Thomas Merton Center Pittsburgh’s Peace and Social Justice Center
PITTSBURGH’S PEACE & JUSTICE NEWSPAPER VOL. 46 No. 5 May 2016
“When We Fight, We Win.” Working toward a Livable Pgh Starting at 6am on Thursday April 14th, workers throughout Pittsburgh began to strike for a $15 minimum wage and for the right to form a union. Workers from a wide variety of industries came together as one to fight for a livable city and an end to poverty wages, joining thousands of people all over the world, as part of a global day of action. Actions sprang up in 320 cities including New York City, Miami, Los Angeles, Chicago and Paris; all demanding rights for low-wage workers. This Day of Action for a Livable Pittsburgh started at 6:00 AM on the North Side at the McDonald’s at Allegheny and Ridge to demand livable wages for fast-food workers. Stops along the way included Taco Bell and Wendy’s. Workers were encouraged to walk off and join the group with solidarity cheers and
By Marni Fritz
messages from other striking workers; none joined. The group of fast-food workers and supporters entered the McDonald’s chanting “We want change, and we don’t mean pennies!” Workers stood on the street, citing countless examples of the struggles created by working for $7.25 an hour while trying to raise children, while trying to go to school and, most importantly, while trying to survive. Workers are demanding an end to poverty wages, reinforcing the notion that no one should be working a full time job and live in poverty. Pennsylvania has not seen a minimum wage increase since 2007 and despite job growth throughout the country, Pennsylvania’s median income is $800 under the national average (see Neil Cosgrove’s article “Higher Pay Leads to Higher Productivity and Profit” in the April, 2015 issue of the NewPeople). Small wins in Pennsylvania include the recent decision by Governor Tom Wolfe to increase state government Continued on page 8…
Thomas Merton Center is excited to announce that Tim Stevens will be receiving our NewPerson award this year on June 21st! The NewPerson Award recognizes local leaders of peace and social justice. Tim Stevens, a founding member of the Black Political Empowerment Project (BPEP), served as the Chapter President of the NAACP, and a founding member of the Black and White Reunion. Come celebrate the work of Time Stevens. Save the Date! Tuesday, June 21st East Liberty Presbyterian Church 6:00—9:00
In This Issue…
Justice Is Sought in Killing of Berta Caceres, Honduran activist, by Joyce Rothermel on page 14. Getty Images
Food Sourced in Injustice…
Page 5
An Ideology of Fear…
Page 6
Clean Power Plan Problems…
Page 10
Problematic White Feminism…
Page 13
Groups Promote a CBO Ordinance, Fight Exclusion and Build Black Communities By JT Campbell
On March 8, 2016, a new group came together in support of the Community Benefit Ordinance (CBO). It is petitioning Pittsburgh City Council to give the CBO precedence as a legislative measure. The initiative was drafted by Rashad Byrdsong, Executive Director of the Community Empowerment Association in the Holy Rosary School in Homewood. This is the initial move of the Economic Regional Advisory Council (ERAC). ERAC is a citywide coalition of organizations and residents dedicated to the creation of new economic opportunities and winning the fight to overcome the disparity plaguing African Americans and other black communities surrounding Pittsburgh. In a media briefing, Elder Byrdsong explained how the Community Benefits Ordinance intends to include first source hiring, workforce development and training for residents, MWDB (Minority. Women and Disadvantaged Business Enterprise) participation on all jobs, small business incubation, and
participation in a Growth Fund. “Violence in our communities is a symptom of a larger social and economic set of conditions; all tied to the disparity rates of African Americans in this City. Contrary to some opinions, murder and social isolation do not come naturally to or are inherent in one group of people. Black, Brown or otherwise, violent behavior is perpetuated by environmental conditions and social circumstances people find themselves in. Filled with disparities in education, and lack of economic opportunities, paired with substance abuse and underemployment, violence springs from the hopelessness of people that have been marginalized, dehumanized, and prevented from the rights of full citizenship. Many of them are distressed with the fear that things will definitely get worse, not better.” As part of the process outlined, the ordinance will require Community Impact Studies and Reports as documentation from community developers for
the City Planning Department, the URA, and all government authorities when approval of development plans is sought. The Community Impact Reports would set the guidelines for community benefit agreements and substantiate modes of actualization towards partnership, as all the facts of the development become accessible for the proposed project. A post agenda meeting followed at the University of Pittsburgh on March 31, where professionals spoke about the reluctance of developers to share information, which results in a scenario of community leaders excluded from the decision-making process and local officials competing with interests and demands of “projects that meet the needs of few and cost the majority a great deal”. Being locked out of a decision-making process is called exclusion. Often, the social and economic dynamics of exclusion and isolation are strategically used to narrow the possibilities and outcomes of Continued on page 4…. The Thomas Merton Center works to build a consciousness of values and to raise the moral questions involved in the issues of war, poverty, racism, classism, economic justice, oppression and environmental justice. TMC engages people of diverse philosophies and faiths who find common ground in the nonviolent struggle to bring about a more peaceful and just world.
