YOUNGSTOWN — Daryl Cameron remembered a friend and fraternity brother whose young life was cut short by violence as someone who espoused and embodied kindness, being a peacemaker and upholding the philosophy of nonviolence.

“Jamail was generous. He was a person everyone got along with,” Cameron said, referring to Jamail E. Johnson, who was soon to graduate from Youngstown State University as a business management major but was killed Feb. 6, 2011, at an off-campus fraternity party while protecting his peers from the shooters.

“He was loved by a lot of people.”

The legacy of Johnson, 25, who was part of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity, lives to this day — so much so that a scholarship for undergraduate students was named in his honor, Cameron said.

Johnson also was among those who lost their lives to violence and were honored and remembered during the 14th annual Nonviolence Parade and Rally on Sunday that began at Wick Avenue and Wood Street and proceeded to the Youngstown Foundation Amphitheatre for a one-hour program.

Sponsoring the gathering was Mahoning Valley Sojourn to the Past.

“We try to live up to (Johnson’s) standards,” Cameron added.

Much violence is rooted in people’s choice of language, as well as acting before they think about the consequences and harm their actions can cause others, Penny Wells, Mahoning Valley Sojourn to the Past’s executive director, said. By the same token, everyone has the capacity, power and control to change the narrative, she added.

“All of us, children and adults, can work to be nonviolent in our own personal lives,” Wells said.

The philosophy of nonviolence is not sterile passivity, but partly about taking constructive action against injustices and wrongs. That also includes speaking up and advocating for what is right, she added.

It’s also hoped that especially young people will learn, incorporate and apply Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s six principles of nonviolence in their lives, Wells continued.

The principles hold that nonviolence is a way of life for courageous people, seeks to win friendship and understanding, aims to defeat injustice and not people, states that suffering can educate and transform, chooses love instead of hate and believes the universe is on the side of justice.

Among those who have dedicated their lives to upholding such beliefs was Natalia McRae, an East High School graduate who, in 2021, embarked on Sojourn to the Past, an eight-day traveling and transformative American history course to key civil rights sites in the South.

“We’re here to honor the lives taken by violence,” McRae said, adding that Sunday’s parade and rally also was about spreading greater awareness of the power of nonviolence.

It’s especially crucial that young people learn and apply the concept, she added.

“If you plant a seed, you can sit back and watch it grow,” McRae continued.

Concurring with her perspective was Zion Heller, 17, a Howland High School senior who added that he wants to “spread more love,” and that changing lives in this manner can make the world better. Doing so starts with the young people themselves, he added.

As the parade approached the amphitheater on a sunny and windy afternoon, participants were greeted with an audio of King’s iconic “I Have a Dream” speech, which he delivered Aug. 28, 1963, during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

A deeply poignant aspect of the program was the “Say their Names” portion. Several Sojourn to the Past members read aloud narratives that applied to and honored Johnson, Rowan Sweeney, Persayus C. Davis-May, Isiah Walker, Reshaud Biggs Jr., Tariq Morris, Valarica Blair, Kemonie Black, Edward Morris, Walter Kornegay, Matthew Burroughs, Eric Gibbs and Landon Lockhart, all children and adults who lost their lives to violence.

Miah Pierce, who’s also part of Sojourn to the Past, praised the late civil rights icon and Georgia congressman John Lewis, who exemplified a life of nonviolence and whose example she tries to incorporate into her life.

“He holds a special place in my heart,” Pierce, a Youngstown State University student seeking a master’s degree in social work, said. “He always stayed in good trouble.”

Youngstown continues to be plagued by gun violence, part of which is because too many people view retaliation as a solution. Part of the parade and rally also is aimed at breaking “generational curses” via moving forward and rebuking such an approach, because it’s too costly to go backward, she explained.

At times echoing Mahatma Gandhi of India, Pierce told her audience of a few hundred elected officials, community activists, YSU athletes and others that everyone has a role to play toward making positive societal changes, but that it has to start from within.

“Please practice gratitude and kindness, and practice forgiveness,” she said.

Kennedy Dean, who is part of the YSU Penguins women’s softball team, said it’s vital for team success to raise the bar high. Nevertheless, it’s equally important to apply high standards to one’s life. Part of that includes handling conflict via knowing how to diffuse, not escalate, problems, she noted.

Dean also pledged to be an agent and leader for practicing nonviolence, such as doing her part to create a culture of acceptance and greater responsibility, she said.

Also during the program, Heller read aloud the six principles of nonviolence.

In addition, the Rev. Jon Paul Robles, co-pastor of Poland United Methodist Church, engaged the audience in a call-and-response prayer, saying in part, “Violence perpetuates the very thing it seeks to destroy.”

Handing awards for best parade banner, float and best in show were Derrick McDowell, a community activist who runs the Youngstown Flea, and Gerry Ricciutti, senior reporter for WKBN-TV 27.