De La Salle High School has partnered with Archbishop Rummel High School to invite New Orleans youth to a peace rally aptly named Team Up Against Violence.
At the rally, local public figures will speak to the students about peace campaigns and about their unique personal experiences. Speakers include Archbishop Gregory Aymond, who has spearheaded the New Orleans Archdiocese’s “Thou Shalt Not Kill” campaign; U.S. Attorney Kenneth Polite, a graduate of De La Salle who was raised in an underrepresented area of the city; Ryan Perriloux of the New Orleans Voodoo football team, who has had personal experience with violence; and Walter Bonam, a local victim of violence.
The goal of this event is to bring to the forefront a conversation about violence in the community and to encourage local youth to participate in positive activities within their schools and elsewhere. Team Up Against Violence is an extension of De La Salle’s social justice initiative, a school-wide initiative that is student-centered and serves to bring about a collective consciousness of a topic. The students chose the theme of peacemaking and nonviolence for the school year and have been engaging in various activities related to this topic. One such activity is the school’s recent “One Book for Justice” project, in which all De La Salle students and faculty read Tattoos on the Heart, a book about young people working to improve their own lives and their community.