The Good 5 Cent Cigar

Issue date: 1/30/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Courtesy of Karina Luna The Rev. John Soares, Dean of Students Fran Cohen (second from right) and others participate in yesterday's Unity Luncheon as part of a week-long series of events to honor Martin Luther King Jr.

Media Credit: Courtesy of Karina Luna Attendees from the Unity Luncheon prepare to release one black and one white balloon on the Quadrangle yesterday. The balloons represented an attempt to bridge the divide among races.

01/30/08 - There are few times at the University of Rhode Island where it is mandatory for the culmination of an event to require holding hands with one's neighbor.

But this, along with a keynote speaker, an array of tasty food, awards and a freedom anthem called "We Shall Overcome" was presented to audience members at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Unity Luncheon in the Hardge Forum of the URI Multicultural Center yesterday afternoon.

The luncheon was meant to emulate King's philosophies in a diverse setting, catering to all religious groups, ages, sexes and ethnicities.

Amy Olson, director of Hillel, URI's Jewish organization, said "This is in celebration and in honor of how [King's] message is still resonant and important for us today."

The room was crowded, with every one of approximately 90 seats filled. After enjoying a buffet meal, audience members looked to Multicultural Center Director Melvin Wade, who introduced the keynote speaker, Teny Gross, as a "counterbalance" to the trend of violence in society. Gross is the executive director for the Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence in Providence, which he said is the third poorest city in the country.

He spoke about his "street work," as he referred to the nonviolence tactics he teaches, and also about his childhood as an Israeli with a mixed background. With his mother a Croatian Jewish woman and his father a Christian Serbian, Gross pointed to his upbringing as a reason for understanding the theories behind nonviolence and conflict.

"I learned a lot about conflict before I learned anything about peace," he joked first, and then grew more serious. "You've been to both sides, you've been the victim ... the weak, and you have been the perpetrator, the strong."

Though Gross said he "stumbled" upon his work in his institute, which, according to the event's brochure, employs about 13 full-time street workers and 40 nonviolence trainers. He said he is dedicated to reducing and eventually ceasing street violence.

"In this country, we have a perception of being very happy when violence goes down 5 percent," he said. "Let me be clear, this is nonsense. Violence is manmade and absolutely preventable."

To help find sponsors for Gross's institute, Bernard LaFayette, the director of the Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies at URI, said any student or group who donated to the institute would receive 10 days of free tuition in the Summer Institute for Nonviolence at URI, which was met with loud applause from the audience.

He said the United States needs to change its attitude toward its youth, and compared it to those in other countries around the world.

"Children in India have a better chance of living than kids in Harlem," Gross said. "We have to be forgiving. We have to let kids make mistakes."

He added that if society takes measures to prevent these mistakes, like introducing recreational activities to children at a young age, America would see a decrease in violence on the streets.

Gross said one challenge his institute faces is penetrating the school system because the focus is "on standardized testing, not nonviolence."

After the luncheon ended, audience members were invited to walk to the center of the Quadrangle, where one black and one white balloon were released, signifying the unity society feels with the struggle of nonviolence and the purity it is hoping to achieve.

"We see that violence is celebrated in our world [through media and other means], and for just one week, we can hold up and celebrate nonviolence," Wade said during the luncheon.

Olson also presented the 2007-2008 Martin Luther King Jr. Peacemaker Award, which went to the URI Peer Advocates at the event. The Advocates create programs and workshops to educate and increase awareness concerning such topics as partner violence, drugs, sexual harassment and sexual abuse.

Sophomore Erin Bruyere said she found the event interesting.

"I used to work in a [Multicultural] Center at Johnson and Wales [University]," she said. "I was looking forward to seeing how this school celebrated [MLK Week] differently."

The luncheon was part of the university's Martin Luther King Jr. Week, which also hosted a film viewing and a Kingian Nonviolence Workshop. Cognitive Dissidents, a band composed of URI faculty, will also perform songs about civil rights tomorrow at noon in the Multicultural Center.

URI Chaplains, the Multicultural Center and the URI Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies sponsored the luncheon.

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools