Music, Song, Poetry, Dance, & Peace Education

We hope you enjoyed this program. If you missed it, you can watch a recording of it by clicking here.

We have planned and organized the Boston area celebration of the United Nations International Day of Peace each year since 2010. This year's theme was Recovering Better for a Sustainable and Equitable World. The Reverend Rodney E Dailey (New Bethel AME Church, Lowell MA) once again served as emcee. See highlights from previous years' programs here.

Program for this year's engaging and vibrant program:

0:50 Dawn Duncan “Land Acknowledgement”

2:54 Reverend Rodney E. Dailey “Welcome and Introductions”

7:00 Cambridge Children’s Chorus Training Chorus “Al Shlosha D’Varim”

11:40 Extinction Rebellion’s Robert Lauer

19:05 Boston City Singers Cantare and Vocalise “One Day”

24:45 Reverend Vernon K. Walker

37:00 Emma’s Revolution “Our House is on Fire” and “Peace Through All People”

51:11 Brian Corr

57:40 Miranda Henne “Adagio in G Minor”

1:04:45 MEER:ReflEction’s Kaci Rose Goldberg and Skye Lam

1:14:20 First Episcopal District AME Liturgical Dance Ministry “Dance Prayer”

1:21:30 Boston Mayor Kim Janey

1:24:30 Mariela Martinez “Endurance, Persistence, and Resilience”

1:30:55 Gang Peace “Saving Lives”

1:36:00 The LOOP “We are Here” and “See Me Beyond My Skin”

1:49:00 Issa Bibbins “We Shall Overcome” and “How We Living”

2:00:20 In Memory of the Victims Don Gianniny, Kim West, Dawn Duncan, Reverend Rodney E. Dailey, and Ian Harrington

Times indicate starting time in the recording

Issa Bibbins

Issa Bibbins is a pianist, songwriter, rapper and music producer and content curator.

Issa is owner and founder of Pearl for the World Publishing. Besides being a traditional music publishing company, Pearl for the World is dedicated to connecting corporations and nonprofits to original music that connects the arts and Social Justice.

Issa is presently engaged in a Hip Hop project called The Treatment that sheds light on how the mistreatment of people can lead to social traumas and points to some of the treatments necessary for us to heal as a nation. So far, the videos released for this project include “Undiagnosed”, “Hands Up”, “Manicure DA Game”, “It’s Me”, “SuperHuman DNA”, and “Where Do We Go?”.

For more information visit: PearlForTheWorld.com.

Boston City Singers & Cambridge Children’s Chorus

We are an El Sistema-inspired program founded in 1995 in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood. We train and inspire the musician and ambassador in each singer by providing the highest level of musical instruction and wide-ranging performance opportunities. Our programs support personal development, celebrate diversity, and foster good will.

Boston City Singers’ mission has been to provide the highest level of creative youth development opportunities to underserved young people, ages 4 - 18, in the very communities in which they live. Our programs inspire personal journeys, bridge opportunity gaps, celebrate diversity, and foster goodwill. Our strengths lie in an unwavering commitment to social justice and acceptance of differences across socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, and gender preference.

We are proud of our values:

• diversity, inclusion, and respect

• innovation and possibility

• responsibility for our communities.

Boston City Singers provides comprehensive music instruction to over 500 young people annually. Weekly rehearsals are designed to provide our members not only with music instruction but with outstanding performance opportunities, youth development, cultural exploration, leadership training and community service. Singers, grouped by age and level, develop progressive mastery of skills with children from backgrounds different than their own, engaging hearts and minds during the critical after-school hours. Through ongoing mentor relationships with older youth and teachers who share common interests, singers are connected to a strong and supportive community in which teamwork plays an important role.

Young singers learn and perform a dynamic, distinctive and challenging repertoire, supporting the region’s rich artistic diversity in a variety of settings for diverse audiences. We also develop new repertoire, and commission, perform and publish music of distinction. Through outstanding music education and vocal instruction, excellence in performance, and serving the community through song, members experience the joy of singing, teamwork and leadership, musical skills and artistic expression - skills that last a lifetime!

Boston City Singers performs music from many ages and cultures, while learning concepts (melody, rhythm, harmony, timbre, dynamics, form, style, and performance practice) and skills (theory, sight-reading and vocal technique).

