I Agree with Mike Huckabee

I sorta agree with Mike Huckabee.  There, I said it.

If you haven’t already heard, former Presidential candidate and current Fox News personality Mike Huckabee caused a minor uproar for some comments he made last week in response to the shooting in Newtown, CT.

Appearing on Fox News, Huckabee said that part of the reason for the violence in our school systems is that we have “systematically removed God from our schools.”

And, understandably, many people came out and criticized him for making such comments.

But I sort of agree with Huckabee.  Sort of.

I’ve been struggling with this for a few days and I recently saw a post from a Facebook friend expressing similar thoughts, so I thought I’d put mine down on paper (also known as a laptop) to see if I can make more sense of it.  So hear me out.

Huckabee went on to say that our school systems have become “a place where we don’t want to talk about eternity, life, what responsibility means, accountability.”

“People are going to want to pass new laws,” he continued.  “This is a heart issue… laws don’t change this kind of thing.”

Speaking as a non-Christian

Chicago On My Mind….

In two weeks, PPWN will be going back to Chicago for the annual week-long Advanced Youth Training with the Peace Warriors of North Lawndale College Prep Academy.  In the four years since this project began, with the leadership of the student Peace Warriors and dedicated staff (shout out to Positive Peace Warrior Tiffany “Ms C” Childress!!!), NLCP has seen 90% of it’s days go without an incident of physical violence.  90%!!!!!

Check out the short video above of the work happening in Chicago.  And please remember to support our work so that we can continue programs like this!  This year’s training will include students and staff from several other schools, and we are looking into doing a second training later on this summer because of the high level of interest!!!  Please give what you can so that we can continue to spread the agape!!!

Chicago’s Peace Warriors

North Lawndale HS Peace Warriors Training

One of the greatest honors I’ve had as a trainer in Kingian Nonviolence has been my participation in the past two annual, week-long Advanced Youth Certification Trainings at Chicago’s North Lawndale College Prep Academy (NLCP).  The annual training is part of a school-wide commitment to institutionalizing the philosophy of Kingian Nonviolence, a commitment that has brought the school a significant (70-80%) reduction in violence.

The school, located in Chicago’s west side, made the commitment several years ago after a school-year that was filled with violence.  Tiffany Childress, an NLCP science teacher, civic engagement director, Kingian Nonviolence trainer and a very good friend of mine, led the charge that resulted in an incredible transformation at the school.  The work that is happening there is incredible, and it is a model that other schools throughout the country should be looking to replicate.

Hopefully people will start taking note.  This week, the newest issue of Rethinking Schools – a magazine dedicated to improving this country’s school systems – came out, with an article I wrote about the work happening at NLCP.   Please take a look and share it with your friends and colleagues.  It’s been a great honor for me to have been able to work with the teachers, administrators, and students of NLCP.  Their commitment to building positive peace needs to be recognized, and their success should be national news.

Read the article HERE.  See video testimonials from student Peace Warriors and photos of our work after the jump.