IV 
111TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. RES. 1780 
Supporting the goals and ideals of ‘‘National Nonviolence Week’’ to raise 
awareness of youth violence in the United States. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
DECEMBER 17, 2010 
Mr. LEWIS of Georgia submitted the following resolution; which was referred 
to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform 
RESOLUTION 
Supporting the goals and ideals of ‘‘National Nonviolence 
Week’’ to raise awareness of youth violence in the United 
States. 
Whereas the Sojourn to the Past program annually takes 
high school students to the historic locations of the civil 
rights movement, teaching them how nonviolence protest 
mitigated discrimination, violence, hatred, bigotry, and 
inequity in schools and communities; 
Whereas the goal of the Sojourn to the Past program, cre-
ated by Jeff Steinberg, is to inspire students to become 
civic leaders with a duty and ability to unite people in 
their communities in equality and justice, through knowl-
edge, understanding, and compassion; 
Whereas, in 2009, a small group of Youngstown, Ohio, high 
school students who experienced Sojourn to the Past, a 
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10-day journey to the civil rights sites in the Southern 
United States, created activities for a nonviolence week 
for the city high schools; 
Whereas Mrs. Penny Wells, a social studies teacher in the 
Youngstown, Ohio, school district aligned the Sojourn to 
the Past program to Ohio State standards and the school 
district pacing guides; 
Whereas the Sojourn to the Past program offers an inde-
pendent study program credit for Sojourn to the Past 
participants in support of Mrs. Wells’ effort; 
Whereas, at the request of school superintendent Dr. Wendy 
Webb, the Youngstown Sojourn students implemented 
Nonviolence Week in all the Youngstown schools during 
the first week of October 2009; 
Whereas these Youngstown Sojourn students received a dec-
laration from Mayor Jay Williams declaring the first 
week in October 2009 as Nonviolence Week; 
Whereas the 2010 Youngstown Sojourn to the Past students 
successfully petitioned the Youngstown School Board, the 
Youngstown City Council, and the Youngstown State 
University trustees to declare the first week in October 
each year to be Nonviolence Week; 
Whereas the Sojourn to the Past program has afforded par-
ticipating students an experience that is far reaching and 
life changing and serves as a catalyst for their becoming 
activists in applying nonviolence principles throughout 
their lives; 
Whereas 48 percent of schools in the United States reported 
at least one student threat of physical attack per year; 
Whereas most victims of school violence are first exposed as 
early as middle school; 
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Whereas hostility toward homosexuality and gender noncon-
formity continues to plague gay, lesbian, bisexual, and 
transgender youth and adults in United States schools; 
Whereas, according to the Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention (CDC), youth violence results in considerable 
physical, social, and economic consequences; 
Whereas, according to the CDC, over 656,000 young people 
were treated for physical assaults in United States emer-
gency rooms in 2008; 
Whereas, according to the CDC, roughly 20 percent of high 
school students reported being bullied and subjected to 
threatening language at school in 2009; 
Whereas the United States child homicide rate, for children 
less than 15 years of age, is 5 times greater than the 
combined rate of 25 other industrialized countries; and 
Whereas the principle of nonviolence has been a core philos-
ophy of many successful social change movements: Now, 
therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) supports the goals and ideals of ‘‘National 
Nonviolence Week’’ to raise awareness of youth vio-
lence in the United States; and 
(2) encourages the people of the United States, 
State and local officials, middle schools and high 
schools, law enforcement agencies, and other inter-
ested groups to observe National Nonviolence Week 
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with appropriate programs and activities that pro-
mote awareness and prevention of youth violence. 
Æ 
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