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The pursuit of justice involves listening and preserving stories that are often overlooked by the criminal justice system. Narratives can be used as a tool to honor loved ones, understand the cascading consequences of harm, and educate those about the need for restorative justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My name is Anna Baker-Butler and I am a junior, majoring in psychology, with a minor in public health. Last semester, I worked with the Center for Media Innovation & Social Impact (MISI)<\/a> on a project that combines storytelling and social justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I partnered with the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute<\/a> (LDBPI) in Dorchester on their Unsolved, But Not Forgotten<\/em> project as a Peace Fellow. In this role, I conducted in-depth, trauma-informed interviews with families members grappling with the unsolved murder cases of their loved ones. The mission of LDBPI is \u201cto serve as a center of healing, teaching, and learning for families and communities impacted by murder, trauma, grief, and loss.\u201d This organization was created by Chaplain Clementina Ch\u00e9ry<\/a> in 1993 in the wake of the murder of her son, Louis. Because of her personal grief and anger with the flawed criminal justice system, she created a supportive environment where those impacted by homicide, also known as survivors, could be treated with respect, compassion, and dignity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In my role, I helped LDBPI collect stories of families who have endured the traumatic, first-hand experience of the murder of a loved one, but have not yet received the closure of identifying the perpetrator of the homicide. The project seeks to remember and recognize those lost to homicide, and honor who they were. Often, people overlook victims\u2019 stories, or don\u2019t think about the other people — family, friends, community members — affected in the wake of a single murder. The stories we collect bring to light the deficits in the criminal justice system, and focus attention on the changes needed to increase clearance rates of unsolved homicides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unsolved, But Not Forgotten<\/em> properly views violence as a public health issue that is impacting entire communities as an epidemic. This project serves as a mechanism of advocacy, resilience, and a continued fight for justice for many families. In addition to these large goals, there are also smaller goals that are no less important. Through the simple act of sharing stories, survivors make room to heal. And I am humbled by the opportunity to provide a setting for survivors to reflect and honor their loved ones.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Anna Baker-Butler shares her experience as a fellow at the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute The pursuit of justice involves listening and preserving stories that are often overlooked by the criminal justice system. Narratives can be used as a tool to honor loved ones, understand the cascading consequences of harm, and educate those about the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26108,"featured_media":754,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/misi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1608"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/misi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/misi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/misi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26108"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/misi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1608"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/misi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1608\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1609,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/misi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1608\/revisions\/1609"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/misi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/misi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/misi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/misi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}