by Diane Bowden | Jul 1, 2015 | Peace and Social Concerns
– from Peace and Social Concerns Committee
Michael Klare, a professor of peace and world security studies at Hampshire College, writes in a recent essay about the Obama administration’s use of energy as a weapon in US foreign policy. In this context, the unprecedented expansion of oil and gas production in the United States under the Obama administration is in part a national security strategy. American production reduces our consumption of global supplies, creating the opportunity to enlist allies otherwise dependent on others to join the US in sanctions on countries like Iran and Russia. The weaponization of energy may help explain in part why Senator Tim Kaine has signed onto legislation to expedite the export of liquefied natural gas and why both of our Senators and Governor McAuliffe are supporters of off-shore drilling in Virginia waters. It’s not just about the purported jobs and economic growth fossil fuels generate, it’s about wielding power in the world.
Virginia is on the frontline now in the vast expansion of infrastructure to enable the export of natural gas. The proposed Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley Pipelines are massive 42 inch pipelines that will cross the Allegheny-Blue Ridge Mountains, two national forests, the Appalachian Trail, hundreds of streams and rivers, hundreds of farms, home places, businesses and communities. The Governor is an advocate and proponent of the projects and our senators are standing on the fence saying that the federal process for pipeline proposals should be followed. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has never turned down a pipeline proposal.
The political influence of Dominion, and the industry generally, as well as the “national security” imperative undergirding energy production and export makes this is an uphill fight. As we consider ways to act in the world to promote peace and stewardship of the earth, the pipeline proposals call out for our response. If you are so led, the advocates in the path of the pipelines have many resources available to take action, including sample letters and information. Please see Friends of Nelson, http://friendsofnelson.com/; Preserve the New River Valley, http://preservethenrv.com/, and Appalachian Voices, http://appvoices.org/tag/mountain-valley-pipeline/
by Diane Bowden | Jul 1, 2015 | Baltimore Yearly Meeting, Peace and Social Concerns
… from Waking Up White — and Finding Myself in the Story of Race by Debby Irving, 2014
Author Debby Irving will spend two days at Friends School of Baltimore in September. Over the summer, Trustees and faculty of Friends School, and perhaps also parents and students, will read Waking Up White in anticipation of her visit. The book is divided into 9 parts and 46 short chapters. Titles of some of the parts give a sense of what she covers: “Childhood in white,” “Midlife wake-up calls,” Why didn’t I wake up sooner?” “Inner work,” “Outer work,” and “Reclaiming my humanity.” Each chapter ends with queries to answer or a statement to reflect upon, and she encourages readers to journal their responses and reflections. Here are the queries at the end of chapter 6, “From Confusion to Shock:”
“The late historian Ronald Takaki referred to the history taught in American schools as ‘The Master Narrative,’ the version of history told by Americans of Anglo descent. Think about what you did not study. Did you learn about Lincoln’s views on enslaved black people? Anti-immigration laws of the nineteenth century? America’s laws regarding who could and could not gain citizenship? The Native Americans who had once lived on your town’s or school’s land?”
This column is prepared by the BYM Working Group on Racism (WGR) and sent to the designated liaisons at each Monthly and Preparative Meeting for publication in their newsletter or other means of dissemination. The WGR meets most months on the third Saturday, except July & August, from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm, usually at Bethesda Friends Meeting or Friends Meeting of Washington. In June 2015, however, it will meet at Adelphi Friends Meeting. If you would like to attend, on a regular or a drop-in basis, contact clerk David Etheridge.
by Diane Bowden | May 19, 2015 | Peace and Social Concerns
The following article by Wardah Khalid appeared in Salon. Wardah Khalid is a Scoville Fellow in Middle East policy at the Friends Committee on National Legislation Education Fund.
It used to be that Israel was the only global player who refused to admit that its settlements in Palestine were illegal under international law. Now there is a danger that Congress could be added to the list. Members of both the House and Senate have recently introduced at least six different pieces of legislation attempting to legitimize these Palestinian land grabs by shielding them from increasing international trade pressure. In doing so, Congress is essentially requiring the U.S. to punish trade partners for adhering to international laws and for the first time in its history, endorse and defend the settlements by treating them as a part of Israel.
The train wreck began when Senators Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Rob Portman (R-OH) introduced the AIPAC-backed United States-Israel Trade Enhancement Act in March. The following month, pro-settlement amendments were added to the Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) bill and the House versions of each bill. In addition, the Trade Facilitation and Trade Reinforcement Act was also introduced with pro-settlement language in both chambers. Congress will be considering these bills in the coming weeks.
The Obama Administration has not commented on these bills and amendments so far, but Senator Portman’s and others’ claims that they will stand against “politically motivated boycotts of Israel” are misleading. It is already against U.S. law to boycott Israel, but settlements in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights are not legally a part of Israel. The European Union’s exclusion clause, one of the main drivers behind these Congressional efforts, limits sanctions to Israeli entities with links to the settlements – not Israeli businesses as a whole. But members who introduced these amendments, such as Rep. Roskam (IL), essentially conflate the two, not even mentioning the word “settlements” in the language, and instead using the phrase “Israel or in Israeli-controlled territories.
It would behoove Congress to seriously consider the ramifications of their actions. These bills are not about countering the diverse Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement or supporting Israel. Rather, they are trying to make it U.S. policy to treat Israel and the territories they occupy as one and the same and penalize trade partners that don’t back that problematic stance. This sets up an extremely dangerous impediment to the peace process, which current and previous administrations have heavily invested in. In fact, it “actually encourages illegal settlement building”, according to Rabbi Joseph Berman, Federal Policy Organizer at Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP). JVP and several other Jewish American organizations, including some who oppose BDS, have all issued statements urging Congress to reject these alarming pieces of pro-settlement legislation.
Now is the time for Americans who support peace to take a stand on this critical issue and make their voices heard on Capitol Hill. If it is not addressed now, not only do we put the peace process and lives of Palestinians under occupation in further jeopardy, but we also open the door to seeing similar legislation reappear, perhaps in more extreme forms, in the future. Our representatives’ offices should be flooded with calls, emails, and visits demanding statements of opposition before these bills reach the House or Senate floors. And when they are brought to the floor, we should have their guarantee that they will do everything in their power to prevent our country from obstructing the path to peace.
by Diane Bowden | May 19, 2015 | Baltimore Yearly Meeting, Peace and Social Concerns
In March 2015 the Clerks of Baltimore Yearly Meeting and of BYM Interim Meeting announced that the Yearly Meeting had accepted a grant of $250,000 from the Shoemaker Fund to address, in part, “…how can our Meetings at all levels be more inclusive and welcoming to all and build multi-cultural community?” They explained, “What we are contemplating is no less than a profound culture change that will permeate all we do and change us forever.”
The BYM Group on Racism is looking forward to helping all of us in the Yearly Meeting discern how to live up to these commitments. One guide that can be helpful is a chart entitled “Continuum on Becoming an Anti-Racist Multicultural Organization” and developed by the Crossroads Ministry of Chicago, Illinois, https://www.churchpublishing.org/media/5205/ContinuumAnti-Racist.pdf.