Brian Corr

Brian Corr has worked for the City of Cambridge, Massachusetts as Executive Director of the Police Review & Advisory Board since September 2010, and as Executive Director of the city's Peace Commission since 2008. The Police Review & Advisory Board is the city’s civilian oversight agency, while the Peace Commission works with other municipal agencies, communities of faith, and nonprofit organizations to promote positive dialogue, foster understanding, and coordinate compassionate community responses to support recovery and healing in the wake of traumatic events and violence affecting Cambridge and its residents. He is the immediate past president of National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement and a Certified Practitioner of Oversight. He also holds certifications in Group Crisis Intervention and Post-Traumatic Stress Management/Psychological First Aid and has completed a 35-hour train-the-trainer session in Trauma-Informed Policing.

Reverend Rodney E. Dailey is the architect of two successful gang prevention, intervention, and mediation programs in Boston which operated for 20 years independent of the police department and was later identified as part of the miracle when there were no murders in Boston for 24 months. Rodney is a published author (Gang Peace to Street Peace, The Untold Story of Research and Applied Proven Methods of Grass Roots Organizations). He believes faith-based initiatives must be applied strategically to the social problem of gang violence, especially when law enforcement is involved. Rodney organized the first march to end gang violence in Boston and helped organize the first national gang summit in Kansas City, receiving over 90 awards from local and national organizations and governments. The 41st President of the United States awarded him and the Gang Peace Program the 1000 Points of Light Presidential Award. The program was later re-awarded by President Obama. He completed a fellowship at MIT’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning, another at Northeastern University’s Law Institute, and is an Otto Snowden fellow. He earned a Bachelors Degree in Human Service Management from the University of Massachusetts Boston and is an ordained elder in the African Methodist Episcopal church, the largest Black organization in the world. He serves as Associate Minister of Bethel Lowell Church (AME). Rev. Rodney is the architect of the Prayer Changes Things Ministry that blesses blocks weekly in communities of violence, believing God is in control, encouraging those who know the power of prayer to pray for peace and longevity of life – for all people.

Dawn Duncan, MSW, MSc is the President of the Grant Connection, a company that specializes in helping nonprofits navigate the often-complex grant funding maze and access private and government grant funds for their programs. Dawn teaches people how to create and develop projects that are eligible for grants, where to find grant money, how to write compelling grant proposals, how to systematize an approach to getting grant money, and how to set up nonprofit organizations to work in collaboration with for-profit businesses.

Dawn has experience in the areas of nonprofit management, fundraising and contract management. Dawn’s primary skill area is in grant writing, where she has raised more than $35 million in grant funding for nonprofits, small businesses and real estate investors over the past 25 years, with a 90% government grant success rate.

Dawn is part Cherokee and has attempted to continue the traditions shared by her grandfather and has been active in the Native American community for nearly 30 years. Dawn has helped several Native American groups in Massachusetts and continues to serve as a Board member of the Massachusetts Center for Native American Awareness (MCNAA), a position she has held for more than 15 years.

Dawn is also Founder and President of Circle of Nations Inc. (CNI), a 25-year old non-profit that provides fiscal sponsorship for motivated individuals and nonprofit organizations to develop projects that help others by “paying it forward”.

Dawn holds a Master of Science Degree in Maternal and Child Health from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and a Master’s Degree in Social Work from Boston University. Dawn serves on the Board of the Massachusetts Alliance Against Predatory Lending (MAAPL) and the Valparaiso University Alumni Board. www.thegrantconnection.com;

Emma’s Revolution

“Fervent and heartfelt” ~ The New York Times. Known for fearless lyrics and melodies you can’t resist singing, Emma’s Revolution is the dynamic, award-winning activist duo of Pat Humphries & Sandy O, now in their 20th year. The Northern California duo’s songs have travelled the world and have been sung for the Dalai Lama, praised by Pete Seeger and covered by Holly Near.

"Our work is rooted in community, love and justice,” the duo says. “We weave stories, melodies and harmonies that meld the essences of earlier cultures with ever-evolving sounds and ideas into an experience rich with humor, heart and hope.”

