The ETHS Student Chapter of the NAACP, along with high school students, staff and community members, will hold a rally for peace on Tuesday, April 26, in response to the recent shootings and violent deaths of young people in the Evanston Community.
The “Stop the Youth Violence” Peace Rally-March will start at 3:45 p.m. on Tuesday on the front lawn of Evanston Township High School, 1600 Dodge Avenue, between Lake Street and Church Street in Evanston. The Peace Rally-March is open to the public, and all Evanston community members are invited to participate.
The event will kick off the ETHS Chapter of the NAACP’s “Stop the Violence, Stop the Funerals, Start the Peace, Start the Love” campaign. This student-led campaign is designed to draw attention to the increase in youth violence and its impact on the Evanston community — both to the youths who are involved in violent acts and to the young people who are caught in the midst of the conflict.
The campaign is designed to give all students in Evanston – from kindergarten to 12th grade – an opportunity to express the impact of violence on their lives by attending community rallies, marches, and documenting their thoughts in written form. The goal of this campaign is to encourage young people to speak about issues of violence and to talk about ways to foster peace and prevent future events in the Evanston community.
“We encourage students to make personal commitments to do something about the problem; the campaign ultimately seeks to empower them to break the cycles of violence in their homes, schools and neighborhoods,” a representative from the ETHS Chapter of the NAACP said in a statement about the Peace Rally-March.
Speakers at the rally will include ETHS students Tim Huff, Amanda Hoseman, Alexis Marquez and Nancy Cárdenas. Several community leaders will also speak, including District 202 Superintendent, Dr. Eric Witherspoon; Reverend Dr. Phillip Amerson, President of Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary; Reverend Joseph Waters, Second Baptist Church; and Ms. Cathy Key-Payne, MOM’s Organization.
The ETHS Chapter of the NAACP is an African American-centered student organization that strives to secure full citizenship and civil rights for all Americans, especially “the least among us.”