‘Nonviolence is not for cowards. It's for courageous people.'
Today, Pina-Warren is executive director of the
The Nonviolence Institute in Providence, R.I.
The Nonviolence Institute
The organization formed in response to the murder of
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The institute teaches the practices and principles of nonviolence, going into schools, businesses, prisons, hospitals, and nonprofits, she said. And it provides 'boots on the ground,' sending street workers into cities such as Providence, Pawtucket, and Central Falls to mediate gang disputes and head off violence.
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'Nonviolence is not for cowards. It's for courageous people,' Pina-Warren said. 'It's very easy and cowardly to pull out a knife or a gun or fight someone. To be able to say to another person, 'I don't want this' and to be able to walk away from a situation takes a lot of courage. But the outcome is so much better.'
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Pina-Warren, who recently appeared on
'That really impacted me,' she said. At a candlelight vigil, Gross introduced himself and asked her, 'What can we do? What are we going to do?'
Pina-Warren joined the institute in 2009 and rose through the ranks. In July 2024, she replaced interim director Keith Morton, who'd been leading the organization since
Pina-Warren spoke about how tragedies involving her family shaped her passion for nonviolence. She said that in 1996 her older brother was involved in a high-speed chase with the police that ended with her brother and his friend dying in a crash.
'That really, really impacted my life,' Pina-Warren said. 'He was my best friend. He taught me how to ride a bike, taught me how to tie my shoes, and taught me how to fight.'
In losing her older brother, she said, 'I could have totally gone on the wrong path and given up.' But instead, she said, 'Losing him motivated me to really dig down deep, to help others and also to help myself — just to better my life because I knew that that's what he wanted for me."
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Years later, Pina-Warren heard that a young man she'd worked with had been killed. At first, she was relieved to hear that someone had been charged with the shooting. But then she learned that the person charged with the homicide was her nephew — her brother's son.
Pina-Warren said working at the Nonviolence Institute has helped her deal with those tragedies.
'Being able to give back to my community and help others that go through some of the things that I have gone through, or similar, is really healing,' she said. 'There's a passion.'
To get the latest episode each week, follow Rhode Island Report podcast
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, and other podcasting platforms, or listen in the player above.
Edward Fitzpatrick can be reached at
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