Like their friend and mentor, Pete Seeger, Emma’s Revolution keeps one eye on the news, writing songs about critical issues and passionately lending their voices to the movements those issues inspire. “Our House is on Fire” was selected as the opening track for Hope Rises, a compilation CD from a national nonprofit co-founded by Noel (Paul) Stookey of Peter, Paul & Mary. “Peace Salaam Shalom” has been sung around the world and was included in Community of Christ’s latest hymnal. “Keep on Moving Forward” opened the UN’s Committee on the Status of Women’s Beijing+25 Conference, reflecting the song’s prominence as the unofficial anthem of the 4th UN World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995. Emma’s Revolution are winners of the John Lennon Songwriting Contest Grand Prize and the Phil Ochs Award. As independent artists and queer and non-conforming women, Emma’s Revolution has a national presence among communities, organizations and venues that share their vision and values. During the pandemic, the duo has continued their musical activism online with concerts, workshops and video releases, some garnering more than 100k views.

In the spirit of Emma Goldman’s famous attribution, “If I can’t dance, I don’t want to be part of your revolution,” Emma’s Revolution brings an uprising of truth and hope, whether performing on stage or online. www.emmasrevolution.com

Gang Peace

“Saving Lives” was created as a result of a rap essay contest in 1998 held by an organization called Bridging Bridges in which Gang Peace is a member. Gang Peace won first place.

Its content tells of many lives lost and many organizations struggling to save lives which otherwise would be lost.

Cellist Miranda Henne performs classical repertoire as a soloist and chamber musician, composes and improvises for theater productions and studio recordings, and performs folk music and bluegrass.

Highlights of Miranda’s stylistically varied career include a solo concerto performance with the Gettysburg Chamber Orchestra and two appearances at the Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival. An avid chamber musician, Ms. Henne performed with internationally acclaimed artists Andres Diaz, David Halen, Robert McDuffie, Amy Schwartz-Moretti, Christopher Rex, Elizabeth Pridgen, Paul Murphy, Kurt Muroki and Renée Skerik. She has also shared the improv, rock and folk stage with the likes of Mike Mills from R.E.M, Abigail Washburn, Mike Block, Rushad Eggleston, fiddler Bruce Molsky and the piri and Saengwhang player Gamin. In 2012, Miranda collaborated with Shen Wei, choreographer of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Ceremony, to create and premiere The New You, featuring her musical improvisation. She has also worked with and premiered pieces by composers such as Joseph Gregorio and Libby Larson.

In August 2018, Miranda recorded an E.P. with violinist Ellie Miller and banjo player Taylor Shuck, which features one of her original compositions. In 2017, Miranda toured with “Regeneration” by Dr. Nancy Rappaport, a one-woman play about Rappaport’s journey with breast cancer. The show, for which she composed and performed the music, sold out 5 shows off-broadway in NYC and toured in 4 states. In 2019, she traveled to over 20 countries in a piano quintet with Emily Lane, Qiao Yi Miao Mu, Hua-Chu Huang, and Isaac Kay, performing over 250 concerts.

One of Miranda’s central goals since childhood has been to promote peace. In high school, as co-president of the Amnesty International club, she helped with protests and benefit concerts. In college, she organized concerts such as a Daniel Pearl World Music Days Concert and Music for Haiti, which raised funds for earthquake relief and featured performances by faculty at Mercer University. She also designed an independent study called “Music and Social Change,” studying ways to use music for peace. In 2015, she taught for “El Sistema” in Dorchester.

Miranda maintains a private cello studio in Boston, MA and coaches chamber music for the Northeast Massachusetts Youth Orchestras. Miranda holds a B.A. in Music with a minor in English from the McDuffie Center for Strings at Mercer University and a M.M. from Southern Methodist University. In 2015, she studied at the Glenn Gould School at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. As an undergraduate, Miranda spent a semester studying Shakespeare’s plays in Oxford, U.K. and a month in Wallacedene, South Africa helping local high school students write and produce a musical play.

Mayor Kim Janey

Kim Janey is the 55th Mayor of Boston. She was sworn-in as the first woman and the first Black mayor in the City’s history on March 24, 2021.

Mayor Janey is leading Boston through the COVID-19 pandemic with a citywide agenda for recovery, reopening and renewal. Mayor Janey’s pandemic recovery priorities include distributing vaccines effectively, returning children to school safely, and centering disadvantaged workers and businesses in the City’s economic recovery. Mayor Janey is committed to ensuring the City of Boston reopens safely and equitably, with relief and renewal in every neighborhood.

A proud fourth-generation Roxbury resident, Mayor Janey comes from a long line of educators, entrepreneurs, artists, and advocates. Mayor Janey was raised with values that guide her to this day: the importance of education, the power of community organizing, and the fundamental principles of equity and justice.

