On Dec. 7, the 68th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack, the Los Angeles City Council passed a resolution supporting legislation in the House that would create a U.S. Department of Peace. If established, the Department of Peace would work to reduce crime and violence in the U.S. and abroad.

The resolution calls on people to “conceive of peace as not simply being the absence of violence, but the active presence of the capacity for a higher evolution of the human awareness of respect, trust and integrity.” “Los Angeles joins 30 other governing councils around the country, including Oakland, Cleveland, Atlanta, Chicago, West Hollywood and San Francisco, in showing this strong measure of support for true leadership towards proactively building peace in our communities, country and the world,” says Terry Mason, state coordinator for the Los Angeles, Valley and Santa Barbara areas. “What better way to honor Pearl Harbor Day than to show support for legislation that will strategically create peace.”

Along with researching solutions to violence in the U.S., the Department of Peace, proposed in HR 808, would establish a Peace Academy to train civilians and military personnel in nonviolent conflict resolution. It would also analyze foreign policy and advise the president on ways to defuse international crisis that could lead to war.