That chart describes what an organization looks like at each of six points along that continuum. The chart does not tell us how to move along that continuum. We all must discern that together. It does, however, help us understand where we are now and the changes needed to move us to the next point on the continuum.
A beginning query: where would you place your Monthly Meeting now along this continuum?
This column is prepared by the BYM Working Group on Racism (WGR) and sent to the designated liaisons at each Monthly and Preparative Meeting for publication in their newsletter or other means of dissemination. The WGR meets most months on the third Saturday from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm, usually at Bethesda Friends Meeting or Friends Meeting of Washington. In May and June 2015, however, it will meet at Adelphi Friends Meeting. If you would like to attend, on a regular or a drop-in basis, contact clerk David Etheridge, david.etheridge@verizon.net.
by Diane Bowden | May 19, 2015 | Peace and Social Concerns
The Richmond Peace Education Center is pleased to announce it has chosen to honor both a special individual and a unique group as its 2015 Peacemakers of the Year.
This year’s Peacemaker award recipients are Dr. John Moeser and The Thrifty Quaker.
Dr. John Moeser is Senior Fellow at the University of Richmond’s Bonner Center for Civic Engagement and professor emeritus at Virginia Commonwealth University. For the past forty years, his research, teaching, and community engagements have deepened the community’s understanding of race, poverty and urban politics. His work has had a profound influence on the community conversation and the direction of public policy locally. His contributions to the public discourse in metro-Richmond are simply unparalleled.
Dr. Moeser has been a sharp observer of city governance and politics for more than a generation. Over the past decade he has served as senior fellow at the University of Richmond’s Bonner Center for Civic Engagement. He has written dozens of articles on alleviating poverty, regional cooperation, and racial inequality; he served on Mayor Dwight Jones’ Anti-Poverty Commission; and he spent hundreds of hours analyzing data from the 2010 census in order to shed light on the social patterns and divisions that mark our region. He has generously shared this analysis with countless groups working for community change.
In collaboration with the Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities and Hope in the Cities, his data analysis of our region was captured in Unpacking the Census. The video allows educators and facilitators across the region to teach about the persistent, historically-based, structural inequality that continues to damage the social and economic health of metro Richmond. Dr. Moeser’s research also inspired and informed the Richmond Peace Education Center’s own video series on Richmond, Race and Regionalism (available at www.rpec.org).
Recently Dr. Moeser been gathering, analyzing, and mapping data on the spread of poverty into Chesterfield and Henrico Counties. His research and presentations have spurred important conversations about economic inequality, the need for regional cooperation, and the impact of poverty on schools, housing, transportation, and economic opportunity. We honor Dr. Moeser for his countless contributions to community knowledge and to building a more just Richmond region.
Since 1996, The Thrifty Quaker thrift store, created by local Quakers of the Midlothian Friends Meeting, has raised and donated more than $400,000 in monetary grants to peace groups and charities, and an estimated $2.5 million in goods to other thrift stores and individuals in need. Each month, the Peace and Social Action Committee of Midlothian Friends Meeting designates a local nonprofit to receive the monetary grant. Nearly one hundred percent of the store’s net earnings that month go directly to the recipient group, with the remaining portion of the net earnings going to help individuals in crisis. The Richmond Peace Education Center has been a grateful recipient many times over the years, and The Thrifty Quaker gifts have directly and measurably strengthened the center’s capacity, and its work for peace. Countless other worthy peace initiatives and charitable causes have also received vital support from The Thrifty Quaker. Additionally, the store provides employment for a number of workers from the local area, as well as opportunities for volunteering to support a number of mostly local charities through the store’s mission.
Friend$hare, The Thrifty Quaker’s own “inside” charity, has the specific mission of providing emergency funds to individuals in urgent financial crisis that could result in their becoming homeless, jobless, or endangered due to lack of housing, utilities, medical treatment or equipment. Friend$hare provides the monetary resources directly to billing agencies upon the recommendation of Social Services agencies or other trusted sources, as they help individuals become stabilized and functioning in society.
The Thrifty Quaker has been able to promote peace and social justice by working through the store to advertise and promote the charities, collect food to feed the hungry, as well as give donations. The Thrifty Quaker has provided funding to well over a hundred mostly local charities as well as providing education and support to organizations. The store is located at 13567 Midlothian Turnpike in the Midlothian Station Shopping Center in the heart of the village of Midlothian. It’s website is www.thriftyquaker.com.
Dr. Moeser and The Thrifty Quaker will be recognized at both the Peace Center’s Membership Appreciation dinner and at its annual fundraising Auction and Dinner on November 7.
by Diane Bowden | Apr 24, 2015 | Peace and Social Concerns
April 19, 2015
Starting in February, 2014, the Adult Spiritual Education and Peace and Social Concerns committees of Richmond Friends Meeting began a series of sessions to read and discuss The New Jim Crow, by Michelle Alexander, and to feature guest speakers on the related topics of the nature of the contemporary the U.S. criminal justice system and mass incarceration. Seven sessions were held and well attended. Some of the sessions had facilitated, small group discussions with enthusiastic participation. Many Friends learned much from the book, discussions and speakers. The sponsoring committees felt that there was considerable interest and energy in the Meeting around the issues raised.
In April, the ASE committee asked that an informal working group be formed to monitor interest and ideas in the meeting for several months after the end of the series. In July, the working group suggested that we continue to look for volunteer opportunities and organized two Listening Circles, one each in August and September, to gather more information and determine how interested people were in more active advocacy. The working group identified several organizations as opportunities for participation and support. After the two Listening Circles, the working group focused on four proposals for further activity: (1) Attending introduction to Quakerism and silent worship at Goochland Women’s Prison (VCCW). (2) Volunteering at Offender Aid and Restoration (OAR), an organization assisting recently released prisoners. (3) Working with VA CURE, an advocacy group that works on mass incarceration policy issues. (4) Visiting prisoners through Prisoner Visitation and Support (PVS), a national group supporting federal and military prisoners. Many Friends decided to become involved in one or more of the activities.
The working group met several times in the summer and fall of 2014 to monitor the progress of the active groups. At a meeting of the working group on February 5, 2015, after discussing the status of the on-going activities, the group became clear to issue a final report and lay itself down. The outreach to VCCW will continue under the leadership of Rita Willett with oversight by Ministry and Worship. The remaining continuing activities will be part of the Peace and Social Concerns committee work.
The following are the reports of each of the individual activities monitored by the working group:
- Goochland Women’s Prison (VCCW)
Sunday evening sessions have been held at Virginia Correctional Center for Women twice a month since October. The group discusses Quakerism, particularly in relation to prison experience, and worships together. The group has been small – 2 to 5 women – with some attrition as women have returned to the community. Eleven people from meeting have participated; six have completed volunteer orientation. The QWAC’s are scheduled to sing at VCCW in October. (For more information, contact Rita Willett.)
Several of those who completed Michele Alexander’s book wanted to work with offenders reentering life on the outside. Offender Aid and Restoration (OAR) came to our attention as a local organization that offers multiple services both in the jails and in the community. We interviewed with the organization. Four of us filled out the volunteer application form. Our plan was to see what volunteer opportunities were available and advise others who were interested. The four of us were assigned to work in the GED program. Each of us independently came to the same conclusions: We were unneeded in this program. We questioned the effectiveness of the program.
