Peace Fellows Trained in Kingian Nonviolence
On Monday, July 8, the Institute for Nonviolence Chicago hosted a Kingian Nonviolence workshop for the Chicago Peace Fellows and grantees of the Chicago Fund for Safe and Peaceful Communities. The Institute for Nonviolence is a street outreach organization that specializes in connecting with individuals who are most at risk of being a victim or perpetrator of violence. They also provide support for families of victims of violence and help people returning from prison find resources such as jobs, housing or health related services. The Chicago Fund for Safe and Peaceful Communities provide small grants of up to $10,000 to grassroots community leaders who are hosting activities in neighborhoods on the West and South sides that have high rates of violence. All of the Chicago Peace Fellows were recipients of these grants in 2018.
The Institute for Nonviolence Chicago invited the Chicago Peace Fellows and grantees of the Chicago Fund for Safe and Peaceful Communities for training led by Benny Lee on the steps and principles of nonviolence as taught by Martin Luther King Jr to his organizers in communities across the nation. Benny is a former leader of the Vice Lords, a notorious gang on the West Side, who spent decades in prison. Benny talked openly about his stint on death row after he and several others were charged with inciting a prison riot in the ‘70s. He shared about how nonviolence principles changed his life and helped him learn how to solve conflict and fight for justice in a different way.
Through the training, Benny shared his vision for building the Beloved Community, an all-inclusive society built around universal acceptance, healing from trauma, and celebration of successes. He encouraged the participants of the workshop to join him and each other in building the Beloved Community.
The Chicago Peace Fellows and other grantees asked questions and participated in conversation with Benny and each other. One Chicago Peace Fellow, Adi Lerner, who works at the Westside Justice Center as a program director, asked,
[quote]“How do we truly embrace nonviolence in violent circumstances?” -- Adi Lerner, Chicago Peace Fellow[/quote]
Adi stressed that often she finds many of the people she works with are victims of overt violence but also violent systems such as forced poverty, mass incarceration and systemic oppression. Benny shared his experience in fighting against these forces for returning citizens, people coming home from prison, and how he has made breakthroughs in returning their rights such as getting licenses that they were previously prohibited from getting by the state of Illinois. He said the principles are his grounding metrics for how he takes action to fight for peace.
The Nonviolence Principles are as follows:
- Nonviolence is a way of life for courageous people.
- Building the Beloved Community is the goal.
- Attack the forces of evil, not persons doing evil.
- Accept suffering without retaliation for the sake of the Just Cause.
- Avoid inner-violence of the spirit as well as outwardly physical violence.
- The universe is on the side of justice.
Overall, the group really enjoyed the experience and connected with one another around the material. The Institute for Nonviolence hosts 3 day nonviolence workshops that are open to the public. Please visit their website to learn more about the organization, their upcoming events and trainings.
Where Non Violence is Personal
The Chicago Peace Fellows recently met with a unique group of activists who are teaching non-violence techniques to gang members in the city’s toughest neighborhoods.
“My job is to stop the violence,” said Kenya Hardy, street outreach worker with the Institute for Nonviolence Chicago. “I do whatever I have to do, like a cousin, like a big brother they can look up to.”
On some days, Kenya accompanies the young men he works with to court, but on others, he may help them get stable housing or even mediate a dispute with a girlfriend.
[quote]“I’m here to show them love and show them that violence ain’t the key.”-- Kenya Hardy[/quote]
The Peace Fellows met the staff of Institute for Nonviolence Chicago in their office in the Austin neighborhood on the far West Side on May 16, engaging in an intense conversation about which strategies are actually effective. Founded just three years old, teh Institute for Nonviolence Chicago operates in 3 of the city’s most violent neighborhoods, Austin, West Garfield Park and Back of the Yards, using an approach that takes into account the high levels of trauma in these communities and aims for restorative justice, rehabilitation over punishment and vengeance. Eighty percent of Nonviolence Chicago’s 20-person team is hired from these three neighborhoods.
