PRESS ADVISORY
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT CONVENERS OF 21 NOVEMBER 2021 -1:00 P.M. (E.D.T.) PRESS CONFERENCE:
Mr. Tommy Joshua Caison
Founder and Executive Director
Philly Peace Park
Telephone: (215) 307-7102
E-Mail: bringblacklife@gmail.com
Website: www.phillypeacepark.org
Queen Mother Falaka Fattah
Co-Founder and Executive Director
House of Umoja, Inc.
(215) 473-5893
E-Mail: falakafattah@aol.com
Website: www.houseofumoja.net/pressroom
In the wake of the City of Philadelphia’s traumatizing gun violence emergency that has claimed the lives of at least 478 souls and produced at least 2,016 nonfatal shooting victims, PARTNERS IN PEACE – a collective of intergenerational organizations and community stakeholders -- will unveil its strategy to “Return Peace In The Streets” at a press conference on Sunday, 21 November 2021 to be convened at the House of Umoja, Inc. at 5625 West Master Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The multi-tiered strategy to address Philadelphia’s gun violence emergency which takes the form of a series of ceasefires to be implemented over spaces of time is designed and proposed by MR. TOMMY JOSHUA CAISON, Founder and Executive Director of Philly Peace Park (www.phillypeacepark.org). Two areas of the city which have become “gun violence hot spots” – North Philadelphia and West Philadelphia – have been designated by MR. CAISON as Gun Violence Ceasefire Zones commencing Monday, 22 November 2021 at 12:00 A.M. (E.D.T.) through Monday, 29 November 2021 at 12:00 A.M. (E.D.T.):
• North Philadelphia Gun Violence Ceasefire Zone: 22nd Street through 25th Street from Jefferson to Berks Streets
• West Philadelphia Gun Violence Ceasefire Zone: 49th Street through 59th Street from Girard Avenue to Master Street which encompasses the Carroll Park Neighborhood which is a component of a Gun Violence Free Zone in Philadelphia’s 19th Police District. The Carroll Park Neighborhood is bounded by Girard Avenue to the South; Lansdowne Avenue to the North; North 53rd Street to the West; and North 52nd Street to the East.
The gun violence ceasefire scheduled to commence on Monday, 22 November 2021 at 12:00 A.M. (E.D.T.) constitutes Round One of the series of gun violence ceasefires designed and proposed by MR. CAISON. Round Two of the series of gun violence ceasefires which MR. CAISON has designed and proposed is scheduled to commence on Monday, 20 December 2021 at 12:00 P.M. (E.D.T.) through Sunday, 2 January 2022. Mr. Caison who, along with other speakers at the press conference scheduled for Sunday, 21 November 2021 will be available for interviews with electronic and print media journalists, offered the following thoughts:
“Queen Mother Falaka Fattah started the legendary House of Umoja in 1968 which grew directly out of the historic Black Power Conference. With her late husband The Honorable David Fattah, who was the chief negotiator for a peace conference attended by leaders of Philadelphia’s street organizations, they led the historic ‘No Gang War In 74’ Campaign which led to the 1974 Imani Peace Pact agreed to by over eighty street organizations which ended gang violence in the City of Philadelphia. Queen Mother Falaka Fattah, recognizes the great importance, hard work and value of all anti-violence groups in the city and is calling for all organizations striving for peace in the city to join forces to ‘Return Peace In The Streets”. The vision is that we can unite to declare and enforce area-wide local ceasefires in New Afrikan/Black neighborhoods, starting with the Thanksgiving Week Ceasefire, by working closely with grassroot community leaders, youth, and peacekeepers. A united joint effort is needed in the face of rising violence and Queen Mother Falaka Fattah is inviting all organizations to send representatives to the Partners In Peace Press Conference which will be held on Sunday, November 21, 2021 at 1:00 P.M. at the House of Umoja at 5625 West Master Street. Join the Movement for Peace and Black Life!”
“The House of Umoja, Inc. supports Mr.
Caison’s proposals that he designed to help move our city toward peace. It is
fitting that Partners In Peace selected the week of the Thanksgiving Holiday to
declare a ceasefire. Thanksgiving is a
time of reflection and the coming together of family, friends, and neighbors.
It nudges us to practice gratitude and step outside of ourselves and embrace
the souls of others. There is a direct
connection between gratitude and peace as pointed out in ‘The Book Of Joy:
Lasting Happiness In A Changing World’ authored by His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso,
the Fourteenth Dalai Lama; Nobel Peace
Prize Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu; and Douglas Carlton Abrams, a former
editor at HarperSanFrancisco. The passage in the book that comes to mind
states: ‘When you are grateful, you are not fearful, and when you are not
fearful, you are not violent. When you are grateful, you act out of a sense of
enough and not out of a sense of scarcity and you are willing to share. If you are grateful, you are enjoying the
differences between people and respectful to all people. The grateful world is a world of joyful
people. Grateful people are joyful
people. A grateful world is a happy
world.’ Souls who are violent are not
grateful and joyful. Through the ceasefire, Partners In Peace is utilizing the
Thanksgiving Holiday as a platform to move souls in our great city to
peacefully resolve differences, embrace the souls of others by learning to step
outside of themselves, and operate from a sense of connectedness,” remarked Queen Mother Falaka Fattah, the Co-Founder and Executive
Director of House of Umoja, Inc.
Following the press conference which will be convened by PARTNERS IN PEACE under the theme, “Return Peace To The Streets”, at 1:00 P.M. (E.D.T.) on Sunday, 21 November 2021 at the House of Umoja, Inc., a series of events are planned to usher in Round One of the “Return Peace To The Streets” Gun Violence Ceasefire commencing on Monday, 22 November 2021 and concluding on Monday, 29 November 2021.
To learn more about the intergenerational collective of community stakeholders and organizations – PARTNERS IN PEACE – and its “Return Peace To The Streets” ceasefire, contact QUEEN MOTHER FALAKA FATTAH, President of the House of Umoja, Inc. at (215) 473-5893 or send an e-mail to: falakafattah@aol.com and MR. TOMMY JOSHUA CAISON, Founder and Executive Director of Philly Peace Park (215) 307-7102 or send an e-mail to: bringblacklife@gmail.com.
For further information about Philly Peace Park which has distributed 3,000 pounds of free fresh and healthy produce to community members since 2018 and through several school partnerships provides students enrolled in Grades K through 12 with ecologically-based programs that comprise planting, harvesting, landscape design and construction, composting, pollinators, plant identification, and art, visit its website at www.philly peacepark.org.
For further information about the House of Umoja, Inc., visit its website at www.houseofumoja.net.. Established in 1968, the House of Umoja, Inc. is an internationally acclaimed organization recognized by former United States Presidents The Honorable James Earl Carter, Jr. and the late Honorable Ronald Reagan. for its pioneering work in the areas of gang reduction, youth programming, and community organizing which has been documented in published articles such as A Summons To Life, by Robert Woodson of the American Enterprise Institute in 1981 and The Violent Juvenile Offender by Paul DeMuro and Richard Allison of the National Council On Crime And Delinquency in 1984.
No comments:
Post a Comment