After volunteering for many hours, we did not have effective roles and did not think that the clients were being helped.
We did not find another volunteer situation for our group. It was disappointing that we didn’t find a way to work collectively but individuals in the group have become involved in varied pursuits including Unitive Justice, prisoner visitation, and CASA volunteer work. (For more information, contact Ada Hammer.)
At Al Simmons’s request, Julia Hebner assumed the organizational duties of Richmond-CURE (Citizens United for Reformation of Errants) this past year. Al had been the driving force behind Richmond-CURE and remains the member who most closely follows specific bills wending their ways into and (occasionally) through committees. Richmond-CURE meets on a more or less monthly schedule. We have seen varied attendance, from a half dozen to two dozen persons per meeting.
This year, we were able to co-ordinate VA-CURE’s focus with that of the Virginia Alliance Against Mass Incarceration. VAAMI’s perspective on the need for oversight of military equipment under control of Virginia law enforcement departments, the need for body cams and patrol car cams, and the desirability of raising the threshold for grand larceny is informed from a body of experience that prosperous white citizens probably don’t share.
Again this year, we asked meeting attenders to send holiday cards to inmates using names and addresses from VA-CURE. A card and note not only brighten what might otherwise be a bleak season for an individual behind bars, it also humanizes that inmate to at least one other person – the one who mails the card. A simple card sometimes leads to a correspondence, or, at least, to friendship.
On January 19, VA-CURE began its annual lobby day at the meetinghouse. Members put together information packets to distribute to state legislators, reviewed the progress of relevant bills, and coordinated visits at the capitol. The fast pace of Virginia’s short legislative session requires individual CURE members to be attentive to legislation of interest and communicate with lawmakers and each other. VA-CURE emails updates. We don’t keep track of who makes contact and who doesn’t. We trust each person did, and have faith that no effort is in vain, even if we see no immediate results.
Josephine Starks, with guidance and encouragement from Richmond-CURE, is assembling a request to Governor McAuliffe for a reduction of sentence for her son, Henry Brailey. Mr. Brailey’s excessive sentence is an example of how un-just our justice system is. Richmond-CURE seeks to publicize his situation in hopes of winning his freedom and to educate the wider public.
Looking forward, we expect Richmond-CURE meetings to remain a time to share information and craft strategies. We hope that, in coordination with like-minded groups, we can move beyond changing the system one regulation at a time (as important as that is) to creating movement toward a just and equitable system for rich and poor alike. (For more information, contact Julia Hebner.)
Prisoner Visitation and Support (PVS) is a national group begun in 1968 by Philadelphia Quakers. Sponsoring organizations today include most major faith groups. Volunteers visit federal and military prisons to provide friendship, encouragement and a listening ear to prisoners, who get no, or few, other visitors. PVS visitors help prisoners maintain their self-esteem and encourage their efforts to improve themselves so they can live productive lives upon their release back into society. Five individuals from the Richmond Meeting currently volunteer with the program. They each make a monthly visit to the federal prison in Petersburg. Visits are scheduled for early evening and last one hour. Extra time is needed to gain access to the prison. There is a waiting list of prisoners who would like a visitor. (For more information, contact Dave Depp or Bob Alexander.)
Working Group members: Al Simmons, Ada Hammer, Jim Thoroman, Rita Willett, Betsy Brinson, Ben Hebner
by Diane Bowden | Apr 24, 2015 | Peace and Social Concerns, Topics, Writings - Quaker Bibliography
“The Hero’s Fight: African-Americans in West Baltimore and the Shadow of the State,” by Patricia Fernández-Kelly, was published Feb. 1, 2014, by Princeton University Press. See http://press.princeton.edu/titles/10328.html#.VPHv1BBwbLw.gmail. If you click on the link, you may be struck by the unconscious bias in one sentence in the summary: “While ordinary Americans are treated as citizens and consumers, deprived and racially segregated populations are seen as objects of surveillance, containment, and punishment.” It is easy to infer that, by “ordinary Americans” the writer means “white Americans,” since “racially segregated populations” clearly means populations of color. We (whites) still tend to think of ourselves as the “ordinary” Americans. Even this blurb writer has fallen into that trap. One can only wonder what Fernández-Kelly thinks of that description of her book, if she has noticed it. One can also wonder how often any of us fall into that same trap.
This column is prepared by the BYM Working Group on Racism (WGR) and sent to the designated liaisons at each Monthly and Preparative Meeting for publication in their newsletter or other means of dissemination. The WGR meets most months on the third Saturday from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm, usually at Bethesda Friends Meeting or Friends Meeting of Washington. If you would like to attend, on a regular or a drop-in basis, contact clerk David Etheridge, david.etheridge@verizon.net.
by Diane Bowden | Apr 24, 2015 | History - Quaker, History - RFM, Peace and Social Concerns
There have been several celebrations and ceremonies marking the 150th anniversary of the end of the Civil War and the freeing of slaves in the south. These events note an important milestone as a step toward greater racial equality, and Virginia Friends were allies in that equality quest.
Because it was against the law in Virginia to free your slaves, many Friends went to Ohio and Indiana, states that were more open to abolition. Due to dwindling numbers, the Virginia Yearly Meeting joined the Baltimore Yearly Meeting in 1843. Quakers who stayed in Virginia faced a hostile environment and needed to be discreet in their support of African-Americans. One supporter, John Bacon Crenshaw, a member of the Cedar Creek Meeting (mother to the Richmond Meeting) lived on a farm six miles north of Richmond. To help guide fugitive slaves north, he drove nails into fences and posts to indicate the route that led north. He is but one of many Friends aiding escaping slaves.
After the Civil War, a period called Reconstruction lasted from 1867 until 1875. During this brief time, African-Americans voted and elected legislators, pushing more equal treatment, but the white power establishment reasserted institutional racism by passing a huge body of laws that was called Jim Crow. From drinking fountains to walking on sidewalks, no aspect of civic life was too small to govern. This period, from 1875, lasted until the 1950’s, when it began to crumble with Brown vs. Board of Education. Most Jim Crow laws were finally dismantled by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
White Privilege roots are deep and persistent, and as Michele Alexander points out in “The New Jim Crow” and Benjamin Campbell notes in “Richmond’s Unhealed History”, our prison system and zoning and boundary manipulations have been used to diminish the lives of our African-American citizens once again.
Today, in our prison population of 2.3 million, African-American are a disproportionate number of the imprisoned. Outside of prison, these, our brothers and sisters, lead shorter, unhealthier lives, earn less money, have poorer housing and school options than white people. So, 150 years after the Civil War ended, much has been changed, and much more remains to be changed.
Today’s Richmond Friends Meeting continues the work of earlier Friends to advocate for a fairer, kinder and more loving community for all to live and grow in.
by Diane Bowden | Feb 22, 2015 | Peace and Social Concerns
March is the month that Thrifty Quaker will donate sale proceeds to Quaker House. You can drop off items yourself at Thrifty Quaker in early March. Or you can bring them to meeting on Sunday, March 1 and Sunday, March 8 and we will deliver them to the store for you.
