Men March for Peace in Woodlawn

by Brian Patrick Roach
June 27, 2008 – During a recent anti-violence march in Woodlawn, a man nudged a friend, pointed to a street corner, and noted that was where a young

man he knew was shot to death. The man’s head slumped and shook side to side in grief. After a few moments, he raised his head high, lifted his right hand tall into the sky clenching his fingers together into a powerful fist and cried out, “Stop the violence! Increase the peace!”

Last weekend on the Northeast corner of 64th Street and Cottage Grove Avenue, about 15 men from The Black Star Project and about 15 men from the Englewood Political Task Force met to rouse the neighborhood with the power of marching. Their goals – stopping violence and increasing peace.

“Take Peace to the Streets” involves a group of male volunteers walking through communities with high levels of violence and crime. The purpose of the march – the next ones will be July 12 in Englewood and July 26 in Roseland – is to make sure local residents know about the resources available within their community, such as information on job training, health care, educational support and after-school programs for kids.

“Right now for young black children in Chicago, it is more dangerous than Iraq,” said Phillip Jackson, executive director of The Black Star Project, which started the march in 2007. “They want something like this; they need something like this.”

After a short prayer, the June 21st march began. Men wearing yellow shirts that stated, “Educate or die…the final frontier,” and others wearing white Englewood Political Task Force ball caps marched from the corner of 64th Street and Cottage Grove Avenue and headed in a counter-clockwise direction outlining several blocks.

No matter the yellow shirt or white hat, every man roared in unison: “Black Man! Hittin’ the streets! Stop the violence! Increase the peace!” or “Real men stand up, little boys sit down! Save the children!” As the group marched down the block gaining more attention, voices from windows and porches added their support saying, “That’s what we need” or “God bless y’all.”

At the end of each block, the last man in the group tied a long black and yellow ribbon around a tree or pole to signify The Black Star Project’s presence and to symbolize their chant: Stop the violence, increase the peace. The yellow represents the violence and the black represents peace. During the march, along with packets of community information, the men distributed miniature black and yellow ribbons for people to pin to their clothing.

Stuart Scott, program manager at The Black Star Project and coordinator of the campaign, said the march is working, but one walk-through isn’t going to make the community perfect.

Scott said the city’s answer to reducing violence in highly violent communities is to equip police officers with automatic weapons. Scott opposes the idea, and so does Jackson. Though Jackson understands the city’s reaction, he believes responding to violence with additional violence is not the answer. He believes the answer is in improving education, rebuilding families and revitalizing communities with jobs and hope.

“Whether you want to be involved or not,” Jackson said, “you are involved in the future of all communities, in all of our children’s lives and we can make it a positive involvement.”

Other photos of the March:

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