The Peacemaker Fellowship^® Ring

The Peacemaker Fellowship Ring and The Advance Peace Ring Circle

The Peacemaker Fellowship® Ring is a symbol and proudly worn by a select group of Advance Peace staff and Peacemaker Fellows who have earned the right to wear the ring. The Peacemaker Fellowship Ring is presented in a public ceremony known as the Advance Peace “Ring Circle.”

A circle of local/national team and fellows are joined by other family and community members to support the presentation of the ring. The concept of the ritual and the rings originated from Advance Peace founder DeVone Boggan in 2022. The ring and the accompanying ceremony serve as an indication and reminder of the obligations and promises associated with successfully completing the Peacemaker Fellowship.

The qualification for earning the ‘Ring Circle’ opportunity is assigned to Fellows who have obtained the full benefit of their Fellowship experience and have demonstrated a commitment to peace without firearms; and for Advance Peace staff who have served a cohort of fellows through a complete fellowship cycle and are acknowledged and celebrated by their local team community as the embodiment of leadership excellence.

Symbolism

The Peacemaker Fellowship ring symbolizes the transformative journey that our fellows are traveling and that our teams are committed to support. The ring reminds the wearer of their personal power, strength, and humanity. The wearer commits to taking 100 percent responsibility for how he/she thinks, feels, and acts towards themselves and towards others.

The ring serves as a reminder to the wearer and others of the wearers obligation to always strive to live by a high standard of character, personal responsibility, and self-determination. However, the ring is not a symbol of qualification for one’s value or humanity, it and its wearer acknowledge and celebrates the intrinsic value and endowed humanity of everyone.

History

The Peacemaker Fellowship ring originated from DeVone Boggan, founder of Advance Peace. Advance Peace is a leadership development and community violence intervention experience. The Peacemaker Fellowship, its signature strategy for curbing cyclical gun violence is a developmental and healing-centered change science that creates conditions that support a personal transformative journey for those at the center of violent encounters involving firearms.

The healing and liberating power of the Fellowship and those who help facilitate it has changed the trajectories of many lives in cities where gun violence was once prevalent.

The text of the Advance Peace Ring Circle was written by DeVone Boggan, where he sought to emphasize the “Why” of the ring and the responsibilities of those who have the honor of wearing it. The ring also affirms that the wearer must not compromise the commitments associated with the spirit and purpose of the Peacemaker Fellowship despite external pressures; and represents a call for personal and collective responsibility and unity between the wearers who in many cases were once lethal enemies. The original set of Peacemaker Fellowship Rings awarded were gifts from the Advance Peace Elder’s Circle.

Design

The Peacemaker Fellowship Ring is a symbol of commitment to the cause of ending retaliatory gun violence. The Peacemaker Fellowship Ring is custom made and reflects our mission on both sides of the ring. The Ring has 24 diamonds, 12 around the bezel (the stone), and 6 diamonds on each side of its black sunburst stone. The Peacemaker Fellowship Ring features art depicting the ‘Knotted Gun’ also known as “Non-Violence” created by Swedish artist Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd. The Peacemaker Fellowship Ring also features a quote “It always seems impossible, until it is done” linked to South Africa’s President Nelson Mandela as early as 2001, more than a decade before his death.

The top of the rings holds the Advance Peace logo – the extended peace sign, representing the advancement of peace. Around the top portion of the ring reads ‘Advance Peace’, around the topside of the ring reads ‘Peacemaker’ ‘Fellowship” ‘LIFE’ and ‘FAMILY’ representing participation in the Fellowship, representing family, and new life commitments. On the outer side of the ring with the ‘Knotted Gun’, is the fellows name and his year of graduation from his/her fellowship experience, on the inner side of the ring is the word ‘Fellow’, words of wisdom from Nelson Mandela, the Advance Peace logo, and the founding year of the Peacemaker Fellowship (2010). Peacemaker Fellowship Ring weighs roughly 4 ounces.

These facets act as a sharp reminder of one’s hard work, commitment, and obligation to helping create healthier, safer, and more just communities. Protocol dictates that the rings should be returned if one has compromised his/her public commitments to peace.

The Peacemaker Fellowship Ring may appear overstated and is designed to be a constant reminder, rather than a piece of jewelry.