Crenshaw Students Rally for Peace in District

Hundreds of students at Crenshaw High took a pledge for peace Friday at a lunchtime rally.

The event, billed as “Peace at ‘Shaw City,” was organized by students who are taking a class in conflict resolution, an elective at the high school.

The conflict resolution students asked their fellow schoolmates to sign a piece of paper pledging to promote nonviolence in their neighborhoods. In return, they were given a free soft drink from a local beverage manufacturer.

Several students performed rap songs and demonstrated conflict resolution by putting on a skit about two girls interested in the same boy.

County Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke spoke at the rally, commending the students for participating in the peace rally. “You are preparing for leadership and this is where you prepare,” Burke said.

Khalid Shaw, president of Stop the Violence/Increase the Peace, an Inglewood nonprofit group, also addressed the young people. “There are too many young people dying our in our cities. This is not a joke,” he said.

Members of Community Youth Gang Services and the Los Angeles chapter of MAD DADS also participated in the rally.

Andreka Moore, 14, who is in the conflict resolution class, said she has found the class helpful. “I’ve learned how to deal with problems and prepare for real life,” she said.