TCWF Peace Prize Awards

Karen Bass
Azim Khamisa
Bo Taylor

Karen Bass
A lifelong resident of South Los Angeles, Bass said she has dedicated her life and work to social justice and improving the quality of life in her community. She believes that real change requires addressing the root causes of violence and crime and involving community residents.

In 1990, Bass founded the Community Coalition as a grass-roots, community-based organization committed to re-framing the issues of crime, violence and poverty as public health issues. She has served as the coalition’s executive director for 13 years, leading community-based campaigns that have demonstrated significant results. After the 1992 civil unrest, the coalition prevented the rebuilding of 150 liquor stores and worked with business owners to transform over 40 of these sites into businesses benefiting the community, such as grocery stores, Laundromats and family-counseling centers.

The coalition helped empower South Los Angeles high-school students to secure $153 million for repairs to their schools. Bass worked with the City Council to drastically reduce violence in the 10th District by providing local youth with summer recreation and short-term employment opportunities. Bass helped convene and create the 8th District Empowerment Congress, a model for the Los Angeles Neighborhood Council program.

Bass works to train the next generation of leaders who can continue the work of the Community Coalition. She pays particular attention to developing leadership and unity among African-Americans, Latinos and Koreans who collectively seek community solutions beneficial to all.

Azim Khamisa
Faced with the 1995 murder of his beloved 20-year-old son, Tariq, Khamisa chose a path of forgiveness rather than retribution. He reached out in forgiveness to Ples Felix, the grandfather and guardian of his son’s assailant. As the founder and president of the Tariq Khamisa Foundation, he has pioneered innovative ways of breaking the cycle of youth violence by providing nonviolent alternatives.

Khamisa formed the Foundation in 1995 in the strong belief that there were “victims on both ends of the gun.” Together, Khamisa and Felix speak publicly about their experiences in the hope that other families will not have to live through similar tragedies. The foundation has developed programs that teach youth about the devastation and consequences of violence and the realities of guns and gangs. More than 50,000 students in 120 schools throughout San Diego County have attended these programs.

Born in Kenya, Khamisa is an investment banker with more than 29 years of experience in domestic and international finance. An Ismaili Muslim, he was led by his faith to his other life’s work: promoting peace and forgiveness. Khamisa is the author of the award-winning book: Azim’s Bardo: From Murder to Forgiveness – A Father’s Journey (1998, Rising Star Press).

Bo Taylor
Once an active gang member involved in criminal activities on the Westside of Los Angeles, Taylor is dedicated to saving lives through negotiated gang truces, cease-fire agreements, and training programs for young people.

Taylor founded Unity One in 1992 after the civil uprising following the Rodney King verdict. Unity One is a street ministry based on Taylor’s own personal experience before founding Unity One: youthful involvement in gang activity; inability to find employment after his honorable discharge from military service; falling back into a criminal life on the streets of Los Angeles, with two trips to the Emergency Department as a result of gang fights. Taylor works on the front-line in more than 30 Los Angeles neighborhoods to maintain cease-fire agreements and to provide gang members with alternative activities and job opportunities.

Taylor’s commitment does not end with work on the streets. Understanding how easy it is to fall back into gang life, Taylor, in partnership with AMER-I-CAN, focuses on teaching life- management skills to incarcerated youths, before they return to their communities. Over the last four years, Unity One has helped 1,900 inmates at the Pitchess Detention Center in the city of Castaic to develop the skills that allow them to interact in a humane way with other inmates of different backgrounds and gang affiliations.

Through Unity One, Taylor helped hundreds of young people make the same transition he made in his own life: turning away from a life of violence and embracing a life of tolerance and responsibility.

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