Our last community meeting had a guest speaker who introduced us to the Dayton Peace Museum. He said that, although a fortune 500 place might be more “lucrative,” he is content with where he works and “sleeps better at night” knowing that he works for a group that has good intentions. He then went on to explain that the museum is a nonprofit, and that it has been developed and adapted to the times in the 17 years that it’s been in place here in Dayton. He addressed that the creation of this museum was by a farmer and his wife, who after spending time helping people in Ukraine and Russia with farming, decided that Dayton needed to have another attraction within it apart of what was already there: more specifically, the Air Force Museum. As he explains, one of the biggest militaristic museums in the world is in Dayton, and the couple decided that there needed to be a contrast to that museum. Thus, the Peace Museum was born.
The Peace Museum, as he addresses, is not against military (which I think was important to note), but is instead anti-war and has been developed into wanting to stress the idea of positive peace. They like to center their discussions on more than just the bare minimum, as they have been ready to address WW2, the bombings in Japan, the issues on January 6th, gun control, the history of redlining, and more. They are also excited to be moving the museum to a more populated area that is located closer to the center of Dayton. They say this area, Porthouse (if I’m not mistaken), is actually the area where a lot of protests occur. For this reason the guy is excited to get a running start with this new location.
I think it is great that people are finding creative outlets like this in order to promote the idea of education and peace in a more productive way. I am interested in now going there to learn more, and I can’t wait to see how the museum progresses in the future.
As this pertains to IA Scholars and international relations, I think it is important to have places that discuss foreign affairs and historical events that have brought on destruction in a way like this, because this is meant not to solely peace on the disturbances of peace, but (from what I’ve understood) use this museum to find ways to say “now this is how you break that chain and promote a more equal and peaceful way of life.” In this way, international affairs isn’t just learning about what’s wrong with the world, but it is also about learning what we can do to turn the tide and help others.