Obviously, the more gently used items we have donated, the better the inventory. And shoppers at the store will find great bargains while reusing our earth’s resources.
Thank you for encouraging Friends to support the store, and support Quaker House at the same time. For more info about Thrifty Quaker and the good work that they do, visit their website at www.ThriftyQuaker.com.
by Diane Bowden | Feb 22, 2015 | Peace and Social Concerns
Employment numbers are up. Gas prices are down. Stock market is up. It seems like the hard times are over… for me maybe, or you. But, in Richmond, where 26.3 % of its residents live below the poverty line, many go to bed hungry and many children go to school without breakfast to carry them into their day.
For this reason, Peace and Social Concerns committee is sponsoring a food drive for Fan Free Clinic in March. Because FFC provides so many services; medical assistance, mental health counseling and aides testing, every donation they receive for their food pantry and every clean paper bag saves money they can spend on these other needed services. A box of cereal or pasta, a jar of peanut butter or pasta sauce, a can of tuna or salmon won’t make a dent in your grocery bill, but could feed a family of four for a day or two. So hold these people in the light and keep them from being hungry by participating with us in our Spring Food Drive. Every bit helps. We will also accept money to give to Fan Free Clinic; no amount is too small.
by Diane Bowden | Feb 22, 2015 | Peace and Social Concerns
There were 14+ Quakers at the VICPP Day for All People on January 20th from 7 different Monthly Meetings in Virginia – Alexandria, Herndon, Hopewell Centre-Winchester, Maury River – Lexington, Midlothian, Richmond, and Virginia Beach. The following attended from Richmond Meeting: Christy Burns, Rhonda Ligon, Laura Cribbs, Monica Shaw, Ben and Julia Hebner, and myself. We met with our State Delegates and State Senators and discussed key poverty, immigration, social justice, and environmental issues currently before the Virginia General Assembly. Legislators we met with included Del. Jimmy Massie, Del. Betsy Carr, Senator Donald McEachin, Senator Stosch’s aide, and Delegate John O’Bannon’s aide. We would like to thank Christy Burn for providing hospitality for Judia Gallinger, the Quaker from Winchester Meeting who attended.
If you have not yet contacted your own Delegate or State Senator, please take this opportunity to do so since the General Assembly will be over for the year soon after you receive this Newsletter. Please remember that you can help them identify your State Senator & Delegate by accessing the following site where they enter their address: http://whosmy.virginiageneralassembly.gov/.
Following is a link to the key bills VICPP is tracking: https://docs.google.com/a/virginiainterfaithcenter.org/spreadsheets/d/1PSOkDeztK4_lCrS1ocsbdWJrXypml–TNRuIpYjce0I/edit?usp=sharing
Bills being tracked by Virginia Interfaith Center include:
Minimum Wage Increase: VICPP supports HB1512, HB1654, SB681, SB704, SB706 – while it is not likely that these will pass, it is hopeful that SB 704 may gather support so that localities could opt for a higher minimum wage
Virginia’s Earned Income Credit (EIC): VICPP supports SB810 and HB1831 which would make Va’s EIC refundable partly refundable to those who owe no tax. These are both dead for this year.
Redistricting: VICPP is supporting efforts to make the redistricting of State and Federal legislative districts nonpartisan. SJ224 (Lucas) and HJ 584 (Rasul)
Immigration: VICPP opposes efforts to take away in-state tuition from DACA (Dreamers), children of undocumented workers who meet other criteria as state residents. SB722 and HB1356 opposed by VICPP.
Gun Control: VICPP supports SB943 (Favola) which prevent purchase and possession of firearms by those convicted of misdemeanors related to domestic violence, sexual battery, and stalking
Medicaid Expansion: VICPP has continued to work for Medicaid Expansion, though it was clear that nothing would be passed this session. There is still a gap preventing more than 200,000 Virginians from subsidies under the Affordable Care Act.
Bills supported by CURE (info from Al Simmons):
Grand larceny; threshold increase: SB1234would increase from $200 to $500 the threshold amount of money taken or value of goods or chattel taken at which the crime rises from petit larceny to grand larceny. The bill increases the threshold by the same amount for the classification of certain property crimes. Passed Senate. In House Courts of Justice (criminal laws)
Environmental Issues (report from Suzanne Keller):
Support two bills that were put forward to help people in the path of the gas pipelines planned to go through Virginia:
Support SB 1338 would repeal the 2004 statute that allows natural gas utilities to enter people’s property without permission. It was left in committee without a vote.
Support SB1166 would have put public service corporations under the freedom of information act to make information more transparent. It was defeated in committee.
Oppose bill drafted by Dominion itself:
SB1349 This is bill that freezes Dominion rates and removes Dominion from the regulatory review that insures they do not overcharge customers. It passed in both houses. PLEASE CONTACT GOV. MCAULIFFE AND ASK HIM TO VETO IT. 786-2211.
by Diane Bowden | Feb 22, 2015 | Peace and Social Concerns
- Creating a public “information center” about Quakers; a public outreach by Quakers to seekers
- Providing our locality a Quaker place for community service and volunteering
- Encouraging recycling by providing donated thrift items at very low prices
- Helping provide food to hungry local children by partnering with Backpacks of Love as a donation center
- Helping provide food to impoverished local families by partnering with Bethel Baptist Church as a donation center for their Food Pantry
- Giving approximately $1000 to $5000 each and every month to a different charity that has no religious or political agenda (twelve charities receive grants every year!)
- Spot-lighting twelve charities every year by supplying the community with information about them on The Thrifty Quaker bulletin board.
- Working with trusted Social Services agencies and local Quakers to provide Friend$hare emergency funding to non-Quakers who are in danger of losing their home, health, transportation, utilities, or livelihood (approximately a total of $5000 in cash given away every year!)
- Partnering with Rock Church to help victims of addiction by giving our surplus thrift items for resale at their thrift store
- Partnering with Powhatan Community Church by giving our surplus thrift items for resale in order to fund service projects to impoverished villages in Nicaragua
- Providing free clothing and household items to local victims of fire, theft, and poverty
Thank you, Richmond Friends, for making all of this possible by donating and shopping at The Thrifty Quaker. Please tell your friends and family about us! 13567 Midlothian Turnpike, Midlothian VA 23113 804 794-7158 www.ThriftyQuaker.com
Legislative Update from Peace & Social Concerns re
by Diane Bowden | Jan 29, 2015 | Peace and Social Concerns
From P&SC, Upcoming Events
1. On Sunday February 22nd the same co sponsorship will present the film Five Broken Cameras at RFM. Refreshments will be available at 5:30 and the film will follow at 6PM.
2. On Sunday February 1st at 9:30, P&SC will present a PVS [Prisoner Visitation and Support] visitor recruitment film downstairs in the Meetinghouse. Everyone with even a slight interest in visiting prisoners at the Federal Correctional Center in Petersburg should attend. Current volunteer visitors will be on hand to reflect on the film and answer Questions.
by Diane Bowden | Sep 18, 2014 | Peace and Social Concerns
Announcements from Peace & Social Concerns Committee
- A climate change summit is being held at the United Nations in New York City on Saturday and Sunday September 20-21. The organizers of a rally planned for Sunday are hoping to have massive, record-breaking crowds to signal summit attenders that the American people want concerted action on climate change. Bus transportation from Richmond is being planned.
