Ruby Sinreich's blog

Last year, I blogged about the proposal to create a state historic marker at the site in Chapel Hill, North Carolina where members of the first freedom ride were arrested in in 1947. The marker has been approved and is being unveiled next week! FOR is organizing and supporting several events in support of the marker.

The Journey of Reconciliation began on April 9, 1947. It was organized by the Congress of Racial Equality with the leadership of FOR staffers Bayard Rustin and George Houser. Like many other great institutions, CORE was born at FOR. To learn more about this historic event, do read this short history by Dr. Yonni Chapman.

About every six months, FOR publishes Witness, a newsletter for our active members and supporters. This year we have combined our 2008 annual report with the latest edition, so it’s an especially interesting read.

Click here to dowload a 1.8 MB PDF of the winter 2008 Witness.

Below is this issue’s welcome message from the Chair of FOR’s National Council, Paul Dekar on "Building King’s ‘World House’":

I was among many Americans who were not pleased to see the prominent role given to evangelical mega-pastor Rick Warren in President Barack Obama’s inauguration yesterday. As a counterbalance to Warren’s opening (which many agreed was well-done, in retrospect) the great Dr. Joseph Lowery was called on to close the ceremony, and he offered an energetic prayer that drew upon "Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing" (a.k.a. "The Negro National Anthem," or "The Black national Anthem" as we called it when I was in college) as well as calling out slogans from the civil rights movement and quoting The Bible.

But there was another gesture, perhaps a specific response to Rev. Warren’s strong advocacy of Proposition 8 (which banned gay marriage in California). The openly-gay Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson was invited to open the inaugural concert at the Lincoln Memorial which the Obamas attended on Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately, due to technical and logistical issues very few attendees could hear his words, and those watching at home never even saw his face. But fortunately, many are still sharing his message by posting his prayer on the Internet, and I’m happy to join in and pass it on…

As we hope you know by now, many of us at FOR have been working on hard on a major event that will take place tomorrow in Washington, D.C. Rebirthing King, Rebirthing America will bring together a wide range of notable leaders from many faiths to shine a light on the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King on the eve of the inauguration of the first Black President of the United States of America.

A major part of the program is "Ashes, Stones, & Flowers: A Litany on Militarism, Racism, & Materialism in Honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr." The verses of this litany are both eloquent and powerful. I was quite moved by reading it, and I’m usually not one for traditionally "religious" rituals, if you know what I mean.

The entire text is posted on the Olive Branch Interfaith Peace Partnership web site, but here is a taste…

Now that the election is over, many peace activists are celebrating the Obama victory and looking ahead to a new administration. Many of us are full of hope, but many are also concerned. How will the new President deal with Iran and Israel/Palestine? Will he continue opposition to the Colombian Free Trade Agreement? What about the enormous military budget and questionable recruiting practices?

FOR’s historic work for civil rights gives us a unique perspective on the election of the first Black president, as does our work on the pressing issues of war and peace that the Obama administration will address. We’d like to hear your thoughts about the election and it’s implications for peace in the U.S. and the world.

It’s starting to feel as if the hard work of the growing movement to resist imperialism and insist on social justice began to pay off last night. We Buddhists say that karma is "ripening" when the consequences of our actions come back and become impacts upon ourselves. I can’t decide if it was the peace movement’s karma ripening last night (rewarding our efforts), or if it was the Bush administration’s chickens that had come home to roost.

Earthlyn Manuel (pictured at right), director of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, calls it The Ripening of America…

The fabulous, fun activists at Code Pink are inviting supporters to take a pledge to be a voter for peace. I would have signed just to get my dot on the snazzy map they use to track the geographic spread of participation, but they are also offering prizes for the people who manage the recruit the most pledges by Novembever 4th.

Our budding local FOR chapter in Nyack and our friends at Whole Women Healing have come up with a wonderful way to spend this upcoming Election Day. After going out and working for your candidate of choice (of course!), why not come together with friends and neighbors and meditate for peace... peace in the election results, peace in the future administration, peace in Latin America or the Middle East, peace here at home.

Attached is a flyer for the Nyack event to help you in making your own. As you can see, it's a simple event to organize. Simply open your doors, and open your hearts.

(And if you live in the New York area, please grab a flyer and come to Shadowcliff on Tuesday.)

Soldiers of Conscience is a documentary about how soldiers deal with the morality of killing. It will be shown on PBS’s POV next week, which interestingly is also the week of the Media Violence Fast — supported by Rainbow/PUSH Coalition as well as the United Church of Christ.

Soldiers of Conscience is a dramatic window on the dilemma of individual U.S. soldiers in the current Iraq War — when their finger is on the trigger and another human being is in their gun-sight. Made with cooperation from the U.S. Army and narrated by Peter Coyote, the film profiles eight American soldiers, including four who decide not to kill, and become conscientious objectors; and four who believe in their duty to kill if necessary. The film reveals all of them wrestling with the morality of killing in war, not as a philosophical problem, but as soldiers experience it — a split-second decision in combat that can never be forgotten or undone.

- Soldier of Conscience: About the Film

I have been scanning the reports of media and blog coverage about Wednesday’s dialogue between American peace activists and the President of Iran, which was organized by FOR’s Iran Program.

Robert Dreyfuss is a former FOR peace delegate and a writer for The Nation. He summarized the meeting well noting that "the questions to Ahmadinejad weren’t softballs" but that "the answers were, well, less illuminating than the questions." Dreyfuss also pointed out ongoing problems with civil liberties and women’s rights in Iran, and expressed frustration at the reliance on religious fundamentalism that plagues the executive branches of both the U.S. and Iran these days.

The U.S. News & World Report also covered the meeting (at the invitation of President Ahmadinejad) and largely focused on the Iranian President’s assertion that our current economy and existing military obligations would keep the U.S. from even being able to attack Iran in the next decade. (Unfortunately, for some politicians where there’s a will there’s a way. Deficit and lives be damned.)

Leaders of Code Pink also commented on their participation in the meeting, saying “It’s rare for a head of state to take time during an official U.N. visit to meet with the peace community, especially in a situation where the host government””represented by the Bush administration””is so hostile… The fact that the meeting took place and was so positive is, in itself, a major step forward.”