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Cover Story
by BEVERLY KEEL
Photos by David fAudd
As was often the case, Bernard
Lafayette Jt., a soft-spoken 27-year-old with the
physique of a No. 2 pencil, lingered after an April
4, 1968, morning staff meeting to clarify a few
things his bass had said.
Lafeyrar was the national program coordinator of the
poor people's campaign for the Southern Christian Lead
ership Conference, an organization co-founded by Martin
Luther King Jr in 1957 to promote the philosophy of
nocmoimt resgrance for jusncr and human rights. After
the other staffers left the room, Lafayette spent a few pri
vate moments with King in a Lorraine Motel room
before they began their busy day in Memphis, lam.
Lsfeydttrti wqH( wltti Hb§ btcn cifed (< fifo-dh3n^ng. n
It was almost like he had a premonition," Lafayette
recalls. "He was celling me things that 1 needed to do—
like go back to school and prepare for the future—
because we were going to witness a period of violence,
but this period of violence was going to run its course
and people were gong to become more receptive to
nonviolence.
"He said the next movement he wanted to have was
to internationalize and institutionalize nonviolence ...
that was the last conversation I had with him."
Page 6
American Profile
Bernard Latqv«tc>: Hand* in front of a tMiyaded— at Mo»e» Brown School in Prowd«nce,lU, where he t—chei nonyiolenc«.
Lafayette, now 63, has dedicated the
last 36 years to carrying out King’s
wishes of using nonviolence to solve
problems at institutions such as
dandies, schools and police depart
ments, both locally and internationally.
“If nonviolence is a part of our entire
system and institutions as a way to
solve problems, then you eliminate vio
lence as a means of doing that,” he says.
“We would evolve to a higher level."
An ordained Baptist minister who
holds a doctorate degree from Harvard
University, he serves as scholar-in-resi
dence at the University of Rhode
Island, where he directs the
university’s Center for Nonvi
olence and Peace Studies, in
Kingston (pop. 5,446). He’s
trained thousands of police
officers in South Africa,
Miami, Detroit and Rhode
Island, and helped establish
the US. Institute for Peace in
Washington, D.C. He’s
now focused on creating 10
"super centers” for nonvio
lence around the world.
“These centers will be
places where people can come
and train, do research and
leam skills to develop nonvio-
"He said le next
movementhewantedlo
ham to
intemadonalizeand
institutionalize
noiwioleute..ttialwas
the last conrersatton
I had with him."
Mardn Luther Ka« Jr. ml Lafayette in 1967.
lence centers and programs in their regions,"
he says. In addition to existing centers in
Detroit and Miami, he has helped establish
nonviolence centers in Colombia, Cuba and
South Africa, and is working on opening
facilities in the Middle East, China, Ireland
and Jamaica.
“As Dr. King said, ‘lt is either nonvio
lence or non-existence,”’ Lafayette says. “The
frightening thing is that we have the capa
bility of doing mass destruction, so I don’t
think we have any choice at this point. We
have to figure out how we can live in peace
with people. We have different values, but
we have similar goals and we can work on
accomplishing them together
once we put our minds together.”
SacriLiciDg for peace
In 2002, Lafayette co-led a
120-mile peace march to an
embattled mountain village in
Colombia, the world’s murder
capital, when guerrillas from the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Columbia kidnapped him and
three others, including Guiller
mo Gaviria, the governor of
Antioquia. Lafayette was released,
but the governor was later killed.
“Most people think of nonvio
lence as passive,” he says. “Nonvi-
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