On Friday, there was the annual Martin Luther King assembly at my son's school. Along with our annual favorites "The Dream of Martin Luther King," "Oh Freedom," and "Woke Up This Morning" the younger children (prek-3rd) sang a new song for them "Peace, Salaam, Shalom." These past few weeks, the dream of peace has never seemed more important, and it was good to remember how King's embrace of peace and nonviolence was not just that of a pragmatic strategy, but a vision of world transformed to Beloved Community. As he said in his Nobel Prize lecture

So we must fix our vision not merely on the negative expulsion of war, but upon the positive affirmation of peace. We must see that peace represents a sweeter music, a cosmic melody that is far superior to the discords of war.

I diaried Monday about a group of young activist from New York working this week in Mississippi: http://www.dailykos.com/...

Here's an update on their first two days in schools.

Monday, April 3rd
Title: First Real Day in Schools
Text: This morning we left early for Pascagoula, 3 and a half hours away. When we arrived we drove around the town and headed down to the ocean front area where we could see the houses that had been destroyed.  People have been living in trailers, which were set up in front of or behind what was left of each house.  In some cases there was only the foundation left. When we arrived at Central Elementary we were greeted by the principals (there are now two schools housed in one building because Beach Elementary school was completely destroyed by Katrina), who told their storied about the hurricane.

I wanted to tell you about some seventh and eighth graders I know.

This week about 40 middle schoolers from Manhattan Country School are in the southern part of Mississippi on a trip they have been planning since school started in the days after hurricaine Katrina. They were (like all of us) upset and angry about what they had seen, and they deeply wanted to make a difference. So, with their teachers they spent much of the fall coming up with a plan.

Ednesha Ida Mae Holland died on January 25, although it just made The Times this week. It seems to me that her life along with the lives of Corretta Scott King and Rosa Parks embodied the complexity of the modern civil rights movements and the central role of women in that movement. Although the story of the movement is often presented as that of (really) great men doing great works, it was often the women who organized and took risks.

These three women represented three very different groups and their lives had very different arcs. Correta Scott King was educated in the north and entered the movement the wife of one of its leaders who was from a family prominent in Black Atlanta. Rosa Parks, although often depicted as a "tired" ordinary person, was a longtime activist with the NAACP when her famous refusal to give up her seat took place. She had also attended the Highlander Folk School. As a seamstress she occupied a middle class position in Montgomery's Black society. Their stories are well known.
Ednesha Ida Mae Holland's life was very different.

Last Thursday was graduation at the college where I teach, part of the City University of New York. This year happens to have been a great one in terms of students in our department. I don't know if this is related to the attack on the World Trade Center just a few weeks into the first semester for many of them.

One of the best is also a blogger. I'm going to give you a sample and a link to the rest after the fold.