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ACTIONS FOR PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST Modesto Peace/Life Center Vigil for Peace: Please call the Center for time, place, and message themes, usually Fridays. Info: 529-5750. |
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Around the Center:
Articles
Thoughts for Young Men who would be Conscientious Objectors If the Draft Returns
Global disarmament groups blame U.S. for failure to strengthen NPT
News and information websites regarding war and the Middle East
Statement of Conscience Against War and Repression by the Board of the Peace/Life Center
Link: California Peace Action
Link: MoveOn--grassroots activism, electronically based
Link: Not In Our Name--Statements of Conscience Against War And Repression
Link: True Majority
COMMUNITY CALENDAR --CURRENT & COMING EVENTS
Opinion and Letters to Connections
By JULIA TEN BRINK
Forty years ago I, an idealistic and naive nineteen year old, volunteered to go to the South to participate in voter registration with Martin Luther King, Jr.’s organization, Southern Christian Leadership Conference, SCLC.The Voter Rights Act of 1965 had passed and there was a major focus to register minority peoples to vote. A local organization I belonged to, Stanislaus County Organization for Racial Equality (SCORE), had raised money to send one of us to the South to assist with the voter registration. Jared Zeff, our president, was initially chosen to go. However, his parents were not comfortable with him going there due to the possible dangers. (The previous summer three voter registration workers disappeared in Mississippi, their bodies later found in a dam.) As secretary, I guess I was next in line. My parents were supportive and encouraged me to go. And so it was decided.
There was a group of students from University of California, Berkeley who were also going. I was able to drive with three of them in a VW bug. We were packed in that car like sardines. Since we were discouraged (for safety reasons) from stopping for food once we left Texas, we packed bread, fruit and cheese for snacks on the road. We basically drove straight through, stopping only for gas. We shared the driving and traded drivers about every 2 hours or 100 miles.
Our first stop was in Atlanta, Georgia. There we received instruction in passive and nonviolent resistance, and how to conduct ourselves while doing voter registration. This was a highlight of the trip because I heard the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. deliver a moving sermon. At the end of the evening we all joined hands and sang “We Shall Overcome.” It was a very emotional moment.
After our training, we were organized into groups and sent to various cities in the South. I was sent to Charleston, South Carolina. There we were housed with families. We spent our weekdays going into the community and explaining the registration process to African Americans who were not registered to vote. On Sundays, we went around to Black churches in outlying areas to explain our work. We coordinated our efforts with Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC ), Congress for Racial Equality (CORE) and other like-minded groups in the area.
Another highlight was when 13 of us (Black and White) decided to go to the beach at Edisto Island for a picnic on the Fourth of July. The park at Edisto Island had been closed to avoid integration laws (the Civil Rights Act of 1964). As soon as we started piling out of the cars, a crowd gathered and the sheriff called. We were subsequently arrested for trespassing on the beach, which even though there were other (white) people on the beach, who were not arrested. We were booked and taken back to Charleston, jailed, and later released on bond provided by the NAACP. All charges were later dismissed.
“The Edisto 13,” as we now call ourselves will celebrate a 40th year reunion this summer and will have that picnic on the beach!
In a recent interview with Richard N. Ostling of the Associated Press, printed in The Modesto Bee on June 18, 2005, evangelist Billy Graham, said that one of the few regrets he has is that he, the son of North Carolina farmers, didn't join the battle for civil rights more forcefully.
Graham ordered racial integration of seating at his meetings in the South a year before the Supreme Court's school desegregation ruling, he told Ostling.
However, Graham said, "I think I made a mistake when I didn't go to Selma." On March 9, 1965, Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. led 1500 marchers, including 450 clergy, to the site, where two days earlier, Alabama state troopers had brutally attacked a peaceful march to support legislation that would speed up registering Black voters.
"I would like to have done more," Graham said.
By JIM COSTELLO
It was a dark and stormy night. The phone rang. The male, menacing voice, deep with a strange nasal quality, ordered me to meet him later that night in a dank downtown Modesto parking garage. I was gripped with fear and trepidation (but not loathing). I ungripped myself and arrived at 10th Street Place at midnight.
I carefully perused the dark, nearly vacant garage and cautiously eased into the building. There was a young couple romantically embracing at the far end of the building. Suddenly, a somewhat portly figure rushed by and scurried into the shadows. The dashing man reminded me of Alfred Hitchcock. At first I thought he might that retired Bee reporter searching for the bathtub in which he had always said he would be found belly-up. But, it turned out to be a prominent Modesto politician searching for his defense attorney. I moved on.
