Sankofa-Peace Stained Glass Window

Mission:

We're a group of Chicago youth based in a Westside Church, and working to transform our neighborhood through art. We're fundraising to install and unveil the Sankofa-Peace stained glass window at our church. "Sankofa" refers to the principle of gleaning the wisdom offered from the past, and utilizing it to imagine a better future. And we believe that Peace is an ideal which has to be internalized before it is externalized. Together, Sankofa-Peace represents our prayer to God for the Spirit of wisdom and tranquility to guide our hearts, minds, and neighborhoods. The window will memorialize lives gone too soon, and articulate a vision of hope amidst despair.
#internalizepeace

Vision:

 Sankofa-Peace (Stained-glass) Window 

The stained-glass structure depicts Jesus, the Christ, guiding a group of young children ‘back’ to a place of serenity. The children are understood to be the victims of pointless violence and their likenesses will join the “Prince of Peace.”  The “four little girls”, Carole Denise McNair, Addie Mae Collins, Carole Rosamond Robertson and Cynthia Wesley will hang atop the rose window, and more recent victims will hang below. Hadiya Pendleton, Eric Morse, Leroy “B.J.” Brown, Blair Holt, Derrion Albert, and Laquan McDonald are youth that are currently being considered. Their stories, as a whole, represent the suffering that the community bears when an innocent life is taken. The “Sankofa Peace Window”, once unveiled, will serve as a call to action; forever reminding each generation to honor the sacrifices of the past, lest they be in vain.