Hadi Jawad

Peacemaker of the Year Award:
Hadi Jawad

Hadi Jawad has called Texas home since 1973 when he arrived from Pakistan to pursue a degree in engineering at the University of Texas at Arlington. Before joining the Dallas Peace Center, Hadi started and facilitated several men's support and poetry groups. One such group, the Monday Night Sufi Poetry Group was described as the longest running Sufi poetry group in the country- a run of 20 years!.

In the late 1990's, after joining the Dallas Peace Center, Hadi worked to build awareness of the devastating effects of U.S. backed sanctions on the people of Iraq, particularly Iraqi children. In 2002, as co-founder of the Crawford Peace House, in Crawford, Texas, he led efforts to end the U.S war in Iraq. On Feb 15, 2003, he helped organize the largest anti-war protest in Dallas history.

Hadi's focus these days is on the suffering of the people of Yemen who are being bombed and starved to death by a Saudi led coalition in which the United States is a major partner and key player. In 2013, Had led a group that pressured the City of Dallas to offer an apology to the mother of Santos Rodriguez for the brutal murder of her son, Santos Rodriguez, in July 1973. In 2018, he was a part of the Santos Vive Project that produced a new documentary about the short and tragic life of Santos Rodriguez. Recently the City of Dallas unveiled a fully funded proposal to build a memorial in honor of Santos Rodriguez at a public park in Dallas

With an eye on the future, Hadi is helping groom our youth, particularly in minority communities, by providing opportunities to develop advocacy and leadership skills. Hadi is a death penalty abolitionist and has kept a vigil whenever the State of Texas carries out an execution. With his partner Valley Reed, Hadi continues to work to create a world that cherishes human rights and a life with dignity for all.

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