Each of the neighborhoods comes with distinct challenges, according to Tara Dabney, the group’s director of development and communications. Austin receives the greatest number of people released from incarceration – called ‘returning citizens’ – while Garfield Park includes a major interstate highway, which attracts open air sales of illegal drugs and prostitution, and Back of the Yards has a conflict between different gangs that has persisted for several generations. In Austin and Back of the Yards, Nonviolence Chicago has been able to negotiate truces that have greatly reduced the number of homicides and other acts of violence, building relationships with open-minded police commanders and officers. These neighborhoods and six others account for one-half of the homicides in Chicago, and the ultimate goal is to convince elected leaders to use government money for anti-violence efforts.
[quote]“In every large city where they have seen a major reduction, they have seen a large investment of public dollars” Tara Dabney[/quote]
Staff member Artemmeo Williams spent nine years in prison and found there were few services available for returning citizens when he emerged. Williams relied on his family “to reintegrate into society and not go back into prison.” In his work for Nonviolence Chicago, he provides the full spectrum of support to other young men coming back to the Austin neighborhood, even interacting with the Illinois Department of Corrections before their release.
“Whatever they need to sustain life, we’re there for them,” Artemmeo explained.
Asked by Peace Fellow Sokoni Karanja whether he might provide training to a South Side community, Artemmeo responded with enthusiasm.
[quote]“We’ll go to Mars if we have to.” Artemmeo Williams[/quote]
In her work in the Back of the Yards, staff member Elena Casada provides assistance to survivors of violence, who do receive limited government assistance but lose support after several weeks. Elena accompanies families to funeral homes, guides them through compensation applications, and finds counseling as well as support groups. She works with the understanding that her relationship with these families will be long-term, as the waiting lists for trauma-informed counselors are currently one year long.
“Whatever it takes to help them find a new normal, we do,” Elena said.
Peace Fellow Frank Latin, founder and executive director of Westside Media Project, asked the staff of Nonviolence Chicago about the effects of criminal justice policy on communities, and how to stop criminal activity.
Kenya Hardy answered that current policy makes it more likely that juvenile gang members will commit gun crimes, while many gang members actually prefer prison, because they receive stable housing and food as well as a modicum of security.
“The system is not working,” Kenya summed up. “Young men get comfortable and safe in prison. In jails, there’s a structure.”
Artemmeo added that in many cases, the young men involved in gangs wanted to get away from criminal activity, but had no resources to leave the gang structure.
“Our community is depleted of resources so we can’t do but run to the corner for a job,” Artemmeo said. “They’re not living. They’re surviving.”
Peace Fellow Maria Velazquez from the Telpochcalli Community Education Project noted that organizers at Nonviolence Chicago needed to be creative as well as flexible to respond to multiple needs and changing situations.
Peace Fellow Johnny Payton, who has extensive experience doing anti-violence work himself in the Cabrini Green public housing development and other communities, underscored the importance of building alliances across communities.
[quote]“We’ve just got to be here ‘hood to ‘hood to help each other.” -- Johnny Payton[/quote]
Peace Fellow Lisa Daniels lost her own son to gun violence seven years ago in an incident in which he was both a perpetrator and a victim, and currently serves on the Illinois Prisoner Review Board, where she is able to provide guidance and advice to try and stop other young men from killing or being killed.
[quote]“There has to be a place where we connect on a human level. They ain’t trying to shoot. They ain’t trying to kill. They want love.” -- Lisa Daniels[/quote]
For both the Peace Fellows and the outreach staff at Nonviolence Chicago, anti-violence work is highly personal. Case Manager Delano Macintyre added that he has a record for possession of a firearm himself and that his own son currently receives services from Nonviolence Chicago.
“I’m happy to see kids doing good,” Delano said. “If we don’t go to work, my son is in trouble.”
