Peacebuilding at McCallum HS

As I walked up to McCallum HS today for our SOY visit, I saw these wonderful murals painted on the side of one of their buildings. Each represents nonviolent social change makers -- exactly what we promote at our table! 

This represents the "Capitol Crawl" action on March 12, 1990 when disability rights activists literally crawled up the steps of the nation's capitol to demonstrate how inaccessability affected their lives.  This nonviolent direct action played a strong role in the ADA being passed soon after.

McCallum students were great -- very thoughtful in their responses to the reflection question, with their decisions in the Penny Poll, in telling us about ways in which they have used their First Amendment freedoms recently, pondering the people and events on the Peace Wheel, and in letting us know what they are thinking of doing after they graduate. One student said that her father is a rabbi at a local synagogue and there was a service with hundreds in attendance to mourn and remember those killed in the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting. She said that gathering peaceably at that service was using First Amendment freedoms. Another student told us that one of his mother's friends co-authored the children's book, "Grandfather Gandhi" along with Gandhi's grandson. Another student told us that by being an out gay man, he is expressing his First Amendment freedoms.  One 16 year-old student said that he is working on behalf of a candidate for the mid-term elections and had been politically active since he was 14 years old.  We value all the astute comments from students today.

The Penny Poll results showed the highest priority for Health Care with 29% of the vote, followed by Education at 22%, the Environment at 18%, Humanitarian Aid at 13%, 10% for NASA and 8% for the Military.
Here are the student responses to the reflection question, "The student-led #MarchForOurLives movement is trying to stop gun violence in our communities and schools. What about the gun violence of war? Are there similar ways to stop the spread of war?"

-"One of the ways to prevent war is to vote and elect officials who are willing to communicate nonviolently with other nations."
-"This is a different issue, where it's not regulating who can own weapons but rather beginning conflicts with other countries."
-"Many ways -- one is to pay for third world countries to stop civil war."
-"Perhaps the best way to combat violence is to avoid it altogether. What we need is a commander-in-chief whose goal is peace and containing violence overseas."
-"I think that protesting in an effort to stop war can work. It wasn't 100% effective when it was present in the 50's/60's, but I think looking there is certainly a good place to start."
-"Diplomatic accords that benefit both parties equally is the best way to ensure peace and cooperation and is the best road to success."
-"Pay attention on who you give guns to."
-"War is often started by disagreements or truce breaking which leads to gun violence. It's possible to stop but difficult."
-"We can foster internationalism to become better connected."
-"I believe that there are other ways to solve political problems on Earth, and on the other hand there is a possible way to change the spread of war."
-"I think political leaders often start wars too quickly without trying other solutions first. Lots of people get killed in wars that start from small things that could have been solved without killing."
-"Restrict who gets guns."
-"Gun reform laws."
-"Stricter background checks when selling guns."

Thanks to McCallum Knights for participating today!

It was moving to see this ofrenda in the hallway along with information about the cultural tradition of Dia de los Muertos

Nice to know about this club