Walk for Peace a place to start for Lynn group

LYNN – After their friend Huy Le was fatally stabbed in Gallagher Park in February, Lynn residents Rambo Sun, Erichson Seang, Cinda Danh and Raksmey Sok formed the Lynn Anti- Violence Association (LAVA) to try to make Lynn a safer place.Saturday, they will take their first step toward accomplishing their goal: a Walk for Peace to increase the awareness for a more stable community.LAVA plans for walkers to gather at North Shore Community College at 10:30 a.m. to make signs for peace while they listen to music. The walk will start at noon, beginning at NSCC, and end at the Lynn Raw Arts Center in Central Square. The coordinators wished to keep the walk brief in hopes that it will draw more participants.Sun says the idea was to hold it in a busy place, where lots of people can see their message for peace.”The walk means a lot to me – I want to see a change in the community,” said Sun. “My family has been in this city for a while and I want to make it a safe place for them. I want to do this for my little nephew.”Once walkers reach Raw Arts, there will be a special screening of “The Ripple Effect,” a production by LynnCam and Straight Ahead. The 76-minute documentary features two rival Cambodian gangs in the United States that are taken back to their homeland to learn about their parents’ struggle getting to the U.S. for a better life. Straight Ahead is a non-profit organization that educates juvenile delinquents for a better life.”The documentary shows that (people) have a choice in life: live the way you do, or become a better person. It shows they can get along through knowledge and learning,” said Sun.After the movie, LAVA will take ideas and suggestions from walkers that they hope to use in their quest for peace in Lynn.LAVA is not the only organization that was started in the wake of Huy Le’s death. Harvard student Ashley Turner held a group talk on Feb. 27 called Progress for Reform, where a crowd of 60, including Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy, brainstormed on how to decrease violence and improve the safety of Lynn.”We want to show people that kids have an initiative,” said Sun, who is 20. The rest of the members of LAVA are 19, 21 and 22. “There are people in Lynn trying to make it a better place. Some say, ‘Lynn, Lynn, city of sin,’ but we want to change that bad reputation.”For more information, contact LAVA at [email protected].