Amid tennis matches, basketball games, and inmates otherwise enjoying a warm Saturday afternoon, the Amala Foundation held its second annual Peace Walk for Children.
About 30 local community members joined hundreds of San Quentin prisoners to bring awareness to the displacement children undergo as a result of political strife throughout the world.
“This day is a day of unity for me,” said Vanessa Stone, one of the organizers of the foundation.
“We get to touch lives from what we do, and it ripples throughout the world,” said another foundation organizer, Kathy Harris.
The first lap around the prison yard was walked in silence. After the first lap, community members and inmates talked to each other about the significance of the event.
“I’m a refugee from Laos,” said Boualay Sengsavang, a San Quentin prisoner. “When political actions happen and dislocate children, that resonates with me.”
The community members and prisoners walked in pairs, threes and fours circling the softball-sized field of the prison’s Lower Yard.
“I support peace,” said 24-year-old Jahkeem Stokes-Gulley, an inmate at San Quentin. “I’m trying to get a better understanding of peace, a better definition of peace. I can do this by participating in this walk that has a lot of different people of different ethnicities.”
“I support nonviolence throughout the world,” added Sean Littlefield.
John Wilkerson provided easy-listening music from a variety of bands. A representative from Texas group, Mindz of a Different Kind, entertained the crowd by chanting, “Soul is the remedy,” and the audience responding with, “I feel it in my soul.”
Ebo Thorbas, a community member who describes himself as a “long-term societal planner,” said, “I like to be a part of anything that breaks the monotony of prisons, because when any man is in prison, every man is in prison.”
Troy Williams, 44, had just arrived at San Quentin three days before the event, after being transferred from Pleasant Valley State Prison. Williams was walking alone. He said he’s been incarcerated for 27 years, and felt that his incarceration has cost him his ability to socialize. He said the ability to interact with community members helps him reconnect with himself. Williams said, “I feel like I’ve been in a long storm, and events like this let me know it’s coming to an end.”
At the end of the walk, all participants held hands to encircle the softball outfield.
The event continued with some participants going inside an air-conditioned building to tell stories of how the experience transformed their thinking or redefined their perspective about those living behind bars.
The room was filled with teary eyes, laughs, and stories about how the walk changed their lives.
The group chanted, “Love, respect, honesty, community, one village for children who can’t find their voices,” and the event ended.
Last year the walk collected more than $12,000. This year’s donations are close to $10,000 in support of the annual Global Youth Peace Summit held at its headquarters in Texas. Next year the summit is scheduled to be held in the Bay Area.