Dozens rally to begin Nonviolence Week

October 3, 2011 at 12:01a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

Civil rights leaders and school and university officials decried hatred and violence as they kicked off the city’s observance of Nonviolence Week with a downtown march and rally on Sunday.

“We must truly dedicate ourselves to love, to nonviolence, to understanding, to respect, every second of every day,” said Cynthia E. Anderson, president of Youngstown State University.

“We need to work for a wonderful world free of violence,” she added.

Youngstown schools superintendent Connie Hathorn echoed her theme.

“There’s a lot of violence going on here in the city. As the superintendent of schools, I am committed to making sure that your kids are safe in school,” Hathorn said.

Hathorn defended his new policy of regularly using metal detectors at school doors as a practical way to prevent potentially deadly violence.

He said he told a man who complained about the detectors that he’d rather explain the new policy now than explain why he didn’t use the detectors after the shooting of a student.

“We can’t change anything unless we do something. So, if you don’t like the violence in your lives, do something about it,” said Minijean Brown-Trickey, one of the Little Rock Nine, who integrated Little Rock’s Central High School in 1957. “If you don’t like the kind of education you’re getting, do something about it,” she added.

Nonviolence Week was first observed in the city schools in 2009 and expanded to the city and the university last year.

Under a moderate and steady rain, hundreds marched in the parade, which began at the university’s Williamson College of Business and ended at an indoor rally inside downtown’s 20 Federal Place.

Some rally participants posted photos and names of friends or loved ones whose lives were taken by violence on a board titled “Unforgettable Violence.”

Some carried signs, banners and photos in memory of Vivian Martin, the real-estate sales agent slain a year ago, and Jamail Johnson, the YSU student shot to death in February.

The Stambaugh Chorus and the city schools’ Youngstown Connection sang at the rally.

The week’s activities continue at 5 p.m. today at First Presbyterian Church, 201 Wick Ave., where Trickey and Jeff Steinberg, director of Sojourn to the Past, will discuss nonviolence. Events in the city schools continue through Friday.

Sojourn is a program under which city high school students travel to key 1960s civil rights movement march sites in Southern states and meet movement leaders. About 40 schools in 15 cities participate in Sojourn, Steinberg said.

“The dreamer has been dead for 43 years. It’s up to children like this to stop the violence in our communities,” Steinberg said, referring to The Rev Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the city schools’ students. “It’s up to children like this to stop hatred, sexism, homophobia and racism,” Steinberg added.

“Since this trip, I have become more considerate of others and more aware of what is going on in my surroundings. This trip has made me more courageous and bold. It has made me want to stand up and stand out for what is right,” said Cordell Jackson, an East High School junior, who went on the Sojourn this year.

“Nonviolence is a way of life for courageous people. These young people are demonstrating courage in a violent society. Please support them in their efforts,” Trickey said.