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The NewPeople Editorial Collective
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2016 TMC Board of Directors
Thom Baggerman, Ed Brett, Michelle Burton-Brown, Rob Conroy (President), Neil Cosgrove, Mark Dixon, Michael Drohan, Patrick Fenton, Mary Jo Guercio, Wanda Guthrie, anupama jain, Ken Joseph, Anne Kuhn, Jonah McAllister-Erickson, Jim McCarville, Joyce Rothermel, Molly Rush (co-founder), Tyrone Scales, Evan Schindler, M. Shernell Smith.
TMC Projects
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(TMC projects follow TMC guidelines and receive financial and ongoing resources and support from the Thomas Merton Center.)
(Affiliates are independent partner organizations who support the nonviolent peace and justice mission of TMC. - Articles may not necessarily represent the views of Affiliates)
Anti-War Committee awc@thomasmertoncenter.org Book‘Em: Books to Prisoners Project bookempgh@gmail.com www.bookempgh.org East End Community Thrift Shop 412-361-6010 shawnapgh@aol.com Fight for Lifers West fightforliferswest@gmail.com 412-607-1804 Fightforliferswest.org Greater Pittsburgh Interfaith Coalition Anne Wirth 412-716-9750 Harambee Ujima/Diversity Footprint Twitter @HomewoodNation Human Rights Coalition / Fed Up (prisoner support and advocacy) 412-802-8575, hrcfedup@gmail.com www.prisonerstories.blogspot.com Marcellus Shale Protest Group melpacker@aol.com 412-243-4545 marcellusprotest.org New Economy Campaign gabriel@thomasmertoncenter.com Pittsburgh 350 350pittsburgh@gmail.com World.350.org/pittsburgh Pittsburgh Anti-Sweatshop Community Alliance 412-512-1709
The East End Community Thrift (Thrifty) is an all volunteer-run thrift shop which provides quality, low-cost, used clothing and household goods to the surrounding community. Thrifty needs volunteers and shoppers! Please contact us at (412) 361-6010 and ask for Shirley or Shawna, or stop in at 5123 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15224. Email shawnapgh@aol.com.
Pittsburgh Campaign for Democracy NOW! 412-422-5377, sleator@cs.cmu.edu www.pcdn.org Pittsburgh Darfur Emergency Coalition jumphook@gmail.com; www.pittsburghdarfur.org
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Pittsburghers for Public Transit 412-216-9659 info@pittsburghforpublictransit.org Progressive Pittsburgh Notebook 412-363-7472 tvnotebook@gmail.com School of the Americas Watch W. PA 412-271-8414 drohanmichael@yahoo.com Shalefield Stories (Friends of the Harmed) 412-422-0272 brigetshields@gmail.com
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Stop Sexual Abuse in the Military 412-361-3022 hildebrew@aol.com Westmoreland Marcellus Citizens Group 724-837-0540 lfpochet@verizon.net
Table of Contents
Page 1 “When We Fight, We Win” Working Toward a Livable Pgh Groups Promote a CBO Ordinance, Fight Exclusion and Build Black Communities Page 3 Introducing our Progressive Pennysaver Programs at the Pump House 2016 Bread for the World Lobby Day Page 4 Groups Promote a CBO Ordinance Cont’d Watch January’s Summit Against Racism on TV Page 5 A Failed Genocide Your Food: Brought to You by Injustice Page 6 The People Have Spoken Fear and Longing: Donald Trump and Conservative Ideology 2 - NEWPEOPLE
May 2016
Page 7 Culture Watch: More Follies on the Campaign Trail, Don’t Drink the Kool Aid The Taboo Questions in the Presidential Election Debates
Page 8 “When We Fight, We Win.” Cont’d Picture of Fight for $15 By Ray Gerard Page 9 The Red Cup Project Passion Brews at Pittsburgh Equal Pay Rally Page 10 A Goldmine for Gardeners Dirty Gas Has No Place in a Clean Power Plan– Pennsylvanians Against Fracking Position Statement The Clean Power Plan as it is Currently Proposed.. What Does It Look Like?
