page_title: Darryl Williams (advocate)
hierarchical_section_title: Darryl Williams (advocate)
caption_attribution_description: Title: Back row Mayor Raymond L. Flynn, Senator Edward M. Kennedy and Patrick Kennedy, Front row Darryl Williams, Director of Handicapped Affairs Commission Charles Sabatier and Darryl Stingley Creator: Mayor's Office - City Photographer Date: 1985 Source: Mayor Raymond L. Flynn records, Collection #0246.001 File name: RF_0243 Rights: Copyright City of Boston Citation: Mayor Raymond L. Flynn records, Collection #0246.001, City of Boston Archives, Boston
context_page_description: Darryl K. Williams of Roxbury, Boston, Massachusetts and Milton, Massachusetts was an advocate for social justice, compassion and forgiveness as well as a local advocate for accessibility for persons with disabilities. As a 15 year old African-American living in Roxbury, Boston, Massachusetts, Williams became the victim of a school shooting on September 28, 1979 in Charlestown, Massachusetts while playing at a high school football game. As a result of the shooting, Williams was paralyzed from the neck down. After the shooting, Boston mayor Kevin White and other local, state and federal officials promised Williams and his family long term financial help, but over the decades that help was limited to Medicare benefits and private donations. Despite this, Williams earned a high school diploma and a bachelor's degree and spoke to many thousands of Boston area high school students and others about gun violence and social justice in sports. Darryl was given scholarship awards and many civic honors. Williams over the decades helped countless high school students and adults in and around Boston learn to accept persons of other races.
context_section_description: Darryl K. Williams (January 28, 1964 - March 28, 2010) of Roxbury, Boston, Massachusetts and Milton, Massachusetts was an advocate for social justice, compassion and forgiveness as well as a local advocate for accessibility for persons with disabilities.  As a 15 year old African-American living in Roxbury, Boston, Massachusetts, Williams became the victim of a school shooting on September 28, 1979 in Charlestown, Massachusetts while playing at a high school football game.  As a result of the shooting, Williams was paralyzed from the neck down.  After the shooting, Boston mayor Kevin White and other local, state and federal officials promised Williams and his family long term financial help, but over the decades that help was limited to Medicare benefits and private donations.  Despite this, Williams earned a high school diploma and a bachelor's degree and spoke to many thousands of Boston area high school students and others about gun violence and social justice in sports. Darryl was given scholarship awards and many civic honors.  Williams over the decades helped countless high school students and adults in and around Boston learn to accept persons of other races.
  Joe Malone, the Massachusetts State Treasurer in the 1990s, gave Williams a job at the Massachusetts State Lottery where he worked for many years.  Also, when Richard E. Lapchick founded Northeastern University's Center for the Study of Sport In Society he gave Williams a position where he gave presentations on violence prevention to high school students.  Richard Lapchick could relate to Williams as both Lapchick and Lapchick's father were the victims of sports related hate crimes.
  Williams wrote two unpublished works which are generally autobiographical: "An Inadvertant Hero" is registered at the United States Copyright Office, and "Triumphant" is an unfinished memoir. Richard E. Lapchick, a former professor at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts and a longtime friend of Darryl Williams, described Darryl in an ESPN.com article as an advocate for social justice, compassion and forgiveness in a city that faced racial tensions throughout his lifetime.
  Besides Lapchick, who started a memorial fund in Darryl's name, Williams counted among his friends and supporters Muhammad Ali the champion boxer, Joe Malone a former Massachusetts State Treasurer, countless emergency responders and former high school students in and around Boston, fellow employees and his local church parishioners.
caption: Back row Mayor Raymond L. Flynn, Senator Edward M. Kennedy and Patrick Kennedy, Front row Darryl Williams, Director of Handicapped Affairs Commission Charles Sabatier and Darryl Stingley (9501950391)
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