Mayor Janey became a mother in high school and worked hard to give her daughter everything she needed to succeed. She began her advocacy on behalf of children inspired by the interconnection of her own daughter’s experiences with those of other children. In her role at Massachusetts Advocates for Children, Mayor Janey championed systemic policy reforms to increase equity, excellence, access, and opportunity in Boston Public Schools. She placed a special focus on eliminating opportunity and achievement gaps for children of color, immigrant children, students who are learning English, children with special needs, and those living in poverty.

Mayor Janey’s own education followed a path familiar to many Boston residents. After attending the New School for Children, her parents enrolled her in Boston Public Schools. In middle school she had rocks and racial slurs thrown at her during the tumultuous busing era. Later, Mayor Janey attended Reading Public Schools through the METCO program, where she was one of two Black students in her graduating class. Mayor Janey went on to attend Smith College as an Ada Comstock Scholar, but withdrew to care for her grandfather.

Prior to becoming Mayor in 2021, Janey made history in 2017 when she was elected to the Boston City Council as the first woman to represent District 7, which includes Roxbury and parts of the South End, Dorchester, and the Fenway. In 2020, she was elected by her peers as President of the Boston City Council.

Mayor Janey has been recognized for her service with a number of awards, including the Boston NAACP Difference Maker Award in 2015 and the coveted Sapphire Award in 2017. She was named one of Boston’s Most Impactful Black Women in 2021. Mayor Janey is the proud mother of daughter Kimesha and a grandmother of three. She lives in Boston’s Roxbury neighborhood.

The LOOP, which stands for “ladies of opportunity and promise”, want their music to represent all one can achieve in life. Boston-based teen artists, Marcia Bibbins and M’Zariah Starr, ages 15 and 16, formed the contemporary urban pop/R&B duo, in their teens after connecting through their childhood and school friendship, a passion for music and a collaborative strength to share their vision on life’s perceptions.

They have embarked on an enthusiastic and committed plan to explore opportunity and promise through their music and aspiring and heartfelt activism. Their music fits across many genres and is a unique blend of pop, R&B, rap and spoken soul, that removes all judgment and creates an open mind on how people envision the world and those in it. They bring their own spin to old and new sounds with their genre-blending style, creating an artful fusion that captures emotion and drives their activism.

The driven duo released back-to-back singles on February 12, 2021 and March 18, 2021, “See me beyond my skin” and “Affirmations”. Both songs project a vision of confidence and focus on the potential for strengthening self-worth and personal discovery. The group’s debut single, “See me beyond my skin”, uses spoken soul intertwined with sweet vocals and harmonies to communicate the existence of racism and colorism from the perspective of today’s youth. The Loop’s lyrics express we all should fit successfully in today’s world despite our skin color…

Not dark enough to be black

Not light enough to be white

Don’t you dare try to ostracize me because I may be lighter or brighter than you

You are me and I am you

There is a calmness and simplicity throughout their songs, which is an open invitation to change perceptions, relieve emotional wounds, and bond together to bring power and strength to each other and all lives. You are loved for being you is a central message throughout their music. They tell stories through their music and are on a mission to bring everybody and the world together.

Their second release “Affirmations” expresses the importance of self-love and positivity to every day existence. Powerful affirmations like “I am strong”, “I am brilliant”, “I am destined for greatness”, can change your world, perspective on lovability and vision for achievement and purpose.

In our music we talk about self-acceptance, self-love, and of humbleness and self-motivation. I think these topics are important to talk about because as a teenager and as a human it's been hard to understand what self-love means and how important it is, and I think as humans we get caught up in day-to-day living that we forget that self-maintenance and self-love is just as important as money or a job, explains the duo.

Some artists Marcia Bibbins enjoys are Jennifer Hudson, Jazmine Sullivan, Aretha Franklin, and Chloe and Halle, Jacob Collier, and Usher/ She describes herself as motivated, driven, perseverant. Marcia’s favorite quote is, Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

M’Zariah Starr received the 2021 MLK Mountaintop Civic Award. The mission of the Mountaintop Project is to reflect the creative vision that Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. articulated during his final Mountain Top speech.

MZ’s favorite artists are, Rihanna and Jazmine Sullivan. She describes herself as determined, motivated and loyal. Her favorite quote is, “Self-love is the best love”. “Music is the source of my happiness; not just what it sounds like but how it makes me feel,” said Marcia. “Music is my outlet and I make it so people can feel what I feel. I want my music to be an outlet for people around the world,” said M’Zariah Starr.

Both are students at Boston Arts Academy and are active in the school’s music programs.

