from the Providence Journal:
Volunteers learn ways to promote nonviolence
Trixy Ferrell, one of 14 graduates, was motivated to get involved and
take the training class after her 18-year-old son was slain in April.
Friday, August 26, 2005
BY KAREN A. DAVIS
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE -- Dressed in a light blue dress shirt and faded blue jeans, David Cartegena stood before the City Hall audience overcome with emotion and temporarily speechless.
It had been a while since he cried, he confessed to the crowd. And, he didn't know what specifically prompted him to do so yesterday.
What Cartegena did know was that there was something wrong with the scene he had witnessed the day before, when he and another worker for nonviolence came across a group of 15 girls laughing and practicing a dance routine in the street off Broad Street on Lockwood.
Recognizing a few of the teens, Cartegena stopped and asked what they were doing.
It turns out, he said, that they were practicing a performance that they plan to give at a memorial service for a youth that was gunned down in the city earlier this year.
"And I thought, how sad is it that these girls have to get together on a nice summer night and practice a [memorial performance] for somebody who's no longer with us," Cartegena said.
Cartegena was one of 14 residents who graduated from a 60-hour training program conducted by the Institute for the Study & Practice of Nonviolence. It was the third graduating class that has completed the institute's program to train people to train others in steps to promote nonviolence.
The graduation ceremony, held yesterday morning in the Alderman's Chambers in City Hall, marked the end of the graduates' "nonviolence bootcamp," according to Jane E. Jellison, director of training. Now, the graduates will be asked to spread the message of the principles of nonviolence -- to schools, community centers, colleges and neighborhood organizations -- throughout the state.
Teny O. Gross, executive director of the institute and a former Israeli soldier, reminded graduates that they are certain to face challenges. They will be labeled as naive for being part of a movement that seeks to change how communities think and react to violence, by teaching the Kingian principles of nonviolence.
"As a peacemaker, you sometimes will be hated," Gross said. "You're changing the status quo . . . It's very difficult."
However, he said, his agency's crusade for change is necessary, considering that the dropout rate at some local high schools hovers around 50 percent; incarceration rates continue to climb nationwide and violence continues to plague city streets.
"There's got to be a time in this world when our children bury us and we stop burying our children," said Police Chief Dean M. Esserman, who spoke at the ceremony. "It [the violence] has got to stop."
While Esserman said he does not have the solution to stop the shootings and murders, he said he will do everything he can to end the violence.
He told the trainers that he respects and admires them and their role in the community, "and God knows I need your help."
U.S. Attorney Robert Clark Corrente also praised the group for wanting to stop tragedies before they occur. Since he took office last year, he said, his office has worked closely with police departments and community groups to come up with ways that citizens can work together to keep one dirty look from turning into a punch in the mouth, then a shot in the head and then a neighborhood feud.
Trixy Ferrell, one of the 14 graduates, said she was motivated to get involved and take the training class after her 18-year-old son, Barry D. Ferrell II, was shot and killed at a Hartford Avenue bus stop last April.
In June, a 16-year-old boy suspected in the murder was arrested in Orlando, Fla., and is awaiting prosecution.
Ferrell said street workers called her soon after her son's death and asked if she would be interested in the training program; she told him she "would definitely be interested."
Ferrell said nonviolence "actually does work if the principles are followed."
To practice nonviolence in resolving conflicts, the institute teaches that advocates should gather information, share information, strengthen commitment, negotiate with dignity for all, take appropriate direct action and always reconcile.
Ferrell said she was inspired by the training program to interview for one of the street worker positions that the institute is currently looking to fill, particularly because the current team of street workers -- deployed to reach out to youths and prevent violence and crime -- is all male.
Ferrell, who has four other sons, said she already spends time counseling youths, including her children, her children's friends, neighborhood youths and relatives.
Cartagena, who said he spent a large part of his life involved in the criminal element, said he set out to change his life, after being repeatedly locked up and feeling that "there's got to be more to life."
He said he now believes that life is about building the community, providing service to people, loving one another and treating people with respect.
David you will always be missed but never forgotten. You were always there for people who needed you the most. You always spoke your mind no matter who was there to hear it. Personally I believed in you. You helped people get out of gangs and help kids in group homes. When I first heard that you passed on I did not want to believe it. I wish I could say you are in a better place but the better place is here for you watching your daughter grow up.
Rest In Peace David Jr. Cartagena.
Posted by: Alicia Cosenza | June 04, 2009 at 10:14 AM