Letter from Virgilio Aquino

Virgilio receiving his certificate for completing his Kingian Nonviolence Training.

My name is Virgilio M. Aquino. I am a Filipino father and divorcee. I have one son, and I was raised by a single mother after my father passed away when I was a child. I came to the United States in 1983 when I was 13 years old. Now, I am 45 with no education.

I have never heard about Kingian Nonviolence until I got to jail, in the Roads to Recovery program. When I first heard about it, my impression was, “So what? Who cares? Some more B.S.”

After participating in my fist workshop however, I was in shock. It was awesome. I couldn’t believe how much Kingian Nonviolence surprised me.

I have learned a lot over these several months. I mean very, very much. First, I learned how to ask questions. I learned how to deal with physical violence as well as non-physical violence. I also learned how to talk in front of a group of people, to teach nonviolence and to talk about how it could help people become a better person.

I am hoping that one day, I can become a person who trains more people and helps others. Teaches people about physical forms of violence as well as non-physical forms.

I believe in my heart that this training can not only help me in my life, but my community as well.

I don’t think people should support this work. I know that people should support this kind of work because:

1. The facilitators put their time into it, so they can share their knowledge about nonviolence with people.
2. We should support Kingian Nonviolence because it’s not just about helping people, but the community – the whole community.
3. There are a lot of people in the streets doing all kinds of violence. Family to family, relatives to relatives, skin to skin, mostly to people of a different skin tone.
4. I believe we should support East Point so they can have more facilitators to teach people about nonviolence.

I have a message to say from the bottom of my heart, if you have one minute to listen to what I have to say. I know you have been asked by other people for support, but I would like to dedicate my time to spreading Kingian Nonviolence, to support East Point Peace Academy, and we cannot do it alone. We need you. We can change young people, help them get off the streets. They need you to support them.

I would like to share more of Kingian Nonviolence to other places, cities, or environments to save the streets, the youngsters, the children, to help all people to come together.