Latest news with #Mother'sDayWalkforPeace
Yahoo
11-05-2025
- Yahoo
Thousands join annual Mother's Day walk for peace, tradition grew out of killing of boy in 1993
Carmen Wilkinson spent Mother's Day in a way she probably never imagined -- as a participant in the annual Mother's Day Walk for Peace. Wilkinson lost her daughter Taylor, a Fisher College student, last January when she was killed by an alleged hit-and-run driver while crossing a street in Roxbury. 'I really miss my daughter,' she said. 'She was only twenty years old. I will be strong for her. She is in my heart.' Wilkinson joined thousands of others on Town Field in Dorchester to begin the 3.2-mile walk. It is the 29th time for the Mother's Day tradition -- and grew out of the shooting death of Louis D. Brown, a fifteen-year-old gunned down in gang crossfire 32 years ago. Ironically, Brown was en route to a Teens Against Gang Violence holiday party when he was killed. Shortly after, his mother, Clementina Chery, founded the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute --- and then, a year later, the Mother's Walk, which honors homicide victims and provides solace to their survivors. 'In the best of times, in the worst of times, we rise and say, you are not alone and we are with you,' Chery said. Among the participants, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, who just became a Mom for the third time. 'Every year we start our Mother's Day walking alongside the mothers who have experienced unthinkable loss,' Wu said. 'But have worked to turn that pain into peace for the entire community.' But make no mistake, the pain is still there. 'When one of the songs was playing, I was dancing,' said Janice Johnson. 'But I was crying at the same time.' Johnson was crying over the death of her son, killed in a case of motor vehicle homicide about two years ago. She has mixed feelings about the Mother's Day Walk -- because losses keep happening. 'Why?' she said. 'Why are there so many faces, why are there so many homicides... why are there so many causes of losing our children?' This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available. Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW
Yahoo
11-05-2025
- Yahoo
Annual Mother's Day walk calls for peace, end to violence in Boston communities
The 29th annual Mother's Day Walk for Peace kicked off in Boston Sunday morning, to raise money and awareness on ending violence in the city's communities.
Boston Globe
10-05-2025
- Boston Globe
Their children have died, their motherhood remains
These mothers walk, grieve, celebrate, and uplift each other during the yearly walk through Dorchester on a day that is tremendously difficult for those who have lost a child. Chaplain Clementina Chéry placed her hand against a Traveling Memorial banner that hangs inside the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute in Dorchester. After Chéry lost her son Louis D. Brown in 1993, she started to make buttons for other victims' families as a way to cope with her son's death and to recognize the other families in her situation and make them feel less alone. Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff Chaplain Clementina Chéry Chaplain Clementina Chéry cofounded the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute after her son Louis David Brown was killed while heading to a Teens Against Gang Violence meeting. Louis was supposed to call his mother when he got to the meeting, but the call never came. He was struck by crossfire. The day Louis died, changed Chéry forever. Advertisement 'I say, the day Louis died, is the day I woke up,' Chéry said. 'Why are we OK when this happens to Black and brown children?' A year after Louis's death, Chéry cofounded the Peace Institute to honor her son and help other families deal with the trauma and grief associated with the killing of a loved one. Chaplain Clementina M. Chéry (center) who cofounded the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute in 1994 after the death of her 15-year-old son Louis, led the Mother's Day Walk for Peace in 2022. Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff 'Many times, what we tend to do, is we want to shame mothers for grieving. No. Grief is just how much we loved the person who is no longer here,' she said. Advertisement In 1996, Chéry and a small group did the first peace walk on Mother's Day, connecting mothers who had lost a child. This year will be the 29th walk. Even in death, Chéry is grateful to Louis and her two other children for being her best teacher. 'Louis wasn't my son, he is my son,' she said. Chéry still does not know who killed her son. The Louis D. Brown Peace Institute has been serving the Boston community for over 30 years. The group has recently gotten plans approved to open a three-story center in Dorchester. LaToya Minus held hands with her 3-year-old granddaughter, Dai'Lani Jenkins-Minus, as the two visited the grave of Dai'Lani's mother in Roslindale. Dai'Lani was only 2 months old when her mother was killed. 'I still have to explain it to the 3-year-old as she gets older. She has no idea what's going on around that," Minus said of the difficult conversation that she will some day have to have with the child she is now raising as her own. Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff LaToya Minus LaToya Minus was making Thanksgiving dinner in 2021, waiting for her daughter Dejah Nichole Jenkins-Minus to arrive. The family dinner never took place. Instead, she received the news that her daughter was found dead, allegedly the victim of domestic violence. Leaving Minus without her eldest daughter thrust her into becoming the mother to Dejah's 2-month-old daughter, Dai'Lani, who reminds her of Dejah more and more every day. Minus says chasing Dai'Lani around keeps her going but it's the inevitable conversation about Dejah that weighs heavily on her. LaToya Minus displayed the memorial tattoo of her late daughter, Dejah Jenkins-Minus. Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff 'I feel like the worst is yet to come,' she said. 'I still have to explain to the 3-year-old what happened to her mother.' Minus said a trial in her daughter's death is set to begin in July. Last year, the Boston City Council declared May 13 as 'Maé Day' in memory of Dejah. Minus affectionately called her 'Maé' because, she said, Dejah acted like a little old lady. Kianna Battle in the bedroom of her late son, Kamari Perry, inside the apartment they shared in Weymouth. Kamari, a basketball star, beloved by his friends and family, was killed in a vehicular homicide when he was 16 years old in 2023. Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff Kianna Battle Kianna Battle lost more than her son on July 14, 2023. She lost her best friend, her everything, when Kamari Aaron Perry, 16, was hit by a car while on a scooter. Advertisement Perry wanted to be a basketball player. Battle says Kamari still receives college basketball recruiting letters. 'My son was so giving of himself to his peers. I've been trying to follow in his footsteps and give back myself,' Battle said. 'I'm just trying to turn my pain into purpose.' Kianna Battle opened the blinds in the room of her late son, Kamari, at the apartment they shared in Weymouth. She has started a basketball tournament in his memory and is working on starting a foundation to help keep his legacy alive. Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff Battle recently organized a basketball tournament in memory of Kamari called Mari's World Heart of Hope, where she was able to give away a $5,000 scholarship. This will be Battle's second year participating in the Peace Walk. She says the walk does bring sad memories but also serves as a way to uplift each other. 'We're all a part of a club we don't want to be a part of,' she said. 'But it's uplifting because we're there for each other, we uplift each other, we hold each other when we hold this walk and we come together as one.' Tears streamed down Beatriz Couho's face as she talked about her late son, Joel Leon, at her apartment in Quincy. He was fatally shot in South Boston on April 9, 2014. His killing is still unsolved. 'No mother, no father, grandmother, brother, sister, nobody who loves someone needs this kind of feeling. A mother is a mother and the pain is there every single day, we have to try to live with that. It is every single day, it is not a week or month. It is every single day," Couho said. Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff Beatriz Couho It was Friday during Lent and like many Catholics, the Couho family had to refrain from eating red meat. But on this particular Friday in 2014, it was the baby of the family's birthday. Joel Santiago Leon Couho was turning 19 and he was sick of eating fish every Friday. After promising his mother, Beatriz Couho, he would go to church if she made him steak, the family delighted in eating their food and poking fun at Beatriz for breaking the rules. It was a perfect day. Three days later, the family would be rocked by the sudden death of Joel who was hit by a lone bullet that came into his car and struck him in the neck. Advertisement Couho had brought Joel from Mexico when he was 2 months old. He was with her throughout the entire journey to the United States and just like that he was gone. Beatriz Couho placed her hand against a statue of St. Joseph after lighting a candle in memory of her son inside St. Francis Chapel in Boston. Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff 'I learn to live, I learn how to live with this, and it took me 10 years to put myself together, and start to do things for people,' she said. 'Some days I'm down, some days I'm up, but I learned to live and that new process in my life.' Beatriz Couho works on an initiative of the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute called 'Pan con Café,' where she works with Spanish speakers dealing with the death of loved ones due to homicide, overdose, and suicide. Randy Vazquez can be reached at
Yahoo
18-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Families affected by homicide share stories, inspire community before Mother's Day Walk
Survivors, city officials, and community leaders gathered at the Hampshire House for the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute's (LDBPI) annual community briefing, setting the stage for the upcoming 29th Annual Mother's Day Walk for Peace. The event, attended by Mayor Michelle Wu, Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox, and Boston Medical Center VP of Mission Dr. Thea James, highlighted the walk's vital role in supporting families affected by homicide. This year's theme, 'Cultivating Cycles of Peace,' underscores the Institute's commitment to breaking cycles of violence and fostering healing through survivor empowerment, re-entry support, and youth investment. LDBPI Founder and CEO Clementina Chéry spoke about the walk's impact, emphasizing how it sustains the institute's critical services and advocacy efforts. 'The Mother's Day Walk for Peace is about healing, about hope, and about honoring our loved ones by creating a more just and peaceful future,' said Chéry. 'We walk to ensure that survivors have the resources they need, that our communities can heal, and that future generations—Generation Peace—grow up in a world without violence.' Registration is now open for the 29th Annual Mother's Day Walk for Peace on May 11. For more information, visit the link here. This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available. Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW
