Parents of Martin Richard recognized for work in community with ‘Champions of Peace’ award
The Louis D. Brown Peace Institute celebrated Bill and Denise Richard at an event on Wednesday.
The parents of Martin Richard, the youngest victim of the Boston marathon bombings, were honored Wednesday night for the work they have done in the community.
Bill and Denise Richard were recognized with the Champions of Peace award from the Dorchester-based Louis D. Brown Peace Institute.
“Every victim of violence, every family of a victim of violence should be treated with dignity, respect, empathy and compassion,” Bill Richard said while accepting the award, according to WHDH.
Help us honor Bill and Denise Richard on Oct.23rd https://t.co/MWOcvI1VpK pic.twitter.com/ulyhhUPVow
— Peace Institute (@LDBpeaceInst) October 8, 2019
The Institute was started in 1994 by the parents of Louis Brown, who was 15 when he was killed in the crossfire of a shooting in 1993.
Bill Richard said Wednesday night that before his 8-year-old son was killed, he and his wife would take their three children to the Peace Institute’s annual Mother’s Day Walk for Peace, NBC Boston reports.
Both his son and 15-year-old Brown were “wise beyond their years and more famous in death than life,” Bill Richard said.
“A cruel irony was, in fact, their activism and their messaging — a bond they shared never having known each other,” he said.
Brown’s mother, Clementina Chéry, told the Boston Herald that the Richards’ work at their foundation, the Martin Richard Foundation, made them a clear candidate for the peace award.
“They took their tragedy and turned it into something positive,” she told the newspaper.
“We must make sure to embrace those left behind and help guide them towards peaceful acts of expression and not retaliatory or anger-driven expressions of their grief,” Bill Richards said.
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com