Warke’s odyssey from Fountain all the way to the White House

Since September 20, Graham has been one of a group of 12 delegates from Northern Ireland learning all about how to combine reconciliation and peace with a view to strengthening their leadership skills, courtesy of the TALK (transformation, advocacy, leadership and knowledge) Programme run by The United States Institute of Peace in conjunction with the PSNI.

Offered a place on the prestigious course by the Policing Board and the US Consulate, Graham has now returned home to put what he has learned into practice.

“I was put forward for the trip by Brian Doherty formerly the director at St Columb’s Park House, and must say it was a challenge. There delegates from the Protestant Unionist Loyalist community as well as six from the Nationalist community, and the course involved detailed examination of key issues in Northern Ireland, including parades, flags, identity and the past, and how to build up a positive relationship with the PSNI within the many different communities here.

“The Northern Ireland Bureau hosted a series of functions at which we were able to meet the Washington Ireland Programme leaders. The Programme has supported peace and reconciliation for the past 20 years in Northern Ireland and identifies young people with a commitment to service and a track record of leadership, building their skills through work experience, education and hands-on citizenship activities in the US and in Northern Ireland. The aim of WIP is to build the next generation of leaders and help create a peaceful, stable, prosperous future for Northern Ireland.

I really enjoyed it the most amazing thing for me was having a night out with the Washington Police Department. We went to an area called Six District. I was out there with a Sergeant Brent Parson from the Washington Police Department and Mark West from the UPRG in Belfast, as well as Chief Inspector Emma Bond, Area Commander of West Belfast.

“We got out eyes opened that night. It was constant shootings, people getting assaulted and cars being stolen. We came across three shootings and the last one was quite serious with a police officer being shot,” said Graham.

“It was so surreal experience seeing bodies and how the police dealt with it; it was the norm for them. You could see why there was so little respect between the law and the communities with the way they were speaking to each other. This stuff is happening every night over there.

One of the things I was quite taken with was the use of technology and haw it was deployed to find the source of gunfire and track down the area the weapon was fire from,” he said.

“We also visited a group called Life Pieces to Masterpieces, In one of the districts in Washington and what they do is help young people in communities where there is little or nothing for them. Particularly young African American males, who have low income and in public housing and they give them the opportunity to discover their ability to change challenges into possibilities. The participants are taken through the three ‘Cs’ which are connecting, creating and contributing and through various means, including art, music and song, they reach out and enrich their communities. The group also does multi-media visual and performance art with the young people. I thought it was amazing. I was glad to see there were organisations in these communities helping these young people,” he said.

There were visits to Congress as well opportunities to sightsee, including the Lincoln Memorial, museums and of course, the White House.

One that really struck a chord with Graham was The Holocaust Museum, as well as Washington Police Department itself.

“I came home with the PUL community if young people from the PUP, UPRG, DUP, Orange Order and communities can all work together in unity, why cant we do it back home? At the start I very much felt like it was two groups going out, but by the end of it we were more of a cohesive group, listening to each other and better able to understand and respect each other’s views,” he said.

One downside of the trip was missing his daughter’s eighth birthday, but, Norman Houston from the NI Bureau in Washington has told me he is sending over the Stars and Stripes flag which flew on Congress Building that day on her birthday, which is a lovely gesture,” he said.