“Kindness and good will overcome anything,” said 41 Action News Anchor and event emcee Christa Dubill. “We’re here to make a ripple in our city.”
Make a ripple they did.
The skies were grey and gloomy but the rain had cleared and the atmosphere was bright and cheery on Monday evening, April 18, as more than 1,700 people prepared to show the world that light overcomes darkness and love conquers evil.
This was the second Peace Walk & Celebration of Unity, the culminating activity of SevenDays 2016, an effort to focus on kindness and interfaith understanding. The evening began with the Peace Walk at the Jewish Community Campus, where two people — Dr. William Corporon and his grandson Reat Underwood — were shot and killed April 13, 2014, in the parking lot. The route took participants past Village Shalom, where Terri LaManno was shot and killed a short time later in the parking lot. The 3.5-mile walk concluded at Church of the Resurrection, the Corporon’s spiritual home, where the Celebration Ceremony was held.
The focus of SevenDays is strengthening a sense of community, building upon understanding our commonalties among faiths, races and cultures in our metropolitan area. Surviving family members Mindy Corporon and Jim LaManno lead the effort with a steering committee and hundreds of volunteers who have embraced SevenDays. Their goal is continuing the healing after the shootings and focusing on acts of kindness and interfaith dialogue.
Participants wore aqua blue “SevenDays Make a Ripple, Change the World” T-shirts and everywhere you looked there was a sea of blue. Though this year’s crowd was much smaller than last year when an estimated 3,000 people participated, it was still incredibly enthusiastic.
Before the walk, a short program featured speeches and as Dubill described it, “a goose-bump moment,” when a tape of Reat singing the “Star-Spangled Banner” was played. It was heartwarming to see Mindy Corporon, his mother and creator of SevenDays, smile.
Overland Park Mayor Carl Gerlach told the crowd, “evil will never have the last word.” While pointing to the crowd he added, “You show the world we will not put up with it.”
Community activist Alvin Brooks also spoke, saying bigotry has no boundaries and we fight it with kindness and love.
“As we march today … realize why we are walking. It’s not just a walk. It’s something that is meaningful to all of us.”
The crowd dwindled a bit between the walk and the Celebration Ceremony, but those who stayed were treated to a very moving program that began with the lighting of three candles, making the statement that even though the lives of three people were cut short entirely by hate, their lights haven’t gone out.
On the big screen we heard Mindy Corporon speak about the deaths of her father and her son and the creation of givesevendays.org.
“It could have been anyone killed that day. The shooter picked the wrong family. We want good to triumph over evil and we are going to start right here in our hometown.”
The three finalists of the Faith Love & Song competition performed their award-winning songs, earning them scholarships ranging from $1,000 to $5,000. The Faith Love & Song competition is sponsored by two local foundations — Faith Always Wins and RRACE (Racial and Religious Acceptance and Cultural Equality), as well as Harvest Productions. The two foundations were established after the 2014 shootings.
It was inspirational to learn about the projects of five Kansas City area high school seniors who were each presented with $1,000 scholarships for an act of kindness they had performed.
I was looking forward to the finale, the candle-lighting ceremony led by Church of the Resurrection Pastor Adam Hamilton, accompanied by the community choir featuring voices from faith communities across the area. It didn’t disappoint as it was once again incredibly stirring.
“The light from these three shines through us,” the Rev. Hamilton said. “With these candles, we carry with us their memory, their legacy and the rallying cry to push back the darkness.”
Many members of the Jewish community were heavily involved in the planning of these events and they did a wonderful job. The events also couldn’t have been successful without the support of members of our community — many who attended events not just the day of the walk, but throughout the week. It’s vitally important that the Jewish community continue to heavily support these events. As Mindy Corporon said, the killer picked the wrong family. What she didn’t say, but we all know, is that he set out to kill Jews that day, that’s why he was on the grounds of our beloved Jewish institutions. It could have been a member of one of our families’ that died that day — and now William Corporon, Reat Underwood and Terri LaManno are forever a part of our communal family.
It is hard to believe that it has already been two years since that tragedy happened on the eve before Passover. On the eve of Passover once again, as we rejoice and remember the celebration of our freedom from slavery, we need to replay this message, the wise words of Pastor Hamilton, over and over and over again.
Light overcomes darkness.
Be kind. Lend a hand.
Make a ripple, change the world.
Hate will not win, not just during SevenDays, but every day!