Walk for Planet Peace, opening event for "Ten Days Free From Violence"

Walk for Planet Peace: Honoring Gandhi’s Vision for His 150th Birthday

Featuring Teacher of nonviolence, author and Nobel Peace Prize Nominee, Fr. John Dearand award-winning changemaker, Deborah Watts, Emmett Till’s cousin—and Co-Founder and President of the Emmett Till Legacy Foundation.

Date: Walk for Planet Peace: Honoring Gandhi’s Vision for His 150th Birthday starts at 9:30am at the St. Paul Cathedral, 239 Selby, to end at the State Capitol at 12:30pm.

Contact: Kate Towle, 612.743.5107; or Ram Gada at: 612.961.1647.

Our hearts have wept with all the deaths due to violence in the Twin Cities; the unspeakable tragedies in Dayton, Ohio, El Paso and Odessa; and the August vandalism of Emmett Till’s memorial in Mississippi. Committed to reducing all forms of violence, Twin Cities Nonviolent has sparked an idea: invite people and organizations to share their practices for violence prevention and recovery for the 2nd Annual 10 Days Free from Violence, from September 20-29th.

This year, the opening event will be the Walk for Planet Peace to honor Gandhi’s vision for his 150th birthday. The Walk, on International Peace Day, September 21st, will begin at the St. Paul Cathedral and end at the State Capitol Upper Mall, where we will hear from activist priest, author and Nobel Peace Prize nominee, Fr. John Dear, who started the Nonviolent Cities Movement—and who has inspired a network of peace organizations to work resolutely to end violence in the Twin Cities. We will also hear from Deborah Watts, cousin of Emmett Till, who as Co-Founder and President of the Emmett Till Legacy Foundation, has built a platform to insure that time will always remember Emmett, his legacy and the unjust social conditions that debase humanity. Ms. Watts was an Essence Magazine/Time Inc. Inaugural 100 WOKE Women Honoree in 2017. We will also be joined by Rev. Dr. Nancy Nord Bence of Protect Minnesota and Miss Black Minnesota, Thandisizwe Jackson.

The Walk is made possible by community volunteers with support from the organizations MN Alliance of Peacemakers, The India Association of Minnesota and the climate justice leader, MN 350.

The 10 Days menu of events for violence prevention and recovery will include a Festival of Giving to teach children empathy; an event to support women recovering from sex trafficking; the 28th Annual Black Master Storyteller Festival, along with writers’ forums, prayer services, theater performances and more. Please stand with us. Learn with us. And wage peace in the Twin Cities by visiting: www.twincitiesnonviolent.org.

Kate Towle Twin Cities Nonviolent Steering Committee (www.twincitiesnonviolent.org) Peace Literacy National Committee, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation (www.peaceliteracy.org) 612.743.5107