Differences don't matter

Yesterday afternoon, as Isaura Mendes was walking down Wendover Street in Dorchester, past the spot where her son, her Bobby, was stabbed to death 13 years ago, Larry McCann was a mile away, setting up tables inside the IBEW hall on Freeport Street.

Isaura Mendes is from Cape Verde and Larry McCann is from Northern Ireland. They have never met, but if they did, they would get on just fine because they know more about each other than they realize, about what it's like to lose somebody to the two most dangerous things in the world: ignorance and hatred.

"I've heard about her," Larry McCann was saying, sliding some chairs under the tables. "She sounds like a very brave woman. And I think it's great that she honors her sons by trying to help other kids."

Bobby Mendes was murdered over a stupid argument. His killing touched off a war among Cape Verdean kids that left dozens dead, and which reverberates to this day. Isaura Mendes's heart was still cracked down the middle when her baby, her Mathew, was shot dead two years ago.

She honors her boys by marching every summer, and for the ninth summer she led a group of people down Groom Street yesterday, onto Wendover, past the sidewalk where the life drained out of her Bobby. They call it a peace march, but it's really about telling kids there are alternatives to putting a gun under your baggy shirt.

Larry McCann knows about hiding things under his shirt. When he was a boy, growing up in Belfast, he used to hide his hurling stick under his shirt when he walked home after practice because if some Protestant corner boys saw it, they'd know he was Catholic and he'd get a beating, or worse.

"I think about Gerry Duddy," McCann was saying as he placed hurling equipment on a table. "After all these years, I still think about Gerry, because he was my best friend, and they killed him because he fell in love with somebody."

Gerry Duddy, a Belfast Catholic, was murdered in 1972 by Protestant thugs because he had the temerity to go out with a Protestant girl. He was 19 years old.

As Isaura Mendes walked down Groom Street, offering something besides a short life on the streets or a long stretch in prison, McCann and his buddy Frank Hogan were offering an alternative, too. They have started a new Gaelic athletic club in Dorchester called St. Brendan's. They are looking for city kids to play the Gaelic games of football and hurling.

There is a youth club at the Irish Cultural Center in Canton, and it does great work, but that's a long way for city kids to go.

And with a dramatic change in immigration patterns that means far fewer Irish are coming here, McCann said Gaelic games will only survive if there are more youth clubs, and if those clubs can attract kids from non-Irish backgrounds.

"I think hurling and football are the greatest games in the world, and if kids see these games, they're going to want to play them, no matter what color they are, no matter what ethnicity they are, no matter where they go to worship," McCann said. "Kids are kids."

McCann said they would love to have Cape Verdeans join their club.

"Our histories have a lot of similarities," McCann said.

Not long after McCann and Hogan started signing kids up yesterday, a pair of tall, strapping brothers named Corey and Nick Smith walked in. Corey's 15, Nick's 14, and their dad is African-American. They heard about hurling from some friends, saw a match on ESPN, and were hooked.

"It's an intense sport," Corey said. "I can't wait to play."

Larry McCann was too busy getting them signed up and thanking their mother, Cathy Hart, for bringing them down to notice they were black.

"All I know," Larry McCann said, smiling and folding his arms across his chest, "is those kids look like hurlers to me."

Kevin Cullen is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at cullen@globe.com