- If events in Iraq are challenging your commitment to non violent, and non military responses to turmoil and human tragedy, please go to the FCNL website and read their 8-15-14 offering entitled,” Drop Food Not Bombs.”
- Please mark your calendars and be sure to attend the following events: Sunday, October 5th, an hour-long film entitled “The Wisdom to Survive” will be shown in the Community Room. This film gives a thoughtful overview of climate change and “explores how unlimited growth and greed are destroying the life support system of the planet, the social fabric of society, and the lives of billions of people.” Do we have the wisdom to survive? Sunday, November 2nd, Gordon Davies and Dave Depp will share their thoughts about the book The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert. Their intent is to further develop some of the themes contained in the film shown on October 5th.
by Diane Bowden | Jul 29, 2014 | Adult Spiritual Education, Peace and Social Concerns
WHITE PRIVILEGE: UNPACKING THE INVISIBLE KNAPSACK by PEGGY McINTOSH
(Introduced by Marilyn Gilmore) (Edited by Pat Schenck)
Peggy McIntosh, a White feminist scholar, identified a long list of societal privileges that she received simply because she was White. She did not ask for them, and it is important to note that she hadn’t always noticed that she was receiving them. They included major and minor advantages.
It’s one thing to have enough awareness of racism to describe the ways that people of color are disadvantaged by it. But a new understanding of racism is more elusive. In very concrete terms, it means that if a person of color is the victim of housing discrimination, the apartment that would otherwise have been rented to that person of color is still available for a White person. The White tenant is, knowingly or unknowingly, the beneficiary of racism, a system of advantage based on race. The unsuspecting tenant is not to blame for the prior discrimination, but she benefits from it anyway.
For many Whites, this new awareness of the benefits of a racist system elicits considerable pain, often accompanied by feelings of anger and guilt. These uncomfortable emotions can hinder further discussion of race and racism. We all like to think that we deserve the good things we have received, and that others, too, get what they deserve. Social psychologists call this tendency a “belief in a just world.” Racism directly contradicts such notions of justice.
Understanding racism as a system of advantage based on race is contrary to traditional notions of an American meritocracy. For those who have internalized this myth, this definition generates considerable discomfort. It is more comfortable simply to think of racism as a particular form of prejudice. Notions of power or privilege do not have to be addressed when our understanding of racism is constructed that way.
It is important to understand that the system of advantage is perpetuated when we do not acknowledge its existence. And now, on to Peggy’s paper.
Through work to bring materials and perspectives from Women’s Studies into the rest of the curriculum, I have often noticed men’s unwillingness to grant that they are over-privileged in the curriculum, even though they may grant that women are disadvantaged. Denials which amount to taboos surround the subject of advantages which men gain from women’s disadvantages. These denials protect male privilege from being fully recognized, acknowledged, lessened, or ended. Thinking through unacknowledged male privilege as a phenomenon with a life of its own, I realized that since hierarchies in our society are interlocking, there was most likely a phenomenon of white privilege which was similarly denied and protected, but alive and real in its effects. As a
white person, I realized I had been taught about racism as something which puts others at a disadvantage, but had been taught not to see one of its corollary aspects, white privilege, which puts me at an advantage.
I think whites are carefully taught not to recognize white privilege, as males are taught not to recognize male privilege. So I have begun in an untutored way to ask what it is like to have white privilege. This paper is a partial record of my personal observations, and not a scholarly analysis. It is based on my daily experiences within my particular circumstances.
I have come to see white privilege as an invisible package of unearned assets which I can count on cashing in each day, but about which I was “meant” to remain oblivious. White privilege is like an invisible, weightless knapsack of special provisions, assurances, tools, maps, codes, code books, passports, visas, clothes, compasses, emergency gear, and blank checks.
My schooling gave me no training in seeing myself as an oppressor, as an unfairly advantaged person, or as a participant in a damaged culture. I was taught to see myself as an individual whose moral state depended on her individual moral will. At school, we were not taught about slavery in any depth; we were not taught to see slaveholders as damaged people. Slaves were seen as the only group at risk of being dehumanized. My schooling followed the pattern which Elizabeth Minnich pointed out: whites are taught to think of their lives as morally neutral, normative, average, and also ideal, so that when we work to benefit others, this is seen as work which will allow “them” to be more like “us.”
After frustration with men who would not recognize male privilege, I decided to try to work on myself at least by identifying some of the daily effects of white privilege in my life. It is crude work, at this stage, but I will give here a list of special circumstances and conditions I experience which I did not earn but which I have been made to feel are mine by birth, by citizenship, and by virtue of being a conscientious law-abiding “normal” person of good will. I have chosen those conditions which I think in my case attach somewhat more to skin-color privilege than to class, religion, ethnic status, or geographical location, though of course all these other factors are intricately intertwined. As far as I can see, my African-American co-workers, friends, and acquaintances with whom I come into daily or frequent contact at this particular time, place and line of work cannot count on most of these conditions.
- I can, if I wish, arrange to be in the company of people of my own race most of the time.
- I can avoid spending time with people whom I was trained to mistrust and who have learned to mistrust my kind, or me.
- If I should need to move, I can be pretty sure of renting or purchasing housing in an area which I can afford and in which I would want to live.
- I can be pretty sure that my neighbors in such a location will be neutral or pleasant to me.
- I can go shopping alone most of the time, pretty well assured that I will not be followed or harassed.
- I can turn on the television or open to the front page of the paper and see people of my race widely represented.
- When I am told about our national heritage or about “civilization,” I am shown that people of my color made it what it is.
- I can be sure that my children will be given curricular materials that testify to the existence of their race.
- If I want to, I can be pretty sure of finding a publisher for this piece on white privilege.
- I can be pretty sure of having my voice heard in a group in which I am the only member of my race.
- I can be casual about whether or not to listen to another woman’s voice in a group in which she is the only member of her race.
- I can go into a music shop and count on finding the music of my race represented, into a supermarket and find the staple foods which fit with my cultural traditions, into a hairdresser’s shop and find someone who can cut my hair.
- Whether I use checks, credit cards, or cash, I can count on my skin color not to work against the appearance of financial reliability.
- I can arrange to protect my children most the time from people who might not like them.
- I do not have to educate my children to be aware of systemic racism for their own daily physical protection.
- I can be pretty sure that my children’s teachers and employers will tolerate them if they fit school and workplace norms; my chief worries about them do not concern others’ attitudes toward their race.
- I can talk with my mouth full and not have people put this down to my color.
- I can swear, or dress in second-hand clothes, or not answer letters, without having people attribute these choices to the bad morals, the poverty, or the illiteracy of my race.
- I can speak in public to a powerful male group without putting my race on trial.
- I can do well in a challenging situation without being called a credit to my race.
- I am never asked to speak for all the people of my racial group.
- I can remain oblivious of the language and customs of persons of color who constitute the world’s majority without feeling in my culture any penalty for such oblivion.
- I can criticize our government and talk about how much I fear its policies and behavior without being seen as a cultural outsider.
