Mission

The Martin Luther King Jr/ SCLC Ben Ammi Institute for a New Humanity (INH) is a social development and research institution dedicated to the eradication of violent conflict and it’s effects.  The Institute is the very first international SCLC conflict-resolution center to be established and offers courses, counseling and training in resolving differences within families, communities, faiths and nations. The INH is dedicated to the implementation of peaceful, redemptive, holistic principles and modes of conduct to manifest the active, observable, presence of the attributes of the Beloved Community/ Kingdom on Earth between peoples and nations.  It is the goal of the Institute, to foster the ideals peace, brotherhood and love eloquently captured in the life, words, and writings of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King and in the praxis of H.E. Ben Ammi, The Anointed Spiritual Leader of the African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem.

The Institute was inaugurated at the Village of Peace in Dimona, Israel in February 2005 by Senator Charles Steele, President of SCLC, along with several National Board Members of SCLC and H.E. Ben Ammi, Prince Asiel, International Ambassador of the African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem and other members of the African Hebrew Community.  The Southern Christian Leadership Conference under the able leadership of Senator Charles Steele, is the standard bearer of the development of the Institute in collaboration with the Village of Peace and scholars from the School of the Prophets Institute at Jerusalem. 

At the foundation of the Institute is the peaceable beloved community modeled at Jerusalem among the African Hebrew Israelite Community. “During a visit to Israel as part of a congressional delegation in September 2004, I saw King’s vision in practice among the daily lives of the Hebrew Israelites in Dimona,” ,” declared President Steele.  “Now it is time for SCLC to codify King’s ideals and Ben Ammi’s works.”

The Hebrew Israelites are approximately 2,500 African Americans tracing their heritage to the ancient Israelites of the Bible. They have resided in Israel some 36 years and their settlement in Dimona is also known as The Village of Peace, renowned for its holistic, spiritually-based lifestyle. They have become a haven for visitors from all walks of life, from around the world – including many internationally known personalities, like superstars Stevie Wonder, Whitney Houston and Winnie Mandela.  The community has within its borders the development of a new humanity that in fact allows participation based on the content of one’s character and not race, color or creed. In the almost 40 years of its existence, this community has come to be regarded as the “Miracle in the Desert” and an “Island of Sanity” and provides for the world a model of peace, justice and love.

The Institute for a New Humanity ~~ from Chaos to Community offers courses and training to resolve differences within families, and between communities, faiths and nations.  Branches of the Institute will be established in the United States, the Caribbean and Africa that will form collaborative relationships with organizations currently engaged in similar initiatives.  In the words of Dr King:

“…but now the time has come for man to experiment with nonviolence in all areas of human conflict, and that means nonviolence on an international scale.”