations were joined in the Great Hall by dozens of family members and friends of homicide victims, as well as Senator Nick Collins (D-Boston) and Representative Christopher Worrell (D-Boston). The head of the state’s victim assistance office and Suffolk District Attorney Kevin R. Hayden also participated.
Linda Smith, whose son Dreshaun Johnson was 23 when he was killed in Roslindale on April 8, 2022, said she tries to “transform my pain into power” by working to help other homicide survivors through the Peace Institute and by holding an event every December to raise funds for a scholarship in her son’s name to defray college costs for a matriculating high school student. Ms. Smith remembered a son who cared deeply about others.
“He would make sure his friends always had a place to go and feel supported,” she said. “He was so full of love. And he knew that he was loved in return.”
She still feels his presence and knows he remains close by.
“I see him in nature, in colors, in rainbows, and in the world around me. He checks up on me to see if I’m okay,” she said.
Beatriz Couho’s son, Joel Leon, was killed in South Boston on April 9, 2014. Speaking to the event attendees about her instinctive reaction to the murder of her 19-year-old child, she said, “I want to keep my pain inside, but I cannot do that… I came to the Peace Institute to get support and now I try to give support to others.”
Like Ms. Smith, Ms. Couho said she, too, tries to work through her pain to make a difference for the better.
“Even in the memories that are painful, my hope still continues,” she said. “I hope your children and my children will find peace in our world and our neighborhood.”
Among the topics discussed during the event were policy goals the Peace Institute is seeking. Those include mandating employers to provide additional bereavement leave for family members who lose loved ones to homicide. The standard three-day bereavement leave is not enough under such circumstances, Peace Institute Co-Executive Director Rachel Rodrigues said.
Liam Lowney, the Executive Director of the Massachusetts Office of Victim Assistance (MOVA), urged attendees to fervently advocate for needed legislative action and policy changes. One example, Lowney suggested, is for homicide survivors to push state government to bridge a shortfall in federal funding for survivor support services.
Himself a homicide survivor – his sister, Shannon Lowney, was killed in the 1994 shooting at a Brookline abortion clinic – Lowney said MOVA knows that survivors need support “days, weeks, months, and years after losing a loved one. We are committed to making their voices heard.”
Rep. Worrell and Sen. Collins assured the gathering that their support for families impacted by homicide will never waver. Longtime backers of the Peace Institute’s mission, they added language to the state’s recently passed economic bond bill securing $2.5 million toward the Institute’s planned construction of a state-of-the-art Center of Healing, Teaching and Learning.
In remarks during the event, Rep. Worrell recalled a time when he was home with his young son when the news came on the television and the face of his son’s barber appeared on the screen. The Representative’s son asked why his barber, whom he liked very much, was on television. Rep. Worrell had to explain to his little boy that they were showing his barber’s face because the man had been murdered.
Policymakers and community institutions must assist organizations like the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute and its partners to end violence “to make sure our future generations don’t have to explain (that a person’s face is being shown on tv because he has been murdered) to their children,” Rep. Worrell said.
Sen. Collins reiterated the importance of the state’s government officials acting on the concerns and needs of homicide survivors and described his own family’s grief when his cousin was killed in Springfield several years ago. The Senator assured the survivors of homicide that he and his colleagues in the Legislature are there to support them.
“Your voices are heard here,” he said.
Other groups that took part in the opening ceremony of Survivors of Homicide Victims Awareness Month were Mothers for Justice and Equality; Legacy Lives On; Better Opportunities, Inc.; and the Steven P. Odom Training for Life Foundation.
In addition to the speakers, the event was an important opportunity for survivors of homicide victims to bond over shared pain and determined resilience in the face of great loss. That is a common theme when family and friends of victims gather, those present at the event said. Ms. Couho and Ms. Smith, the mothers who spoke about losing their sons to violence, both recalled participating with others from the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute in the Crime Survivors March in Washington, D.C., in September. Thousands of victims and survivors from across the country took part in the march.
“I didn’t expect to feel so close to people I didn’t know, but when I heard them speak, it felt like community,” Linda Smith said.
Beatriz Couho added, “All the survivors in the country have different religions, different ages, but everyone has the same issue—we are survivors, and everyone has unity in that moment. Everybody has the right to heal.”
