SYLMAR : Mission College Site of Rally for Peace

A rally for peace will be held Saturday at Mission College where all those attending the event will be asked to sign a personal pledge to “extend my hand in peace and friendship to my fellow human being.”

“You don’t even have to love your neighbor,” said Arthur Stevens, executive director of the Harmony Coalition, a sponsor of the festival. “Just be a good neighbor and we’ll start from there.”

The festival will include music, dancing and magic from a variety of cultures as well as speakers, including Los Angeles Deputy Police Chief Martin Pomeroy. The Martin Luther King Center for Non-Violence and other groups dedicated to peace will also participate.

Stevens founded the Harmony Coalition in December because of the violence throughout Los Angeles and the world.

“All of a sudden, people are killing children,” Stevens said. “I formed the Harmony Coalition because if we wait for politicians to do something it just won’t be done. I’m putting it up to the people to take this first step.”

Stevens said he hopes the rally will attract people who are “concerned about the moral and social fiber of the world and the lack of spiritual direction in the world.”

Organizers will distribute gold ribbons that can be made into angels, symbolizing an intention to truly turn Los Angeles into a “City of Angels.” Volunteers are needed to help get pledges signed. To help contact the Volunteer Center of the San Fernando Valley. Stevens said he is hoping to rekindle the spirit of togetherness that has faded since the Northridge earthquake in January. To him, the disaster was a wake-up call from God.

“It was definitely a forewarning that we should all get together,” Stevens said. “We have to wake up before it’s too late.”