- I can be pretty sure that if I ask to talk to “the person in charge,” I will be facing a person of my race.
- If a traffic cop pulls me over or if the IRS audits my tax return, I can be sure that I haven’t been singled out because of my race.
- I can easily buy posters, post-cards, picture books, greeting cards, dolls, toys, and children’s magazines featuring people of my race.
- I can go home from most meetings of organizations I belong to feeling somewhat tied in, rather than isolated, out-of-place, outnumbered, unheard, held at a distance, or feared.
- I can be pretty sure that an argument with a colleague of another race is more likely to jeopardize her chances for advancement than to jeopardize mine.
- I can be pretty sure that if I argue for the promotion of a person of another race, or a program centering on race, this is not likely to cost me heavily within my present setting, even if my colleagues disagree with me.
- If I declare there is a racial issue at hand, or there isn’t a racial issue at hand, my race will lend me more credibility for either position than a person of color will have.
- I can choose to ignore developments in minority writing and minority activist programs, or disparage them, or learn from them, but in any case, I can find ways to be more or less protected from negative consequences of any of these choices.
- My culture gives me little fear about ignoring the perspectives and powers of people of other races.
- I am not made acutely aware that my shape, bearing, or body odor will be taken as a reflection on my race.
- I can worry about racism without being seen as self-interested or self-seeking.
- I can take a job with an affirmative action employer without having my co-workers on the job suspect that I got it because of my race.
- If my day, week, or year is going badly, I need not ask of each negative episode or situation whether it has racial overtones.
- I can be pretty sure of finding people who would be willing to talk with me and advise me about my next steps, professionally.
- I can think over many options, social, political, imaginative, or professional, without asking whether a person of my race would be accepted or allowed to do what I want to do.
- I can be late to a meeting without having the lateness reflect on my race.
- I can choose public accommodation without fearing that people of my race cannot get in or will be mistreated in the places I have chosen.
- I can be sure that if I need legal or medical help, my race will not work against me.
- I can arrange my activities so that I will never have to experience feelings of rejection owing to my race.
- If I have low credibility as a leader, I can be sure that my race is not the problem.
- I can easily find academic courses and institutions which give attention only to people of my race.
- I can expect figurative language and imagery in all of the arts to testify to experiences of my race.
- I can choose blemish cover or bandages in “flesh” color and have them more or less match my skin.
I repeatedly forgot each of the realizations on this list until I wrote it down. For me, white privilege has turned out to be an elusive and fugitive subject. The pressure to avoid it is great, for in facing it I must give up the myth of meritocracy. If these things are true, this is not such a free country; one’s life is not what one makes it; many doors open for certain people through no virtues of their own. These perceptions mean also that my moral condition is not what I had been led to believe. The appearance of being a good citizen rather than a troublemaker comes in large part from having all sorts of doors open automatically because of my color.
In this potpourri of examples, some privileges make me feel at home in the world. Others allow me to escape penalties or dangers which others suffer. Through some, I escape fear, anxiety, or a sense of not being welcome or not being real. Some keep me from having to hide, to be in disguise, to feel sick or crazy, to negotiate each transaction from the position of being an outsider, or, within my group, a person who is suspected of having too close links with a dominant culture. Most keep me from having to be angry.
I see a pattern running through the matrix of white privilege, a pattern of assumptions which were passed on to me as a white person. There was one main piece of cultural turn; it was my own turf, and I was among those who could control the turf. I could measure up to the cultural standards and take advantage of the many options I saw around me to make what the culture would call a success
of my life. My skin color was an asset for any move I was educated to want to make. I could think of myself as “belonging” in major ways, and of making social systems work for me. I could freely disparage, fear, neglect, or be oblivious to anything outside of the dominant cultural forms. Being of the main culture, I could also criticize it fairly freely. My life was reflected back to me frequently enough so that I felt, with regard to my race, if not my sex, like one of the real people.
Whether through the curriculum or in the newspaper, the television, the economic system, or the general look of people in the streets, we receive daily signals and indications that my people counted, and that others either didn’t exist or must be trying, not very successfully, to be like people of my race. We were given cultural permission not to hear voices of people of other races, or a tepid cultural tolerance if we did happen to hear them.
In proportion, as my racial group was being made confident, comfortable, and oblivious, other groups were likely being made to lack confidence, comfort, and to feel alienated. Whiteness protected me from many kinds of hostility, distress and violence, which I was being subtly trained to visit in turn upon people of color.
It seems to me that obliviousness about white advantage is kept strongly enculturated in the United States so as to maintain the myth of meritocracy, the myth that democratic choice is equally available to all. Keeping most people unaware that freedom of confident action is there for just a small number of people props up those in power, and serves to keep power in the hands of the same groups that have most of it already.
Though systematic change takes many decades, there are pressing questions for me and I imagine for some others like me if we raise our daily consciousness on the dividends of being light-skinned. What will we do with such knowledge? …(I)t is an open question whether we will choose to use unearned advantage to weaken hidden systems of advantage, and whether we will use any of our arbitrarily-awarded power to try to reconstruct power systems on a broader base.
by Diane Bowden | Jun 4, 2014 | Peace and Social Concerns
On June 1, Sylvia Clute gave a talk at RFM on “Friends, Unitive Justice, Ending Mass Incarceration.” Below is a brief introduction to her talk and a description of unitive justice.
Common phrases, like “the punishment must fit the crime,” “I want to get even,” or “an eye for an eye” actually describe proportional revenge, the moral principle that underpins the punitive western model of justice. Answering harm with more harm is deemed moral, so long as the harm you do is proportional to the harm done to you. Two moral standards are required for proportional revenge to work, one that says the harm done by us, the “good” people, is moral, while condemning the harm done by those whom we have deemed “evil” or “immoral”—even when both are doing essentially the same thing, giving rise to complexity and inconsistency. But as Quakers know, there is another way. The work Sylvia Clute is doing involves implementing another way that she calls unitive justice. Unitive justice is based on the moral principle of loving kindness. Whatever the circumstances, harm to another is not condoned as moral. The power of unitive justice lies in this internal moral consistency, a power demonstrated in the movements led by Gandhi, King and Mandela. This discussion will consider the differences between punitive and unitive justice, and the ways in which unitive justice is presently being implemented as an answer to the broken punitive system and the mass incarceration that now pervades the U.S. criminal system. Sylvia Clute, Program Coordinator for the Alliance for Unitive Justice, is a former trial attorney and author. For over twenty five years she has been researching and developing “unitive justice” as a parallel model of justice and a structure for community organization. Recently, she spent two years implementing a restorative justice program based on unitive justice principles at a Richmond, Va. high school, and is now implementing the program in a middle school. She is drawn to the Friends because of their application of these principles to a spiritual community.
by Diane Bowden | Jan 9, 2014 | Peace and Social Concerns
by Diane Bowden | Nov 4, 2011 | Minuted Decisions, Peace and Social Concerns
For a number of years, groups of mostly RFM members and attenders have spent one-week in the spring working at sites affected by natural disasters, including the gulf coast (Hurricane Katrina), Ider, Alabama (tornadoes), and Crisfield, Maryland (Hurricane Sandy).
