Louis D. Brown was a 15-year-old sophomore in the fall of 1993. Louis looked forward to college, and was planning to pursue a PhD. He was an avid reader and interested in engineering. Louis often mentioned to his family and friends his long-term goal of becoming the first, black President of the United States and his commitment to making his community a more peaceful and just place. Alongside his peers, Louis worked to challenge the negative stereotypes about youth in his neighborhood. He was deeply concerned with the ongoing violence he and his peers were experiencing and couldn’t understand why adults were always blaming young people when bad things happen and only took the credit when good things happened. He feared that by the time he made it to the White House, he would be running this country with the same old blood. And it was his belief that “if true peace is to happen, it would be up to [his] generation regardless which side of the street they came from.”

Louis was caught in a fatal crossfire shootout near his home in Dorchester, Massachusetts in December of 1993. During that time, there were no resources in place in Boston for Survivors of Homicide Victims and Louis’ family left the hospital empty-handed and empty-hearted.