As I slid slowly into the bowels of the edifice, a voice, stuffy and nasally challenged ordered me to stop. Behind a pillar lurked a figure clothed in shadow, whose only visible feature was his nose, long, aquiline, even noble. Yet this patrician protuberance was marred by a constant drip and tell-tale sniffle (I have always nurtured a certain fascination for noses, you know).
“ I have information about the upcoming Connections fundraiser and auction,” he muffled, a handkerchief swiftly covering his facial faucet. “By the way, you don’t happen to have any allergy medicine on you, do you?”
“Sorry,” I said, repulsed, my stomach churning conservatively to the left. I and mucous do not get along.
“Listen, take this down quickly. It not safe for me to be away from my pals too long,” he said.
“The annual Connections fundraiser will be held on Saturday September 10, at the beautiful riverside paradise of Tom and Alfa Broderick on the Tuolumne River.”
“Ah, the Tuolumne,” he suddenly waxed nostalgically. “There are more concrete shoes in that river than you will ever know,” he exclaimed in a proud sandy voice.
“Now,” turning his voice gravely and liberally to the right, “there will be FUN! FUN! FUN! And an auction and scrumptious barbecue and potluck.”
“But, the event’s racketeers, ah, I mean organizers will need lots of help and AUCTION items, got it?” Tell people to call Dan Onorato, 526-5436, or Jim Costello, 537-7818 pronto if they want to offer auction items or services.”
Just then, my pencil lead broke, and the stuffy-nosed tough guy let out a ghastly sneer.
“You are no Woodward are you,” he taunted.
“Well, you are no Deep Throat,” I sniveled with a defiant snort.
Suddenly, I detected a soft sob amid the copious nasal runoff. Could it be that this ogre had a heart?
“You are right, Luke Skywalker, I am no Deep Throat.” “That guy Felt took the best name and I got stuck with another,” he sniffed, clearly chagrinned.
“What can I call you?” I cautiously ventured. The now pitiful hulk scraped his feet sheepishly along the garage floor and whispered, “Deep Proboscis.”
As I attempted to strangle the laugh that was welling up inside me, he added, “You see I have a nose for news.”
That did it. I could help it no longer. I screamed with a shaking, shattering, rattling, hysterical laugh, an exhalation from the depths of my demented soul, an unconstrained utterance of which even Edgar Allan Poe would be proud.
Suddenly, my glee was cut off at the throat by my confidant’s asphyxiating, steel grip. I felt like a hot air balloon abruptly sealed at the neck. My eyes were about to pop!
“Listen, you twit,” he roared. If you want more info on the fundraiser, you will have to do something.”
“What, I gasped, my voice hoarse, my eyes stinging, my nose’s watergates draining like the 10th Street Place fountain.
“Follow the paper… and the ads.”
“And remember,” he exclaimed heavily as he shuffled away, “ I know your shoe size!”
ACTION: Take the man’s advice. Let Dan or Jim know what auction items you can come up with, or you may get a menacing phone call late at night.
Eighth
grade graduation ceremony inspirationalBy TORY BOBO
Parents, family and
friends gathered with great excitement and anticipation as they witnessed 8th
graders, from different Junior High schools throughout Modesto, march across the
stage at the 1st Annual African-American 8th Grade Graduation Recognition
Ceremony, held on Saturday, June 11 2005 at Christ Unity Baptist Church.
Grim statistics
show an alarming African-American high school dropout rate of over 51% according
to a Harvard University study. “This trend has been going on way too long and
enough is enough,” said conference organizer Tory Bobo, “The call to action
is well overdue.” Healing Hearts, a non-profit organization to which Bobo
belongs, hosted the event. This event was opened to 8th graders. Whether they
walked the stage at their school or not, we want them all to know that they are
important.
Indicative of the
theme “You Will Make It,” the students were motivated and inspired to strive
for excellence in high school by the Keynote Speaker, Dr. Ashland Brown, a
professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of the Pacific in
Stockton, California. He has written several publications and holds patents.
Dr. Brown urged the
students not to let anyone define their potential, citing a time when a teacher
told him that his son was not college material. His son is now enrolled in John
Hopkins Medical School. Dr. Brown noted that over 100,000 jobs were exported to
India and China last year. “These are jobs that could go to Americans if we
invest in our children today and not let our human resources go to waste,”
Said Dr. Brown. “Parents, the community and teachers have to work together to
ensure that these students graduate on time and are able to compete in the
future workforce. We cannot afford to let any student fall by the wayside, they
all have the potential to make it.”
Students who
participated had great ambitions. Jeremy Walker read a poem he had written
minutes before the event entitled, “My Greatest Achievement” According to
Walker, the 8th grade graduation ceremony is his greatest achievement. Angel
Bobo wants to become a pediatrician because she loves to help children. Chris,
another student, plans to become an aeronautical engineer. Healing Hearts wants
to help these students’ dreams come true.
