Tam Valley Mom Who Forgave Her Son's Murderer Is Featured in New Film

As Tam Valley resident Radha Stern sees it, when her then-21-year-old son Christopher was shot and killed in 1996 by his roommate during an argument over dishes, she had a choice: take the path most traveled and live with anger forever, or forgive the man who pulled the trigger.

Stern forgave the man convicted of killing her son, Mark James Taylor, and has dedicated herself ever since to helping others who have lost loved ones due to violent crime. Stern is the author of Griefprints: A Practical Guide for Supporting a Grieving Person and active in groups like the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, the Insight Prison Project and The Compassionate Friends (for parents who have lost a child), according to KCBS.  

“The moment you forgive the perpetrator it’s like opening the prison door only to let yourself out,” Stern told KCBS.

Now, Stern is featured in Unlikely Friends, a new documentary about people who who have been able to do just what Stern did, and the power of forgiveness.

Unlikely Friends is screening at The Delancey Street Foundation in San Francisco on Thursday, July 11 at 6 p.m. For more information go to InsightPrisonProject. org.