The State - News from April 10, 1989

The Berkeley Peace Wall, two slabs of concrete covered with painted ceramic tiles, was dedicated as the Rev. Jesse Jackson told the crowd, “War will not work.” The wall, actually two 4-foot-tall semicircular concrete arcs in a patio at Martin Luther King Jr. Park, was the brainchild of local artist Carolyn Marks, who came up with the idea about five years ago and calls it a “basic human family quilt.” The tiles came from more than a dozen countries, including the Soviet Union, and carry slogans and artwork aimed at promoting peace. One tile reads “Peace through learning about each other;” another said “Humanity is one.” Some of the estimated 2,000 tiles were no so clearly peace-oriented. One just said “Oakland A’s”, and another was simply a shadow portrait of two children holding hands and jumping. About 2,000 people, from preschoolers to an elderly woman wearing a Gray Panthers button, gathered to view the wall and hear a parade of dignitaries, including Jackson, extol peace.