[MUSIC] Greetings, my name is James Roland with Emory University and also with the newly created Emory Center for Advancing Nonviolence. It is my pleasure and my honor today to have the opportunity to talk once again with the world renowned Dr. Bernard LaFayette, and talk to him more about the tremendous work that he's doing advance nonviolence. So please, as we talk about nonviolence and as it relates to education and the way in which it can transform the world for the better. Dr. Lafayette, could you give us a quick update about some of the projects that you're working on to advance nonviolence both here and abroad? >> Well, thank you very much for the opportunity to be here. One of the projects we're working on is preparing to put the modules of nonviolence in the training academies for law enforcement. Because we want to institutionalize this, and not just simply a reaction to some of the events that are happening here that are unfortunate. But to make sure that we put the modules in so that all of the law enforcement officers who are going through the training will continue to go through the training. Even when those who are enthusiastic about it now have already transitioned and changed jobs or retired. That it would be not dependent on an individual, but it would be institutionalized, so that's one of the things that we're looking at. Then we have about 40 law enforcement officers now who are presently working full time in Connecticut. And they are now going through the training so that they will have that appreciation for the concepts. Now, the other project we're working on is to look at how we can put this into the educational system. One thought, and we're exploring this, and that is to put it into freshman orientation. So that all the freshman would have the opportunity to be exposed to this and be able to apply it immediately to their own environment. For example, their peers and those who may share the same residential facility. And we appreciate the fact that people have differences. And the question is how do we help people learn to deal with those differences and even though they're the opposite. And yet maintain some relationship, which is necessary if you're gonna function in a community. So a community is a place where people empty their garbage. So, it's all kind of garbage, but the community participates in disposing of those things. Which means it gives you much more opportunity to manage the conflict. The conflict doesn't necessarily have to go away, but in certain cases conflict needs to be managed in order to be able to function in a community. Another project we're working on, in the Ferguson community, for example, is that we are taking people through the training. And one of the things we're looking at is, the, practical application of the workshops on nonviolence. But also teaching them to do voter registration and voter education so that those tools and those kind of strategies become much more effective in their community. For an example, the whole concept of what civics has been taken out of high school, for example. And so therefore, a lot of the students don't get a chance to understand how the government functions. They may say the Preamble to the Constitution but, and sing our anthems and that sort of thing. But they don't have any understanding of how the government works. Relationship between our judicial system and legislative system, they're all dealing with laws, but who has priority? Who has the ability to make it function properly? So one of the things we want them to do is appreciate that, but more importantly, how the community must take a part in making that happen. And when our young people, even though some of them are younger and not able to vote because they are not 18. We want them to also understand how to do citizenship education so when they do become eligible to vote by age, they'll know how to participate. So one of the things we are doing now is looking specifically at creating what we call youth legislatures, so that these young people will have a replica of their state government. And each of the students who are in jurisdictions, okay, their schools will be the defining point of which jurisdiction they're in. So that will be less complicated because they're in schools. So from ages 12 to 17 they will elect representatives from their districts to represent them. And to represent them means that these people who they elect will be a replica of the ones who are already in office. And they will be responsible for telling the rest of the group what's going on with them and what legislation that's on the table. And what the different arguments and that kind of thing. And there'll role play of people learning how to argue points of view whether you agree with it or not. It's important for them to have a comprehensive view of how the government works and some of the precepts and some of the theories and concepts. So that they will also be ready to participate skilled in that. Because if we're gonna have a true democratic system, we have to have people who understand how the democratic system should work. >> There's no doubt. >> And so therefore, that is part of, put it into the education of young people. And that could be beyond the school itself and in the community. The real thing we're looking at is how they can educate their parents now, immediately. >> Wow. >> And the other adults in their community. We're trying to change the dinner conversation so that now you got young people and they're talking about politics. And they're talking about government and decisions. And basically they're talking about how their tax money is being spent. We want young people to have an appreciation of the relationship between voting and what budgets means to them and their parents and grandparents. How they're affected by health programs, because each state has its own jurisdiction and its own policies as to how money will be used for the welfare of the citizens. So those are projects that we are looking at. And one of the other things we are doing is looking at the other countries and those that have people who are advocating for nonviolence and social change. And what we wanna do is offer this on a global level by bringing people in to conferences. Not just simply to discuss the issues of the debate. But, we talking about how we make about bring about change, and that's what this institution is about.
