Peace Tree Planted

Peace has taken root in New Haven.

At least it has in on the west side of Connecticut Hall at Southern Connecticut State University, where a new Silver Linden ​“peace” tree has been planted.

Urban Resources Initiative (URI) planted the tree last Tuesday as part of an International Peace Day event sponsored by New Haven’s Peace Commission.

The United Nations established the annual Peace Day in 1981.

“The tree planted here today joins other trees planted on this day in past years in Newhallville, the Hill, Fair Haven, Wooster Square, West River, East Rock, and Westville,” Peace Commission Acting Chair Joelle Fishman noted in remarks at the gathering. ​“It will serve as a constant call to action to join together to envision and realize a future with justice, equity and peace.”

Manuel Camacho of the youth anti-violence organization Ice The Beef gave the following remarks at the event:

“I stand here today on International Peace Day with a message of peace. There is so much focus on conflict and war that we begin to forget that it takes more to fight a war than to invest in our future.

“I believe that instead of solely concentrating the majority of our funding towards the military, we should fund the many other fundamental aspects of our nation. These include the education of future generations, the health of those who have to worry about being denied care because they don’t have access to healthcare, and the thousands of citizens who go without jobs and ways to sustain their families due to insufficient job funding. We have seen the effects of war on countries and their citizens. It is nothing but devastation and destruction.

“Let us fund what truly matters, equal and sufficient opportunities for the people of this nation. It is truly inauspicious that gun violence strikes our communities and leaves none at its mercy. We have to do better and it starts with us. I will leave you with this, in the words of JFK: ​‘If not us, who? If not now, when?’”