Dear Friends,
I hope you will join me this Mother's Day in support of the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute’s (LDPI) Virtual Mother's Day Walk for Peace this Sunday, May 9th at 9:00 AM. I have the privilege of serving on the 2021 Mother's Day Walk for Peace Honorary Committee.
This is the 25th annual Mother’s Day Walk for Peace. The Louis D. Brown Peace Institute (LDBPI) plays an important role in helping families in the wake of their immediate grief of losing a loved one to gun homicide, along with providing ongoing support so that families and communities can develop the skills to sit with their pain and navigate a path forward.
I have had the honor of successfully filing common-sense gun legislation like the Red Flag/ERPO bill, and I recently filed An Act to stop MAss shooting in order to prohibit the manufacturing of assault weapons in this state for the purpose of selling to private citizens. The sale of assault weapons to private citizens is already banned in Massachusetts.
Over the past few years, I have come to have a deeper appreciation of the important work that LDBPI does to help families who have been victimized as well as families whose loved ones were the assailants. It is in the healing work of LDBPI that we are able to reduce violence and plant the seeds of lasting peace.
As a city councillor, I was aware of the work of the LDBPI; our Cambridge community has called on their support in times of grief and loss due to gun violence. I became struck by the heaviness of the work, its efficacy, and often how little financial support they were given by the larger community and foundations. I have maintained that my commitment to changing gun sense laws must also be rooted in supporting the work of organizations like LDBPI which provide ongoing care for the grieving families who quickly fall out of the press and our collective attention.
It's not possible to overstate how critical their work continues to be in reducing gun violence and creating meaningful peace and healing. Massachusetts continues to have the lowest gun homicide rate in the nation due to our strong common-sense gun laws, but this is of no comfort to the families and neighborhoods who carry the grief and anger of having the lives of their loved ones snatched away by gun homicide.
If you're registered with Team Decker, let me know— send me an email, or tag me on social media. We want to cheer you on and thank you for your support. Happy Mother's day to Chaplain Tina Chéry, who founded this walk in honor of her son, to LDBPI, and to all of the moms, aunties, guardians, and caregivers who every day are holding the health, safety, and love of all of our children.
Sincerely,
Marjorie