City of Berkeley Proclamation

Last night Berkeley City Councilmember Susan Wengraf read a Proclamation that she wrote on behalf of Mayor Tom Bates celebrating the Kyle Strang Leadership Program. The whole gang was there, kids, parents, Hasmig, Persis, Niko. The mayor started the meeting by calling us all up to the front of the room facing the Council. Susan Wengraf read the Proclamation, and I might have been projecting a little, but I thought I detected some emotion in her voice, a little cracking at some key places. It was beautiful. Then the mayor said, "Would the leader of your group like to say a few words?" Leib and I had agreed that he would speak first, and I'd follow if time allowed. He was all ready, but when the mayor invited the "leader" Leib hesitated. I gave him the eye, and he stepped up. He said, "Well, I'm not the leader. We're a team here." Then he went on to describe the significance of the trip, and what he and the others hope to bring back from it to the Berkeley community. He was perfect. I followed with a couple sentences, but didn't have much to add to Leib's words. Here is the Proclamation:

City of Berkeley Proclamation
CELEBRATING THE KYLE HARTY STRANG LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM AND THE 2011 TRIP TO THE MIDDLE EAST

WHEREAS, Kyle Harty Strang was a student in the Communications Arts and Sciences (CAS) program at Berkeley School at the time of his tragic death at age 16, cutting short a bright and promising future; and
WHEREAS, Kyle was passionate about the dream of traveling to Israel to fulfill his deep feelings of responsibility for sharing in the struggle for everyone's right to survive and thrive; and
WHEREAS, In September, 2009, Kyle wrote in a poem, "I believe in 'one person can make a difference' because if everybody believed they couldn't, nothing would ever change;" and
WHEREAS, as a tribute to Kyle's commitment to trying to understand different different points of view, The Kyle Harty Strang Leadership Development Program was established to help make Kyle's dream a reality and through a partnership of CAS, Berkeley Public Education Foundation and the organization Seeking Common Ground, an ongoing leadership development program at Berkeley High has been established to inspire young leaders and provide them with the skills to become agents for social change; and
WHEREAS, Israeli, Palestinian and American teen alumni of the Seeking Common Ground program will guide the leadership development and conflict resolution activities for thirteen CAS Berkeley High School students in a series of intensive retreats, and in April 2011, with the support and efforts of their extraordinary history teacher, Hasmig Minassian, the group will go on their 10-day trip to Israel and Palestine in a Building Bridges for Peace program.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, THAT I TOM BATES, Mayor of Berkeley, do hereby honor
THE KYLE HARTY STRANG LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
and congratulate all those involved, including teachers, family and students; especially the family of Kyle Harty Strang for making Kyle's vision a reality.
Tom Bates, Mayor March 22, 2011

And here we are: