A Fitting Memorial to City's Homicide Victims

Nike high-tops, strappy high heels, and Timberland boots hang side by side from a fence in the bustling heart of Codman Square in Dorchester, a memorial that grew out of a school project and was dedicated yesterday to victims of homicide.

Four seniors at Codman Academy Charter Public School didn't hesitate when their humanities teacher asked them to pick a topic that mattered to them for a 15-page research paper and a project.

Marlon Thompson, 18; Sherry Jones, 17; Jarron Bennett, 18; and Benjamin Hollins, 17, say violence is all around them. They decided to tell Bostonians about it by spray-painting 75 pairs of shoes black and mounting them to blood-red boards labeled with the names of each of last year's 75 homicide victims.

Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley joined the teens yesterday at the corner of Talbot Avenue and Washington Street to dedicate the memorial, which sits just yards from Dorchester District Courthouse.

The teens said they never considered ball caps or T shirts for their memorial because shoes were just too fitting.

"People always say, `You have big shoes to fill,' " Thompson said. "These people not being around it's like their shoes will never be filled."

Said Bennett: "I look at those shoes and I think of people who walked in them. We're surrounded by youth violence. . . . It makes me sad and angry."

Thompson said the group tried to match shoes to the dead. For the woman whose bones were found in a Dorchester chimney, they chose wedge heels. For 4-year-old Dontel Jeffers, who was allegedly beaten to death by his foster mother, they chose tiny high-top sneakers. Most of the carnation-draped shoes, however, are not unlike those on the teens' own feet most days. Pumas, Nikes, and Timberlandsbig, bulky shoes like the ones worn by the nearly 40 young men 25 or under slain in Boston last year.

"Seventy-five people were killed, and it was probably over something stupid," Hollins said. "I thought, `It could have been me. People could be donating my shoes.' "

Suzanne Smalley can be reached at ssmalley@globe.com. Boston Globe, April 26, 2006