from the December, 2011 issue of Kiai!

Fall 2011 TW Peacemaker Awards

By Kyoshi Sarah Ludden
Co-Executive Director

What do a philosophy professor from Canada, a twelve year old boy at a birthday party, a ten year old in the school playground, and a mother walking down a street in Chicago with her 6 year old daughter have in common?  They are courageous, inspiring violence interrupters and also the fall 2011 recipients of the Thousand Waves Peacemaker Award. 

We are honored to share the inspiring stories of James Tully, TJ Nakano, Wamaid Mestey-Borges and Jack Savoie with Kiai readers.

Dr. James Tully, renowned political theorist and social justice activist from the University of Victoria, was our Meditations on Activism speaker this past September.  He presented an analysis of the seminal book, The Power of Non-Violence, by Richard Gregg, a text used by leaders in the civil rights movement as a manual for non-violent direct action.

Tully engaged us in an intriguing discussion of the book’s relevance in today’s world.  He also drew parallels between the political history of non-violence and the mission and teachings of Thousand Waves.  His presentation at our Center, in addition to his long- time activism, moved us to honor James Tully with our Peacemaker Award.

Two of our young karate students, TJ Nakano, age 12, and Jack Savoie, age 10, spoke up and intervened when they witnessed bullying, TJ at a birthday party and Jack in the school playground.  They stopped the hurtful behavior and convinced the offending boys to apologize to the children they were bullying. 

In addition, when playing at a Chicago park, Jack defended himself from a boy who was kicking him by using strong verbal commands and physical restraint. Further, he told the boy that if he stopped hurting him they could play together. We see this acknowledgment of a person’s ability to change for the better as a key part of ethical, non-violent self-defense. For stopping violent behavior and facilitating respectful, inclusive and safe play, TJ Nakano and Jack Savoie earned their Thousand Waves Peacemaker Awards. 

Over our 26 year history, Thousand Waves’ self-defense / violence prevention programs have reached thousands of people.  We hear many stories of how our graduates apply the empowering skills they learn in our classes to the challenges they face in their day to day lives.  This past fall, we received an email from Wamaid Mestey-Borges describing how she used skills she learned at TW to stop a man from assaulting a woman in a van:

I yelled: "Stop It! I'm going to call the police. That is unacceptable!” and the man left. Another woman called the police. And when the van door opened, we realized that the woman inside had a bloodied face. The police came. And my daughter got to see that it is possible to intervene without getting hurt, that domestic violence is unacceptable, and that two female strangers can band together on behalf of a third.

Working for peace and justice, saying no to bullying, encouraging inclusive and safe play, interrupting domestic violence and modeling engaged peacemaking to our children—are qualities we think need to be celebrated more often. Congratulations to James, TJ, Jack and Wamaid for your acts of kindness and bravery and for setting many waves of peace in motion.