Denton peace group marches for unity

by Amber Arnold of North Texas Daily

A new organization in Denton has emerged with what its founder, Adele Hull, says is a mission of peace, love, and unity for the city.

Monday evening, about 30 UNT students and Denton residents met at the corner of Hickory and Fry streets to march for the group, known as (R)evolution.

Activists marched for a benefit show where artwork was also raffled off to raise money. Every protester had a different sign upholding a different ideal, but all were there to promote peace, love or unity.

"We've encouraged everyone to march for what it is that they're passionate about," Hull said. "A lot of the time, you'll see a march that's for peace or gay rights, and the signs in the march are confined to those specific themes. We want people to stand up for whatever they believe in that resounds with our mission of peace, love, and unity."

The group only formed last month, but Hull already has big plans of how it can accomplish its vision.

"We hope to be doing events like this at campuses all over," Hull said, "and even bigger than that, we want to do conferences and eventually even host camps, so we have a pretty large vision of what we want to do."

The organization hopes to not only unify people, but to also raise awareness about human rights, and become a platform for people to express themselves, Hull said. (R)evolution was joined by NT's Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance organization and Food Not Bombs.

"By getting these progressive groups together, we can more easily work toward that common goal of unity," said Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance finance chair and undeclared sophomore Natalie Carrey. "Even though we all have our very different specific goals as organizations, we still all agree on peace and equality."

The founder of (R)evolution is also a member of Food Not Bombs, which is an organization that disperses food to the hungry while staying vegan.

Eric Uphoff, a music senior and Food Not Bombs representative, shared his mantra with everyone with a sign that read 'Peace wins war.'

"Aggression only breeds hate," Uphoff said, "and that's what we're trying to raise awareness of with this march."