The following policy governing the oversight and financial support for disaster-relief groups was approved at the 11th month 2011 meeting for worship with a concern for business.
RFM policy governing the oversight and financial support for disaster-relief groups
Groups desiring to go on disaster relief missions as representatives of Richmond Friends Meeting will receive permission by writing to Peace and Social Concerns expressing their purpose, the dates of the trip, how the finances will be developed and a list of expected attendees. Disaster Relief groups will provide aid to the needy via labor to redevelop lost or damaged property, feed the hungry and serve the harmed following the principles of Quakerism. With the blessing of Richmond Friends Meeting, Peace and Social Concerns approval will allow the disaster mission to go as a Quaker group and allow them to hold fundraisers at Meeting. P&SC would request a short, written description of the work performed after their return. A separate line item will be included in the Richmond Friends Meeting budget and each group will have the authority to collect donations that will be posted on this line item of Richmond Friends Meeting financial statements.
Presented at Meeting for Worship for Business, Nov. 20, 2011, by Martha Foster, Co-clerk P&SC
by Diane Bowden | Dec 18, 2008 | History - Quaker, Peace and Social Concerns, Testimonies, Writings - RFM
Friends affirm a Biblical basis for the peace testimony. A Prince of Peace was prophesied who would bring in a Peaceable Kingdom. “Thou shalt not kill” is one of the Ten Commandments. Jesus taught and lived peacemaking and love of enemy. George Fox similarly counseled his followers “to live in the life and power which does away with the occasion for war.”
The material below was prepared earlier by Mary Fran Hughes-McIntyre and is excerpted from her History of Richmond Friends Meeting, 1795-1962, available in the Meeting Library. (or here:THE HISTORY OF RICHMOND FRIENDS MEETING 1795-1962)
Living Out the Peace Testimony
Friends affirm a Biblical basis for the peace testimony. A Prince of Peace was prophesied who would bring in a Peaceable Kingdom. “Thou shalt not kill” is one of the Ten Commandments. Jesus taught and lived peacemaking and love of enemy. George Fox similarly counseled his followers “to live in the life and power which does away with the occasion for war.”
Early Richmond Friends were firm pacifists, disowning from membership those who bore arms. Doubtless knowing Friends from Cedar Creek Meeting who had firmly refused to fight during the Revolutionary War, Friends in Richmond affirmed a pacifist stand in the War of 1812. Friends suffered payment of muster fines rather than fight. As part of Virginia Yearly Meeting, they concurred with the following statement:
While we view with sorrow the awful progress of war spreading desolation and Misery in the human family, let us endeavor to guard our Minds from mixing in the politics of the times, which will insensibly leven into the spirit, and will lead if not to the practice at least to the promotion of that destructive evil.
During the War between the States, some Richmond Friends chose to fight, and some were conscientious objectors. Cedar Creek Monthly Meeting (of which Richmond Friends became a part in 1841) accepted the resignation of three persons who chose to fight, but “earnestly hopes that the day is not distant when those with many others aroused by the awful juncture of war now presented to our view may be enabled to renounce principles which lead to such results and enlist under the banner of the Prince of Peace.”
In the period from 1914-1920 the Peace Committee of Richmond Friends meeting was particularly active workingfor peace and reconciliation in the period of the Great War. Peace literature was distributed in the schools, and prizes were offered in 1916 for the best essays on “Why We Do Not Need a Large Increase in our Army and Navy”: $15 first prize to a boys’ school, $10 first prize to a girls’ school. (Editor: Friends have not been free from societal sexism and racism.) Money was donated for Belgian relief in 1914, for English and Armenian relief in 1916, for French orphans in 1917, and for feeding the German children in 1920. Letters were sent to Senators and Representatives in 1916 urging opposition to the so-called “preparedness” for war. The Friends Peace Committee ran two advertisements in the newspapers, including the following:
PEACE OR WAR?
To our fellow-citizens:
In this time of crisis when our country’s highest good is the common aim of all, we voice this deep conviction of patriotic duty.
The causes for which men fight—liberty, justice, and peace—are noble and Christian causes. But war itself violates law, justice, liberty and peace, the very ends for which alone its tragic costs might be justified…
In World War II, Friends were again active in peace-making. Member Hoge Ricks met at homes in 1940 with young Friends to think through their stands on the peace testimony in anticipation of their being faced with conscription. After the war opposition to conscription continued, with visits to Congressional Representative, and a firm stand against the Selective Service Act of 1948.
A change in Friends’ custom of disowning those who bear arms in evident in 1943. A member wrote saying that he had joined the Armed Forces as a result of personal conviction, and that he doubted the Meeting wanted his membership. The Meeting decided to stay in touch with him, since “to encourage him would do more that to ostracize him.”
(Richmond) Friends were proud of having several members, who were conscientious objectors, serving in Civilian Public Service Camps. Their peace testimony was affirmed.
Thus, Richmond Friends stood consistently against war, and dealt in increasingly lenient ways with Friends who chose to fight.
* * * *
(Editor: During World War II, some 12,000 men who were conscientious objectors to war, served in non-military occupations across the U.S. Under the leadership of Mennonite, Quaker and Church of the Brethren agencies, they were engaged in mental health care and medical experiments, in forestry and diary farming, and in other important civic projects.)
by Diane Bowden | Dec 18, 2000 | Archive, History - Quaker, Peace and Social Concerns
[Below a transcription of the 1802 Quaker petition against slavery presented to the Virginia legislature. Among those signing this petition are Samuel Parsons (the father of Samuel Pleasants Parsons, whose house survives at 601 Spring Street in Oregon Hill) and James Ladd (the uncle of Elizabeth Ladd, who married Samuel Pleasants Parsons).]
(Source: Miscellaneous Petitions to the Virginia Legislature, December 17, 1802. Archives of the Virginia State Library.)
To the speaker and House of Representatives of Virginia.
The memorial and petition of the religious Society of Friends.
Respectfully shew:
That your memorialists, estimating the importance of those concerns, which must necessarily engage the Legislature – feel no disposition to intrude upon your valuable time, or request your attention to subjects of a trivial nature but where grievances affecting any class of the community, arise from a partial construction of the laws, or exist because the laws have provided no remedy, we conceive it to be a duty, congenial with the spirit of legislation, and due to the House, faithfully to represent the same – and solicit such redress, as justice and equity require. Impressed with these sentiments- and feeling moreover the impulse of Religious duty, on behalf of the helpless, and unprotected – your memorialist beg leave to represent, certain cases of suffering, for which (in the opinion of some of the Courts) the laws have provided no effectual relief.
* Such we apprehend is the case of minor slaves, left free by will, but committed during their minority to the care of legatees – such minors notwithstanding their undoubted rights – and a clear conviction in the Courts of their claim to freedom – merely for the want of a legal prohibition – and on a ground of a temporary claim to their service – have been carried out of the State, and beyond the reach of testimony establishing their title – with the evident risk of being forever deprived of their freedom.