Subsequent events
are being planned for the students who attended the ceremony which include:
Camping, Flight Lessons, Science Demonstrations, Saturday School, Math and
Science Competitions, Speech Debate, Writing and Reading Workshops, A workshop
on How to Build an Automobile, A Mentorship Program and much more.
This event could
not have been made possible without other contributions by: EAZZ-Z, World
Savings, Alpha and Omega Appraisal Services, River’s Realty, Food Maxx, Dollar
Tree, Walmart, Best Buys, Boomers, Lou’s Legend Barber Shop, ACES, NAACP, One
Accord Woman, Johnny Ellison, Patrick Robinson, Gladys Williams, Jerry Cooper
and a host of volunteers. Thank You.
ACTION: For more
information, write to Healing Hearts at P.O. Box 582072, Modesto California, or
email tory@eazz-z.com
Local group battles
the Patriot Act
By FRED HERMAN
The late Peggy Mensinger, arguably Modesto’s finest mayor ever, used to urge people to think globally but act locally.
That injunction remains in force for Modesto’s American Civil Liberties Union chapter (ACLU), which began with a September 2003 mass meeting about the Patriot Act after a July 2003 sermon about that privacy-busting post 9/11 security hysteria legislation.
Battling that act remains a major local objective, even if students of George Lakoff’s Don’t Think of an Elephant - a book that proposes rewording tired Far Right rhetoric -- feel that it would be more honest to call it The Big Brother Act. Maybe even the Big Brother SPY Act.
US Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-California) has 50 new letters opposing the Patriot Act in the wake of a May 25 information rally at Modesto Junior College which proved interest in the chapter still is high. At least high enough to plan a general membership meeting in fall to elect new executive board members and plan activity for its third year of life.
This after being sidetracked by a Christmas-time wave of police harassment of Ceres area teen Hispanics, racial profiling reacting to a gun battle which claimed a young marine who feared returning to Iraq, and a police sergeant. Later pressure tried to paint the marine as a gang member.
The US Senate Intelligence Committee failed to reach final agreement on May 26 on a proposal to expand Federal Bureau of Investigation power to demand records in terror investigations.
A night earlier 50 participants in a public ACLU forum cosponsored by the Central Valley Democratic Club and Latina Bar Association, penned protests to Feinstein, an Intelligence Committee member.
California Rural Legal Assistance (CRLA) attorney Maria Jaime moderated a panel that included Cal State Stanislaus librarian Carl Bengston, NAACP and Modesto Teachers Association officer Gladys Williams, and Jeff Mittman, an ACLU staff attorney from San Francisco who coordinates local opposition to the act, pointing our how it would put data ranging from your reading habits to your health in FBI hands.
The Senate committee met secretly amid continuing complaints from civil liberties advocates and some Democrats that the proposal would give federal investigators too much power to conduct fishing expeditions in pursuing terrorism leads, according to the New York Times.
After weeks of hearings by several Congressional committees, the intelligence committee is the first to consider formal legislation to renew the law before 16 of its major provisions expire at the end of the year, the Times said.
The ACLU and other civil rights organizations have called on the committee to open its debate to the public and turn down the Bush Administrations bid to expand Patriot Act powers.
Administration proposals would give the FBI unlimited authority to demand personal records without telling those investigated. Library, medical personnel or others who reveal any such probe would be subject to fines and imprisonment, effectively preventing organized protest.
ACTION: The Modesto ACLU chapter’s executive board needs new members even more than it needs financial contributions. If you think you can make one meeting a month at the Peace/Life Center, or have spare green to contribute, please email hermenz@ainet.com or therbeck@sbcglobal.net.
Norman
Solomon’s new book analyzes and challenges the kinds of pro-war propaganda
that come from top government officials and news media.
According
to the introduction, the purpose of "War Made Easy: How Presidents and
Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death" is to “probe and scrutinize key
'perception management' techniques that have played huge roles in the promotion
of American wars during recent decades. The better we understand those ongoing
techniques, the more clearly we'll be able to see wars coming and understand
what's really behind them. Hopefully, 'War Made Easy' will help to blow away the
fog of media war and enhance possibilities for democratic participation in
decisions that are truly matters of life and death."
You
can read the book's first chapter at www.WarMadeEasy.com
Tenth of each month. Submit peace, justice and environmentally friendly event notices to P.O. Box 134, Modesto, CA, 95353, or call 522-4967 or 575-4299, or email to Jim Costello. Free listings subject to space, availability and editing.
