Radio Tolerance with the Peace Warriors:
Invisible to the broader views of public schooling and youth, sits an extraordinary project in Lawndale called the Peace Warriors. This program was introduced to the community by Lafayette Monroe, who marched with Dr. Martin Luther King in the 1960s and was deeply influenced by the non-violent examples he practiced. This current, self initiated group of high school students have set out to change the language of violence in one of the toughest neighborhoods in Chicago.
Stockyard Institute’s founder, Jim Duignan, interviewed a dozen Peace Warriors about their responsibility as a volunteer membership, the depth of administrative support and most importantly, their own sense of satisfaction in contributing to the school’s most important cause. At a final peace rally at the North Lawndale College Preparatory High School which celebrated 192 days of uninterrupted peace, John Horan, principal and I spoke enthusiastically about the prospects for youth driven change. 193 days earlier, Horan had stopped investing in security and removed the metal detectors at each of the school’s entryways to the concern of many students.