Skip to main content

Making Justice Present on MLK Day

"True peace is not merely the absence of tension: it is the presence of justice."
- Martin Luther King Jr., in a 1955 response to an accusation that he was "disturbing the peace" by his activism during the Montgomery Bus Boycott in Montgomery, Alabama
Youth from Red Hook and throughout New York City made signs and participated in a peace march through the neighborhood to celebrate Dr. King's lecacy.
Monday was a big day for Red Hook. Over 200 volunteers came to the Red Hook Recreation Center to honor the birthday and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by pitching in towards the neighborhood's continued recovery from Hurricane Sandy, facilitating workshops on nonviolence and inequality, and participating in a peace march through the neighborhood. Choosing to make Monday "a day on, not a day off" when schools and many businesses are closed was particularly poignant in light of this year's MLK Day coinciding with President Obama's 2nd inauguration, the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, and the 20th anniversary of the murder of beloved local educator Principal Patrick Daly. 

The day began with a visit from Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who came to Red Hook to celebrate the service of AmeriCorps members from the New York Juvenile Justice Corps and volunteers from NYC Service. Volunteers donned face masks and plastic jumpsuits to scrape paint and restore the flood-damaged basement of the Recreation Center, an important community resource that has not been fully functioning since the storm. You can read an article about his visit here: http://www.queensledger.com/pages/full_story/push?article-National+Service+Day+in+Red+Hook+focuses+on+Sandy+cleanup+=&id=21482269

In the Recreation Center's gym, dozens of local youth and teen participants from the Center for Court Innovation's youth programs, including the Red Hook Youth Court, the Brownsville Youth Court, and the Harlem Youth Court, were treated to a presentation on Dr. King's life and lecacy, followed by workshops facilitated by AmeriCorps members that connected his achivements and activism to the role of leaders and role models in participants' own lives. Afterwards, AmeriCorps and Youth Court members served as role models themselves to younger participants by working together to create signs and crowns for our peace march, and to paint MLK-themed murals to be distributed to local community organizations. 

Check out photos of the workshops and art projects (click to enlarge):




In the afternoon, over 100 youth, AmeriCorps members, staff, and other community members braved the weather to brighten up the bitterly cold, gray day with colorful messages of peace in a march through Red Hook. The march was a powerful visual reminder to the community that Dr. King's legacy lives on, and an inspiration to continue to embrace his message of unity and nonviolence, and to persevere in achieveing "true peace."

Check out photos of the peace march (click to enlarge):


 

Jessica Colon
Deputy Project Director

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Supporting the Staten Island Youth Justice Center at "Inside/Outside Legislative Theatre" Performance

On June 4th, a group of the Red Hook Youth Court members and staff went to see the "Theater of the Oppressed NYC" performance at the New School. Before attending this event, the youth court members had no idea that anything like this went on! While there, we learned that 12 different legislative laws were changed through something called "Legislative Theatre." The audience members get to be "spect-actors," which is great because the actual audience members got to participate in the play themselves and share their ideas. The performances last night were put on by members of the Staten Island Youth Justice Center (part of the Center for Court Innovation Family). These two plays dealt with real life issues such as getting stopped for not paying your bus fare, arriving late to school and getting sent to the principal's office because of the "zero tolerance policy," getting into fights at school, not knowing one's rights, and being raciall...

Rent, Repairs, and Rights: A Guide to Housing Court for NYCHA Tenants

 Lillian Marshall, Tenant Association President of Red Hook West (left) and Naureen Rashid, Director of Court Operations Dorothy Shields, Tenant Association President of Red Hook East (Left) and Naureen Rashid, Director of Court Operations  Hon. Alex Calabrese, Presiding Judge of the Red Hook Community Justice Center   Graphic Designer Jenny Kutnow  Clara Amenyo from the Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP)  

Youth Advisory Board presents findings on the needs of Brooklyn youth to scholars and community

For the past seven months the members of the Youth Advisory Board have been working with a team of graduate students from the Milano School of International Affairs, Management and Urban Policy at The New School and a New York Juvenile Justice Corps member from the Red Hook Community Justice Center to explore issues faced by young people in southwest Brooklyn. During this time the members of the Youth Advisory board have been identifying and investigating important questions about high school graduation rates and gang involvement in southwest Brooklyn. Throughout this process they have conducted interviews, handed out surveys, taken pictures and told their own stories. On Tuesday, May 29 th the members of the Youth Advisory Board screened a short video they made about these issues and presented the findings of their research to Justice Center staff, youth programs participants, faculty and administrators from The New School University , and community members. Teen members of t...