Stomping out hate: 1,000 march downtown to launch weeklong, statewide focus on nonviolence

By William K. Alcorn

YOUNGSTOWN

Families, teenagers, young adults, grandparents and people of all colors walked down Wick Avenue through downtown Sunday in the city’s Eighth Annual Nonviolence Parade and Rally that kicked off Ohio Nonviolence Week through Saturday.

They waved banners, carried signs and wore shirts with messages meant to raise awareness of the need to find an alternative to violence in resolving disputes.

Some messages read: “The Violence Must Stop;” Violence Cannot Heal,” “In Violence We Forget Who We Are,” and the words of Civil-Rights Movement icon John Lewis: “If not us, then who? If not now, when?”

Organized by former Youngstown Schools history teacher, Penny Wells, community activist and director of the Mahoning Valley Sojourn to the Past, the parade and rally drew an estimated 1,000 participants.

For more details, read the full story in Monday's Vindicator.