Derrion Albert's mother on mission to preserve son's memory

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Derrion Albert was killed in a beating that caught national attention nearly six years ago. Now, his mother hopes a plan to honor her late son will help promote peace on the streets of Chicago.

Derrion, 16, was an honor student at Fenger High School when he was beaten to death outside of his school in 2009. His mother rarely talks about her son's death. She says she's been too busy trying to survive and rebuild a shattered life. But she has been on a mission lately to preserve his name and stop the violence.

"I just want some peace in every community. If I could help every community, I would, if I can," said Anjanette Albert. "I just want them to come and celebrate life. His life."

Derrion's life was really just beginning when he was caught in the middle of a vicious fight between rival groups. His gruesome murder made international headlines in 2009.

But Anjanette Albert wants her son to be remembered as more than a mere footnote - a name synonymous with violence in Chicago streets.

"We went through so much together and for him to just lose his life and for them to just totally ignore," Albert said.

That's why for the past three years, she's been going door-to-door in the neighborhood where Derrion was killed, getting people to sign petitions to have a section of 111th Street named in his honor. The journey has not been easy.

"That was the first time I had been out there in that spot. It was overwhelming. But the neighbors were so welcoming that I didn't even think about it," Albert said.

All that hard work, footwork and plowing through painful memories will pay off on June 6 when that stretch of 111th Street will become the honorary "Derrion Albert Way."

"I'm just praying that with his name being up there, the kids will remember what happened and maybe it will make them make better decisions," Albert said.

The grieving mother says, perhaps in some small way, this simple gesture will keep other families from living through what she has suffered - a pain that she says never leaves.

"I wish he was here," Albert said. "I wish I didn't have to try and get a street named after him for somebody for somebody to remember him."

Albert said she is working with Alderman Carrie Austin to plan a celebration of Derrion's life when the street sign is unveiled next month. She says there will be no sadness, no anger - she just wants fellowship, prayers and peace.