Drive unites peace group and law enforcement

In the wake of national discussions and violence concerning police brutality and racial discrimination, local peace activists and police are collaborating on a project to benefit blacks, whites, police and protesters – donating blood.”It gives life to all of us,” said Juan Gonzalez, regional coordinator of the Global Embassy of Activists for Peace. “At the embassy we’ve found it’s the only way to connect people from different countries, religions, sexual orientations, and races.”The Global Embassy of Activists for Peace is an international nonprofit promoting peace and fellowship through various educational and other projects. One of the projects is a blood drive called “Life is in the Blood: Donating the Gift of Life,” which will be held in more than 19 countries and more than 500 donor centers in April and May. The blood drives will benefit patients at Boston Children’s Hospital.Gonzalez and students at KIPP Academy and Lynn Classical High School helped organize a blood drive April 1 at the charter school’s campus. Now the embassy is organizing a second effort at Lynn Police headquarters on May 7.When speaking with Lynn Police Chief Kevin Coppinger at the KIPP event, Gonzalez said the two began discussing the rioting and violence following incidents in Ferguson, Mo., and New York City after grand juries did not charge white police officers in whose custody unarmed black men died. The two began discussing how the embassy emphasizes blood drives as a way to unite communities. With so much anger in minority communities nationwide directed toward police officers, this aspect of blood drives seemed like a good subtext to promote a blood drive at Lynn Police headquarters.”Imagine the irony if a black protester was injured and got blood from a white police officer who had donated or if a white police officer was injured at a protest and got blood from a black donor,” Coppinger said Thursday. “It embodies the thing that makes it all work – it’s the common thing we all share.”Gonzalez and Coppinger both said that they feel fortunate no protests or violence have happened in Lynn in relation to the Ferguson or Baltimore incidents. But that doesn’t mean the issues raised by the protest aren’t of concern.Gonzalez mentioned that Lynn Police fatally shot a Latino man in his home in 2013 after officials ruled Denis Reynoso struggled for an officer’s gun.”The Reynoso case is an example that something can happen at any time at any moment,” Gonzalez said. So he said that the blood drive is an opportunity to build solidarity today.The event will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Lynn Police Headquarters on Washington Street. There will be Mexican folk performers beginning at 8:30 a.m. followed by brief testimonies about the importance of donating blood. The drive will begin at 9 a.m. From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. the police and community donors will be sharing a Salvadoran meal catered by a local restaurant.To make an appointment to donate, please visit https://www.halfpints.childrenshospital.org/index.cfm?group=op&expand=2366&zc=01902 or call 617-355-6677 and say “Sponsor Lynn Police on May 7.”