Executions set tone for year's Little Rock peace march

Take breath after long week, 70 ralliers told at event

People head from downtown Little Rock to the Junction Bridge on Sunday during the Pilgrimage for Peace, an annual march that draws together an interfaith group to oppose violence and honor those killed in central Arkansas.
People head from downtown Little Rock to the Junction Bridge on Sunday during the Pilgrimage for Peace, an annual march that draws together an interfaith group to oppose violence and honor those killed in central Arkansas.

The fourth annual Pilgrimage for Peace in central Arkansas took on a different feeling Sunday with the shadow of last week's execution and the looming specter of the two set for this evening.

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Members of the Multi-Faith Youth Group of Arkansas listen to speakers during the fourth annual Pilgrimage for Peace at Riverfront Park in North Little Rock on Sunday.

Area activists organize the yearly anti-violence march to "mourn the violence committed in our community and to walk together as active peacemakers."

Organizer Caroline Stevenson alluded to the circumstances surrounding the walk when she addressed the crowd for the first time.

"This has been a pretty sad and exhausting few weeks for most of us," Stevenson said. "Today is a day to take a deep breath."

A group of about 70 marchers gathered in front of the Heifer International complex in downtown Little Rock. At 2:20 p.m., they started marching quietly past the William J. Clinton Presidential Library, through the River Market District and across the Junction Bridge over the Arkansas River, stopping for a ceremony at the Beacon of Peace and Hope sculpture adjacent to the Arkansas Inland Maritime Museum in North Little Rock.

This year's march took on added significance for members of the Arkansas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, who participate every year.

The walk took place only three days after Arkansas put convicted killer Ledell Lee to death by lethal injection, or as the coalition's executive director put it: "the murder of Ledell Lee."

"When we talk about peace it doesn't stop with crimes citizens perpetrate against each other," coalition Executive Director Furonda Brasfield said. "In this scenario, it's the violence the state is perpetrating against its own citizens with the death penalty."

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Sunday's march attracted a diverse crowd in every sense -- men, women, whites, blacks, elderly and young. A rabbi strolled beside a Roman Catholic priest, and just behind them, a man carried a sign that read, "Allah is with us."

Rabbi Kalman Winnick of Congregation Agudath Achim noted the variety of religions represented at Sunday's rally.

"I'm also thrilled that some of these things have nothing to do with faith, just humanity," said Winnick, who also serves as a chaplain for the Little Rock Police Department.

The event also attracted visitors from abroad who were in Arkansas for the series of scheduled executions. A California man representing anti-death penalty group Amnesty International walked, and a film crew from Denmark captured the day's proceedings.

The "reflective walk" concluded with an interfaith memorial service. The program included Muslim, Protestant, Catholic, Quaker and Buddhist prayers and readings.

Between prayers, the names of 2016's homicide victims from Pulaski County were read. Those remembered included people killed by friends, family members, police officers and others. The service also remembered people who took their own lives.

Little Rock police investigated 42 homicides last year; North Little Rock detectives investigated nine murders and "non-negligent manslaughter" cases, and Pulaski County sheriff's investigators handled nine slayings.

Information for this article was contributed by Ryan Tarinelli of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Metro on 04/24/2017

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