Woodland Mayor Victoria Fernandez participated in Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light’s 10th annual Peace Walk Commemoration last Saturday morning in Sacramento.

The international non-governmental organization, which goes by its acronym HWPL, argues on its website that it is committed to” attaining the shared goal of humanity — establishing peace and ceasing wars.” It is based in Seoul, the capital of South Korea.

The event was aimed at addressing the “pressing need for unity and safety” while “emphasizing the importance of sustaining the momentum generated during Asian American and Pacific Islander Month beyond a single month,” according to a press release from the organization.

“With the participation of over 60 distinguished speakers, community leaders, and concerned individuals from diverse backgrounds of faith, community and demographics, the event was a remarkable gathering that sought to bring about lasting change and support ongoing peace efforts, particularly for the AAPI community,” the release stressed. “We were honored to have notable speakers share encouragement and press for urgency of peace from Sacramento and local communities.”

Fernandez spoke to a crowd of roughly 100 attendees during the event highlighting a famous Elanor Roosevelt quote.

“It isn’t enough to talk about peace, one must believe in it and it isn’t enough to believe in it, one must work at it,” Fernandez recounted during an interview after the event. “I thanked them for reminding us of our responsibility to work for peace. A lot of them were young people, so I thanked them for taking on the effort of trying to create a world that they are going to inherit.”

She also stressed the importance of social justice, arguing that “if we don’t have a world where there’s social justice, then we struggle meeting the basic needs, and we need to work towards that in order to have peace.”

Furthermore, Fernandez highlighted a recent City Council proclamation of May as Asian American and Pacific Islander Month.

“The goal when we make these proclamations is to bring it to the forefront of our community, to know that we have a commitment to support each other,” she emphasized. “We want to make Woodland a diverse community that is willing to work and uplift others…regardless of where we come from and what we look like.”

The city’s proclamation stated, “Woodland will work to ensure that all members of AAPI communities — no matter their background, the language they speak, or their religious beliefs — are treated with dignity, respect and equity.”

Lisa Yep Salinas —Woodland resident and wife to Jesse Salinas, Yolo County’s chief election official — was presented the proclamation during the council’s May 16 meeting and spoke to those attending about the city’s history in creating the month-long celebration.

“This is the first city in our great nation that passed the resolution to protect the Asian American Pacific Islander community,” she remarked. “We were under siege, and because the City Council stood up and directed their police force, as well as first responders, they protected the AAPI community.”

She noted that in less than 90 days in Yolo County, there were 10 resolutions passed in Yolo County protecting Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders with Sacramento passing one shortly after.

“And then it spread across the nation and we got worldwide attention because the greatness started in Woodland and the City Council,” she emphasized. “Here, our AAPI community is growing tremendously…because we love Woodland and want to build Woodland.”