Mariela Martínez (she/her) is pursuing a MPP from the Heller School for Social Policy at Brandeis University concentrating on immigration and conflict resolution. Mariela immigrated to the U.S. from Mexico at seven and grew up in Southern California. She currently works as the graduate assistant for Brandeis’ Department of Community Service and Waltham Group, helping train student leaders on equitable, community centered practices. Mariela serves as the Director of Advocacy and Collaborations for the Graduate Student Association.

Mariela graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and a minor in Interfaith Studies from the University of La Verne in 2017. She served in Uganda from 2017 to 2019 as a Peace Corps education volunteer, focusing on literacy education, girl’s empowerment, and volunteer training. Mariela is passionate about addressing the global surge in ethno-nationalism and nativism through sound research and educational programs that expand public views on identity and build compassion. Her experience learning about religious discrimination in Greece through interning with the Hellenic Foundation for European & Foreign Policy, the nonviolence movement globally through the Fellowship of Reconciliation and community organizing through the California Campus Compact, have taught Mariela the power of pluralism, transparency, and activism.

Her current research is on the militarization of the U.S.-Mexico border and how wealth inequality and abusive immigration policies impact undocumented communities. In her free time Mariela enjoys translating her favorite Spanish rap songs and swimming.

MEER:ReflEction

MEER:ReflEction is a grand, versatile, and comprehensive engineering project feasibly rooted in the ecological functioning and resource availabilities of planet Earth. It addresses the imminent urgency of climate change due to temperature increase and weather extremes while reshaping our energy production and consumption to renewable energy. MEER:ReflEction applies thin film-coated glass mirror arrays to most efficiently achieve solar radiation management via dynamic control of surface albedo, renewable energy production, carbon dioxide drawdown through ocean liming using solar thermally-produced calcium oxide (CaO), removal of secondary greenhouse gases and air pollutants via mirror-enabled atmospheric photochemical engineering, and biodiversity recovery via a geographic restructuring of agricultural primary production in a high-CO2 world.

Skye Lam is currently a high-achieving scholar and the Student Body President at the Bronx High School of Science. Skye has a strong passion for saving the environment, whether it be performing extraordinary research projects or leading youth activism events around his community. In the future, Skye plans to pursue a degree in a STEM-related field and continue to utilize his experience in environmental sciences to make the world a better place.

Kaci Rose Goldberg is a sophomore at the Bronx High School of Science in New York City. At school, she incorporates her love and immense passion for Earth's climate in all that she does, including as an active member of the Green Team and member of student government, focusing her initiatives making Bronx Science a more eco-friendly place. As a future career, Kaci would love to volunteer with organizations centered around healing our broken planet's climate while also being a wildlife biologist working with endangered species.

Reverend Vernon K. Walker

Rev. Vernon K. Walker was originally born and raised in Philadelphia. Rev. Walker attended Penn State University for college where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree with a major in Organizational Leadership and a minor in Psychology. After graduating from Penn State University, Rev. Walker attended Boston University and earned a Master Degree in Theological Studies (M.T.S) with a focus on community engagement.

Rev. Walker is also academically trained in MSW macro social work practices as he took a plethora of courses at Boston University's School of Social Work. Rev. Walker is a Senior Fellow at the Environmental Leadership Program and Senior Fellow at Tufts University Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life through the Institute for Nonprofit Practice. Rev. Walker will be a Fellow at the University of Massachusetts Boston campus Center for Collaborative Leadership starting in September 2021.

Sponsors

We are so grateful for the help from our sponsors for this year's event! We ask our sponsors to publicize our event to the members of their organization. Financial support can be made through the Cooperative Metropolitan Ministries website (coopmet.org) (designating International Day of Peace Boston as the recipient) or by sending a check to Cooperative Metropolitan Ministries, 474 Centre Street, Newton, MA, 02458 - specifying International Day of Peace Boston in the memo field. Will you join this list?

Beacon Hill Friends House

Cooperative Metropolitan Ministries

Extinction Rebellion Massachusetts

Friends Meeting at Cambridge

Ian Harrington

Massachusetts Peace Action

Susan Mirsky

Newton Dialogues on Peace and War

Smedley D. Butler Brigade, Veterans for Peace - Chapter 9, Boston

Clicking on underlined names will lead you to more information

Contact us at InternationalDayofPeaceBoston@gmail.com

View our Facebook event page

View the United Nations International Day of Peace site