{"id":7289,"date":"2025-04-03T11:49:56","date_gmt":"2025-04-03T16:49:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/?p=7289"},"modified":"2025-04-03T11:50:00","modified_gmt":"2025-04-03T16:50:00","slug":"inside-the-decision-to-cancel-the-2025-mlk-peace-march","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/inside-the-decision-to-cancel-the-2025-mlk-peace-march\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside The Decision To Cancel The 2025 MLK Peace March"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Image provided by Antonella Dominguez from 2024’s Peace March<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every January, Grace students spend a week considering the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement, linking those struggles to modern fights for greater social, political, and economic equality. For the last two decades, a defining feature of Grace\u2019s MLK programming was the Peace March. However, this year, the school administration canceled it in light of President Donald Trump\u2019s inauguration, which took place during the same week. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Akbar Ali Herndon, our chief technology officer, has been deeply involved with Grace\u2019s MLK programming for many years. He explained that initially, in 1994, an \u201cassembly was the first MLK cornerstone.\u201d The inaugural events had students \u201cbring and create and share ways of celebrating [MLK\u2019s] life, liberty, freedom, anything that brought human spirit to life.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Historically, another defining feature of MLK week is the Peace March, where students walk from the lower school to Union Square, holding signs and posters advocating for greater equality and climate justice, among other pressing global challenges. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This became an indelible part of MLK week in the early 2000s, when, according to Dr. Ali Herndon, \u201cone of the diversity directors at the time, Hillary North, suggested we use a march as a way of further expressing the ideas of what you might share on a sign.\u201d In addition, the march allowed students \u201cto experience the force and power that the civil rights workers were bringing to any situation by gathering together and moving through the streets.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the high school was founded in 2012, social justice symposia were added to the MLK programming in January 2016. Initially, these workshops were held on one day, but were subsequently expanded to three days. Symposia have delved into a number of topics, including the legal strategy of civil rights activists and the history of female presidential candidates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the past, the Peace March was mandatory for lower school students and optional for high schoolers. But after two decades, the school administration canceled it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to his recollection, Dr. Ali Herndon was the first to raise safety concerns in either October or November. Describing his thinking last fall, he had hoped the March would include both middle and high school students in \u201cfull force\u201d this year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In subsequent discussions with colleagues, Dr. Ali Herndon iterated safety issues surrounding a sizable student body of roughly 500: \u201cThe police precinct knows we have the march every year,\u201d he said, \u201cThey sort of protect us. They help us with the crosswalk.\u201d However, the greater number of people would make the police \u201cgive it a different kind of attention.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, Jean-Robert Andre, Grace\u2019s Director of Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging, described the school\u2019s concerns surrounding President Trump\u2019s inauguration, which took place the same week: \u201cGiven what we had experienced in the past couple of years \u2026 around the time of elections and unrest, we needed to ask hard questions about what it would be like to run our usual movement.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Andre explained that the signs carried by students advocating for \u201cqueer identities, women\u2019s rights, gender equity and equality, voting rights,\u201d could have been perceived as a political protest, as these issues have become \u201ccharged conversations\u201d in the current political landscape. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of utmost concern, he identified a principal safety concern as \u201cwhat happens if folks in the [outside] community that were marching through [interact] with the students in a way that is \u2026 a physical safety concern.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the lower school campus, Elizabeth Abrams, the Choral Director and a teacher in the Middle School\u2019s Music Department, who has been intimately involved with MLK week during her decades at the school, illustrated how safety concerns in relation to Trump\u2019s inauguration were the primary concern speculated by her and her colleagues. \u201cIt could have been that there would be people who saw it as a protest against the inauguration,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd might\u2019ve \u2026 yelled negative things.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before coming to the final decision, Elsa Hepner, the Head of Middle School, described the process of canceling the march. \u201cWe talked through it in senior administration, which means every senior administrator,\u201d she said, \u201cto kind of gather a variety of perspectives.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ms. Hepner did not point to any opposition from middle school faculty. \u201cThey were all pretty much on board,\u201d she recalled. \u201cSo then I came back to the group, and we decided that would ultimately be the decision.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similarly, Mr. Andre highlighted several conversations about the march. \u201cThere was very much a structured conversation, and then there were conversations among divisions if the march doesn\u2019t exist, what do we do? What are we going to do instead?\u201d he explained. \u201cThere was a long period of conversations that led up to when we were making communications around the peace program up through right before winter break.\u201d According to him, Robert Pennoyer and Lorry Perry were at all administration meetings where this decision was discussed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reflecting on the decision to cancel the Peace March, Ms. Abrams described a deep sense of sadness. \u201cThe Peace March is just so beautiful,\u201d she said. \u201cI had to find solace in other things because that is really a beautiful moment to me\u2014when we all stand in Union Square and sing, \u2018We Shall Overcome.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wilson Urist \u201827, the author, is a staff writer for <\/em>The Grace Gazette.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Image provided by Antonella Dominguez from 2024’s Peace March Every January, Grace students spend a week considering the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement, linking… Continue reading “Inside The Decision To Cancel The 2025 MLK Peace March”<\/span> <\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":109,"featured_media":7290,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8,200,16,7],"tags":[180],"appful":[],"class_list":["post-7289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-recent","category-special-sections","category-school","tag-featured"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9uEnr-1Tz","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Peace-March-800x500-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/109"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7289"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7289\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7291,"href":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7289\/revisions\/7291"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7289"},{"taxonomy":"appful","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/appful?post=7289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}