II Your memorialist beg leave further to represent that the practice of steeling, and selling free people of Color, continues to be carried on in some parts of the State; encouraged, we believe, by the little danger of conviction the law appearing to require evidence that free persons were stolen, or sold with a Knowledge of their being such. The difficulty, or rather their impossibility of adducing such evidence, we trust, will be sufficiently apparent, as well as the necessity of effectually restraining a practice which operates directly against the dignity of the Government – and contrary to the interest and spirit of the law, violates the first principles of justice with impunity. Your memorialist represent these subjects – with a full confidence that the justice, humanity, and sound policy of the Legislature will meet them with approbation. It cannot be supposed that the Representatives of a free, and enlightened people, can fail to appreciate the value of liberty, to whatever description of persons it may legally belong, or that they will not extend the barriers of the law around this inestimable privilege.
Interested as men and Christians, in the sufferings of our injured fellow creatures, and on behalf of numbers, who stand exposed to the same dangers – and may be involved in the same calamity – we therefore respectfully petition – That the law providing for the emancipation of slaves by will, and the law, respecting the stealing and selling free persons may be revised and amended – or that the legislature may make such provision for these cases as in their wisdom shall seem just and expedient.
Signed by order, and on behalf of the Representatives of the aforesaid Society
by James Ladd
Micajah Crew
Samuel Parsons
Jesse Copeland
Benjamin Bates Jr.
* See proviso to the law allowing emancipation. Abridgm’t of the permanent public laws, page 281.
II “If any person shall hereafter be guilty of stealing or selling any free person for a slave, knowing the said person so sold to be free, and thereof shall be lawfully convicted , the person so convicted, shall suffer death without benefit of Clergy.” Abridgment of the laws, page 280.
Friends Memorial. Mem. of L. to Riddick, Dupree, Dulaney, Allen, Sheffey, Shackelford, Aylett, Dunton, Jennings, Gee, Sebull, Blow, Josiah Riddick
by Diane Bowden | Dec 18, 1967 | History - RFM, Peace and Social Concerns, Testimonies
One of the most divisive events in 20th century U.S. history was the war in Vietnam. The antiwar movement gained national prominence in 1965, peaked in 1968, and remained powerful throughout the duration of the conflict. In June 1967, in keeping with our position against war, the Richmond Friends Meeting hosted in our Kensington Avenue building the office for the Vietnam Summer Project, a statewide program opposing U.S. involvement in Vietnam.
In June 1967, in keeping with our position against war, the Richmond Friends Meeting hosted in our Kensington Avenue building the office for the Vietnam Summer Project, a statewide program opposing U.S. involvement in Vietnam. Phyllis Conklin and Marii Hasegawa, representing the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, led the statewide Vietnam Summer Project. (The Richmond WILPF chapter, newly organized by Phyllis and Marie, had about ten active members.) Some Richmond Friends Meeting members were also active in the Vietnam Summer Project along with other community individuals, who opposed the war.
Ben Ragsdale, a young student, was hired to help coordinate the program, which had groups in Norfolk, Hampton, Northern Virginia, Charlottesville, Lexington, Roanoke and Farmville. Ben recalls doing a lot of moving around the state. He indicates that the college campuses were not as active as they were later because it was the summer and students were not in attendance. He also recalls receiving a small paycheck every two weeks.
The Vietnam Summer Project attempted to host a peaceful antiwar rally at the Richmond War Memorial but was denied a permit. The ACLU filed an injunction against the ruling, which found them before the newly installed Judge Mehrige in federal court. Judge Mehrige told them that it was a constitutional issue and refused an injunction until the case could be heard in federal court. When Phyllis and Marii protested that this was a one summer’s protest project and the convocation was to be the end of it, Judge Mehrige told them that he was certain there were enough concerned people to keep the group alive until the case could receive a proper hearing. Bob Conklin recalls that while the Judge was in favor of granting the permit, he delayed the opinion in part because of his newness on the bench and the public controversy over the war itself. The 1967 peace rally was held instead at Union Seminary. The court eventually ruled in favor of the Vietnam Summer Project and the peace rally at the War Memorial finally happened a year later with several hundred in attendance.
Minutes of the Richmond Friends Meeting show that the City of Richmond intervened in the Vietnam Summer Project by sending a letter to Meeting, arguing that we did not have a permit for allowing our building to be used for such a purpose. Since the Meeting had for years allowed numerous groups supporting a wide variety of social issues to use RFM for meetings and office space, we can conjecture that this time the city objected because the war was so divisive in the public mind. The Business Meeting though simply agreed to pay for the permit. Ben Ragsdale and Marii Hasegawa do not recall ever knowing about the permit issue so it may well be that the Meeting quietly went ahead and did their part to help the project without concerning others.
RFM member Peg Spangenthal recalls that her husband Art, who served in Italy in World War II, offered counseling to young men concerned about the draft. She remembers hosting groups at their home, where materials were distributed and young men role-played the offered advice. We believe that Jules Arginteanu from the Meeting also offered draft counseling.
Other project activists spoke to church and college groups and responded to media inquiries about why the war in Vietnam was wrong. Bob Conklin recalls attending a meeting at the Unitarian church, where right-wingers blocked the entrance and the hallways, pushing their cameras to within inches of antiwar activist faces before blinding them with flashes. The right-wingers were anxious to rough it up and antiwar activists expected worse. During the meeting, Bob recalls that the debate centered on who eventually should govern Vietnam. A woman, sensing that Phyllis Conklin would favor the Communists, asked, ” Who is there but the Communists to give it to?” Phyllis’s response was “Why, to the people, of course.” As a result, antiwar activists were not hassled on the way out.
Later the police planted an “informer” in the project. “Ed,” as he was known, was apparently a little too enthusiastic about his new mission. He was very anxious to help with mailings, because he wanted to obtain the WILPF mailing list. Organizers were able to put him off and give him inconsequential jobs. Later that year at a City Hall demonstration, members of the group recognized “Ed”—this time dressed in his police uniform. They had a good laugh as one after another they called out, “Hi, Ed!” Ben Ragsdale recalls another plainclothesman, who appeared at project events. His name was Ricky Duling and he eventually became “Sergeant Santa” at Christmas to area children.
This was also the beginning of the Friday peace vigils at the post office. For four years, Phyllis Conklin and other sturdy souls leafleted in opposition to the Vietnam War. In doing this, they were called many names. Phyllis loved to tell that hostility changed to curiosity and even some interest and support as the national challenges to the war increased. She told about a man who stopped her toward the end of the four years and said that he had been watching them all this time. In the beginning he thought they were crazy, but gradually over the years his attitude had changed and now he really admired their perseverance.
Marii Hasegawa recalls that Richmond Friends Meeting played an important role by providing office space and volunteer support. She also recalls that the key to the side door was often very hard to turn and hopes that we have repaired it.
Thanks to Marii Hasegawa, Bob Conklin, Wendy Northup, Ben Ragsdale, Peg Spangenthal, Ann Lane and others who offered information for the above story. Phyllis Conklin died in 1987. Marii Hasagawa, now age 84, resides in a retirement community in South Hadley, Massachusetts. She continues to be active in social justice issues and sends greetings to all her Richmond friends. Ben Ragsdale is presently the director of the Virginia Civil Rights Video Initiative. Betsy Brinson is responsible for the research and writing of this short article. Readers who have additional information to share about the Vietnam Summer Project are invited to contact her at brinson422@comcast.net