My name is Lin Evola.

In my life I have had a vision to use the power of art
 to bring well being to humanity.

 

African American Peace Angel Peace Angels Project
 

I want to thank Khalid Shah, Angel of Peace recipient and co-founder of the California Los Angeles Peacebuilders Collaborative, Aquil Basheer founder of CLAPC and all of the Collaborative for inviting me this morning.

The Angel of Peace Award is one of the Original Peace Angel sculptures that was poured in April 1997. The intention of the Angel of Peace Awards was to honor those who were doing Extreme Good in the community and to encourage them to continue.

Khalid is a perfect example. He now holds this Award which is created from decommissioned nuclear stainless steel core and approximately 20 street weapons from Los Angeles that will never harm anyone again.

The African American Peace Angel Monument will be created at 11 feet from approximately 50,000 weapons.

Inspired by the image of Joya Delaney of Los Angeles, the Monument will be produced of decommissioned nuclear stainless steel core (USA), destroyed weapons from the continent of Africa internationally, as well as locally from Los Angeles County and specifically, South Central.

Led by the work of Khalid, Aquil and this Consortium, Lin Evola will create this Monument, with our Peace Angles Project team.

The African American Peace Angel Monument is to be dedicated to the work of the Consortium and to all those who dedicate their time to saving the lives of others throughout South Central Los Angeles.

In forming the Los Angeles Peace Consortium, Khalid is forwarding the conflict resolution work that he has done for decades. The Peace Angels Project stands with him and this Consortium.

Together we will be partnering with 150 local Churches, Mosques, Synagogues and other faith based institutions to request street weapons throughout the community.

The street weapons are collected by local and state law enforcement. The weapons are then destroyed and melted into molds to produce the Peace Angel monuments.

Now their function is to inspire instead of kill. I am making a personal request to all those who would like to take a stand in their own lives, to give up a weapon to produce this monument and spread a powerful message from them to future generations.

 I understand the strength that it takes to embrace the discipline to move yourself from Anger, Blame and Rejection to the courage to give a weapon. This is a profound act of bravery.

To give this weapon to produce the African American Peace Angel Monument, you lead a statement of strength from yourself to your family, and your community to the entire world for future generations.

The African American Peace Angel Monument will stand in perpetuity to inspire all who see her, to protect and Cherish Life with your voice inside. It is the intention of the artist, to gift the African American Peace Angel Monument to the California African American Museum with a Trust for it's ongoing conservation.

We thank everyone who works on this cry to make our streets safer. We will work tirelessly to safeguard the lives of our young who deserve a better future.

Elisabet Sartorius, evolutionary biologist called
the Peace Angels Project
a contributor to bringing our human species
from conflict to cooperation. 
 

That is the bar, I want the Peace Angels Project to reach.

Art is the first language, the symbols implemented gave us our first means of visual communication.
I want the Peace Angels Project to be at that base level.
 When you see a Peace Angel of high beauty, produced with dangerous contemporary weapons and sited in a power of place,
something in you changes.
It's personal. It is a shift of consciousness, immediate and profound.

I have been an artist all of my life.
 I have no memory of being anything else
 or communicating through language before art making. 
 

In 1992, my son was only 7,
we moved from San Francisco to Los Angeles.
 I had a spiritual experience and at the same time read in the LA Times that 1,000 children had died the year before, mostly from guns
but other violence as well.
 I was a single mother at the time and felt scared.
 How was I going to protect my son? 
 

My way of contributing to a safer world was the next two years
of creating what would become known
 as the Peace Angels Project.
 

I knew I was up against it.
Not only from the outside world but from circumstances...
 from just the nature of doing this right. 
 

Contacting the most powerful law enforcement agencies:
 LASD and NYPD.
 Finding a foundry that could handle the complicated metallurgy.
 If we produced something that cracked and turned black from corrosion, it would show future generations that destruction won. 
 

I spent my time primarily between Manhattan and Los Angeles.
We need to begin by bringing in the whole country.

And, we need people. It cannot be only a symbol of an Angel
(not a God, but above human to give us lift).

I wanted 18 Humanitarian Philanthropists partnered
with 18 Humanitarian Activists. 36.

God said He would not destroy the earth
 as long as there were 36 Just people alive on earth.

They need to be scanned alive and included.
The Humanitarian Philanthropists give.
Upon completion of the monument,
 the Humanitarian Activists receive funds
so they can continue their work.

Years later, I was living in lower Manhattan.
My apartment was right above the hole of the tragic site.
 I saw the people.
 I call it The Conversation.
It is the Peace Angel to lift us up but the work is the Conversation between people that make this world evolve
 and become a better place... 
All created from 1 million weapons.

The Labyrinth tells the story of New York,
 how this country began,
what it stands for and the power of New York,
 it's walk of suffering
and it's walk of achievement.

It took me 30 years to put all the key components together.
They are now all in place

We begin now with the New York introductions.
I know this is unusual but it is put together very well. 

On October 22, 2018 the Renaissance Peace Angel,
which had stood on Canal Street post 911
was installed in the permanent collection  of
the National September 11 Memorial Museum.

 Since then, thousands of visitors have viewed this symbol
 that represents Life.

This installation is the first major permanent site of
a Peace Angel monument.

A Peace Angel monument
 is a work of art of high beauty, culturally distinct, created from indigenous weapons, and sited in a prominent site of distinction.

https://collection.911memorial.org/Detail/objects/118874

I wish all who read this, joy and peace and goodness.
 

I thank you for reading this article.

There will be more. 

Lin Evola

Peace Angels Project

www.peaceangels.com

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