Tio “Mr. CeaseFire” Hardiman Holds CeaseFire Reunion of Nonviolence Activists Who Have Helped Make Positive Change in the Public Health Epidemic of Violence (Chicago, IL) — On Saturday afternoon, renowned Chicago-based nonviolence activist Tio “Mr. CeaseFire” Hardiman, founder of the Violence Interrupters, held a CeaseFire Reunion at the Metropolitan Peace Academy located on 2100 S. Morgan St. in Chicago. The event celebrated the numerous achievements of the Chicago nonviolence movement and provided attendees with insight into the history of the CeaseFire/Cure Violence organizations and their ideology that calls the violence plaguing our communities a health epidemic.
Keynote speaker Dr. Gary Slutkin, founder of CeaseFire and Cure Violence, former World Health Organization director and infectious disease epidemiologist, called the nonviolence work the “greatest achievement of humankind.” Dr. Slutkin recalled his long history with Hardiman, telling the standing room-only crowd of activists and supporters of the resistance they received from area leaders when they began their CeaseFire movement. “I have never been in a place where if you gave someone a solution [to their problem], that they didn’t want it. I never saw it before.”
He looked back on the human history of plague and disease, and likened the violence epidemic to a years-long misdiagnosis. He, along with Tio “Mr. CeaseFire” Hardiman and others who have been active in the fight against violence in our Chicago communities, firmly believe that the violence is a public health crisis and that certain, methodical steps need to be taken to cure the disease.
According to their website, the Cure Violence public health methodology applies proven methods used in public health epidemic reversals to:
- Detect and interrupt (i.e., prevent) potentially violent situations,
- Identify and change the thinking and behavior of the highest risk transmitters (i.e., those most likely to engage in violence), and
- Change group norms that support and perpetuate the use of violence
More can be learned about Violence Interrupters here.
More can be learned about Cure Violence here.
Tio “Mr. CeaseFire” Hardiman Holds CeaseFire Reunion of Nonviolence Activists Who Have Helped Make Positive Change in the Public Health Epidemic of Violence