Gather the Women - Oakland 'Peace walk' for victims of violence

'Peace walk' for victims of violence
March 'for prayer, mediation' ends at Police Department
By Colin Atagi
CORRESPONDENT

OAKLAND -- About a dozen people who have lost friends or family members to recent violence in Oakland staged a "peace walk" downtown Monday.

"We're calling it a peace walk where we're walking with an attitude of bringing peace to the community," said Badia Cooper, chairperson of A Season For Non-Violence, a group that promotes peace based on the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. "This day is a day for prayer and meditation."

The University of Creation Spirituality hosted the prayer and meditation peace walk along Broadway, which started at 22nd Street and ended at the Oakland Police Department, at Seventh Street.

During the 25-minute walk, the group of about 12 people carried picket signs with messages promoting peace.

"We are few, but we're making a statement," Cooper said.

Some of the signs were made by Kynthia, an Albany artist who goes by her last name.

"It's an opportunity to unite the community in prayer; honoring the loved ones who were slain," she said. "It's an opportunity to seek out a new solution."

The walk coincided with the first day of "Gather the Women," a global movement for women to learn how to control their power and wisdom to benefit everyone.

"It's time for women to join hands with men and bring forth the wisdom from our perspective," Kynthia said. "Women have been silent and need to be vocal."

Some female police officers had been scheduled to take part in a prayer outside the police station, but they weren't available because of a shift change.

"It's the officers who deal with the pain in our city," Kynthia said. "We're offering them love and inspiration and including them in the solution."

The picket signs were used to make a shrine outside the police station to remember the victims of violence and honor their families. Participants said a prayer to show their desire to live peacefully, regardless of sex, race or religion.

Jackie Hollis-Myers joined the group for the prayer. She said she has lost several loved ones to violence, but declined to be more specific.

"(The walk) is a collective effort to bring together the community," she said. "It's not a racial thing anymore. This just can't be me as an African American. We all need to do it together."

Gather the Women continues Saturday at the University of Creation Spirituality. For more information, call 835-4827 or visit http://www.gatherthewomen.org