Dear Friends,

Martin Luther King Jr. influences everything we do at House of Hope Vision School. You can find his legacy in our daily nonviolent prayer, which our students recite every morning, in the murals painted on our walls, and in our classroom lectures. 

His dream is our dream.

For nations like Palestine that are living under poverty, occupation, corruption, and injustice, Martin Luther King Jr. stressed the use of nonviolent resistance. This resistance should cause no harm or violence to any human being, whether they be a Muslim, Christian, or Jew.

Today, on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we honor his memory by remembering his six core principles of nonviolence:

1. Nonviolence is a way of life for courageous people. It is an active nonviolent resistance to evil.

2. Nonviolence seeks to win friendship and understanding. The end result of nonviolence is redemption and reconciliation.

3. Nonviolence seeks to defeat injustice, not people. Nonviolence recognizes that evildoers are also victims.

4. Nonviolence holds that suffering can educate and transform. Nonviolence willingly accepts the consequences of its acts.

5. Nonviolence chooses love instead of hate. Nonviolence resists violence to the spirit as well as the body. Nonviolence love is active, not passive. Nonviolence love does not sink to the level of the hater. Love restores community and resists injustice. Nonviolence recognizes the fact that all life is interrelated.

6. Nonviolence believes that the universe is on the side of justice. The nonviolent resister has deep faith that justice will eventually win.

What we are working on today at House of Hope is first and foremost in the philosophy of nonviolence. The means must be as pure as the end. Nonviolence seeks to achieve moral ends through moral means. At House of Hope, we also refuse to inflict injury upon another. We refuse to cooperate with evil. We believe in each human’s potential for goodness and love.

Martin Luther King Jr. understood that fear is an obstacle to freedom. Fear and pride can kill a man and push their liberation farther away.

Martin Luther King Jr. also taught that love is the key to building healthy communities. Love should be at the center of our social interactions. We as the House of Hope administration, teachers, and support staff believe in the power of love to build healthy communities based on love. This is a liberation that works for everyone. This is the path to freedom.

Salaam,

Milad Vosgueritchian, Chairman, Vision Association for Culture and Arts