Founding the Allison Center
On five acres of the California Mendocino coast, the Allison Center for Peace is home to the Kent State Truth Tribunal and People’s Memorial Peace Gardens.
Arriving at the Allison Center for the first time, we were drawn to this rural slice of heaven teeming with wildlife and enchanting views to the sea. The remote yet strikingly peaceful landscape captivated our hearts, leading us to secure the land and embark on caregiving this magical ecosystem. The rolling meadows extending miles to the sea, with hawks soaring above the fields help us understand living life in peace. The blustery, coastal, wind-filled sunshine carries voices of our ancestors, along with the distant sound of waves crashing. Close to nature we learn to live in balance and heal.
The Allison Center is a repository of the Kent State Truth Tribunal and home to the People’s Memorial Peace Gardens. In development now, the memorial park explores the intersection of sculptural art, sustainable flower and vegetable-gardens, all feeding the Power Art Farm. Art and gardens of peace, sustainably harnessing and harvesting wind, sun, kinetics, frequencies, testing now-unknown, emerging technologies and biomimicry solutions to power the Allison Center into the beyond.
The property is established in memoriam to Allison Krause, a student killed in the May 4, 1970 Kent State massacre. Allison continues to inspire and guide activities at the Allison Center, especially as we plant our bountiful peace gardens with memorials, creating healing, power and honoring those who stood and stand for peace.
Please join us in this peaceful and sustainable art experiment at the Allison Center for Peace. In association with the Kent State Truth Tribunal, we’re getting on with our peace at the Allison Center.
Allison said, “Flowers are Better than Bullets”
The Allison Center for Peace honors all who are harmed protesting today, and remembers the four student protesters who were killed in the Kent State massacre on May 4, 1970. Allison Krause was one of the four student protesters killed by the Ohio National Guard at a noontime demonstration against the Vietnam War at Kent State.
A 19-year-old freshman, honors student at Kent State University, Allison stood for the cause of peace as she protested the Vietnam War on her college campus. Decades later, Allison still stands for truth in her killing in the May 4, 1970 Kent State massacre, and for the safety and protection of protesters today.
Please watch “Dear Allison,” a video about Allison Krause by Walter Wynn
April 23, 2021
Dear Allison,
Even though you’re not with us, I am writing to wish you a happy 70th birthday. This is my bittersweet wish from your little sister who still looks up to you. Five decades later, I still want to tag along with you and follow your lead. It has been my honor to grow up with you, and to know and love you every day dear Allison.
I want you to know my greatest surprise has been that ever since forming the Kent State Truth Tribunal and the Allison Center for Peace, I’ve healed a little each day. Who knew that searching for truth and accountability related to your killing at Kent State would help me feel better and find peace in my life? Kent State peace is a double blessing you ignited. 😉
Allison, even after all these years, you continue to drive me with your peaceful, kind, astute and loving spirit. I especially enjoy the pranks I see with your name written all over them. Please keep ‘em coming.
On the first Earth Day, April 22, 1970, the day before your 19th birthday, you celebrated your commitments to peace, against war, to a planet in harmony and your love for all beings in a Buckminster Fuller-inspired geodesic dome set up on the Kent State University commons. A moment that embodied peace in its sacred geometry, its energies and its presence.
Bucky’s geodesic dome was erected just days before President Nixon destabilized the United States with his Cambodian invasion and then called you a “bum” for reacting to an escalating war in Vietnam. In response, on May 3, 1970 you said, “What’s the matter with peace? Flowers are better than bullets.”
Thank you for continuing to guide us. For whispering encouragement into the ears of peaceful young persons even today and for driving peace worldwide in thousands of other ways. I am so thankful to have you in my life and have so much gratitude for the strength you give me to fight for truth and accountability at Kent State as I stand with you!
Wanted you to know we will continue our work at the United Nations with the U.N. Human Rights Committee. We join in solidarity with other human rights and anti-war organizations to demand accountability for excessive and deadly force used by the U.S. military and police against citizens and protesters. Demanding the U.S. government and police never harm or kill a protester again.
Happy 70th Allison!
Love, peace and healing to the folks, family and Manny,
Laurie xo
Read Laurel’s letter to Allison at her blog.
Allison Center For Peace Gallery
