Change is a theme of Nonviolence Week

youngstowN

The only way to stop acts of violence like those perpetrated in the city during the last few weeks is to change the way people think.

That was a recurring theme Monday at the kickoff of Nonviolence Week, which runs through Friday. The week was the idea of city school students who last year participated in the Sojourn to the Past, a 10-day trip to sites in the past that were pivotal in the Civil Rights Movement.

The students petitioned city council, the Youngstown State University trustees and city school board to make recognition of the first week of October as Nonviolence Week an annual event.

Trustees and the school board have already passed the resolutions and council is expected to pass a similar resolution.

Mayor Jay Williams said during the kickoff event at YSU’s Kilcawley Center that the solution to the violence that has plagued the city for decades won’t come from the mayor’s office or the police department.

“It’s this generation that sits before me” that must have a change in thinking, he said.

Read more in Tuesday’s Vindicator and Vindy.com