Abolitionist Law Center 412-654-9070 abolitionistlawcenter.org Amnesty International info@amnestypgh.org - www.amnestypgh.org Association of Pittsburgh Priests Sr. Barbara Finch 412-716-9750 B.a.finch@att.net Battle of Homestead Foundation
412-848-3079
The Big Idea Bookstore 412-OUR-HEAD www.thebigideapgh.org The Black Political Empowerment Project Tim Stevens 412-758-7898 CeaseFire PA www.ceasefirepa.org—info@ceasefirepa.org Citizens for Social Responsibility of Greater Johnstown Larry Blalock, evolve@atlanticbb.net Global Solutions Pittsburgh 412-471-7852 dan@globalsolutionspgh.org www.globalsolutionspgh.org
North Hills Anti-Racism Coalition 412-369-3961 email: info@arc.northpgh.org www.arc.northpgh.org PA United for Single-Payer Health Care www.healthcare4allPA.org www.PUSH-HC4allPa.blogspot.com 412-421-4242 Pittsburgh Area Pax Christi 412-761-4319 Pittsburgh Cuba Coalition 412-303-1247 lisacubasi@aol.com Pittsburgh BDS Coalition bdspittsburgh@gmail.com Pittsburgh North People for Peace 412-760-9390 info@pnpp.northpgh.org www.pnpp.northpgh.org Pittsburgh Palestine Solidarity Committee info@pittsburgh-psc.org www.pittsburgh-psc.org Raging Grannies 412-963-7163 eva.havlicsek@gmail.com www.pittsburghraginggrannies.homestead.com
Religion and Labor Coalition 412-361-4793 ojomal@aol.com SWPA Bread for the World Joyce Rothermel 412-780-5118 United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) 412-471-8919 www.ueunion.org Veterans for Peace kevinbharless@yahoo.com 252-646-4810 Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) Eva 412-963-7163 edith.bell4@verizon.net
TMC is a Member of Pennsylvania Interfaith Impact Network 412-621-9230 office@piin.org Pennsylvanians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty Martha Connelly 412-361-7872, osterdm@earthlink.net TMC supports these organizations missions.
Page 11 The Mission of the Fossil Free Pitt Coalition Allegheny Solar Cooperative– A Solar Cooperative Solution! Page 12 A Doctor For Everyone: The Passing of Dr. Quentin Young The Need for Alternative Mental Health Care Page 13 White Feminists, What’s Good? Goodness in the Guilded Age Tax Day Rally Photo Page 14 Rich Fishkin: Champion of Video Activism Justice is Sought in Kinning of Berta Caceres Delio: Co-Creating an Unfinished Universe Page 15 Breaking News from the Giornale Vatican, Let’s Hang on to What We’ve Got Letter to the Editorial Collective
Merton Center and Related Activities Programs at the Pump House: INTRODUCING OUR Battle of Homestead PROGRESSIVE Foundation Panels and Films ‘PENNYSAVER’ By Jo Tavener
The NewPeople is launching an alternative ‘pennysaver’ as combination resilience circle, personals and want ads. We welcome queries for apartment or house sharing, hobby sharing, rideshares, holiday sharing and handy work. The submission should be short, specific and provide an email address or phone number as contact information. Please submit the ad at the NewPeople website in the same way you would for submitting an article for publication. *No personal ads.* The following are examples of and the first ads of the new ‘Pennysaver’:
WANTED: ground floor one bedroom floorthrough of a duplex in the East End of Pittsburgh with deck or inviting back yard. Pets must be okay. Contact Jo at jotavener@gmail.com. August 1st rental desired. Will share a house under certain circumstances.
Come and Celebrate Pen Lytle’s 75th birthday June 25th at East Liberty Presbyterian Church from 2-5 pm in the 3rd floor music room. We’ll enjoy ourselves and one another, while supporting two organizations for social change and peace. Look for details in the next issue of the NewPeople. Join us!
By Joni Rabinowitz
Saturday, June 11 – 1:30pm - PANELBuilding Strong and Vibrant Unions: The subject of this discussion will be organizing, engaging workers to maximize power, growing union membership and defending existing contracts. The panel features organizing directors from three Pittsburgh-based unions-Maria Somma of the Steelworkers, Gene Elk from United Electrical Workers, and a member of the Academic Workers Association, who will discuss strategies and techniques, Below are our programs for May –June, 2016 successes and challenges facing workers today. Sunday May 15- 2 pm- PANEL Prison Nation –the Prison-Industrial Complex: Why Thursday, June 16- 7:30 pm FILM Buildare so many people – especially people of col- ing Pittsburgh (45 minutes): America’s oldest and most stable trade unions have sprung or – behind bars in the United States? We from the craft labor and skilled trade jobs eswill learn about programs for re-entry, and movements for reform for juvenile lifers, peo- sential to constructing our buildings, bridges, factories, and infrastructure such as transporple in solitary, and others. Panelists include tation and utilities. Former BHF President Martha Conley, Jules Lobel and Tiffany Charlie McCollester and Steffi Domike proSizemore-Johnson(facilitator) duced this fascinating documentary about Thursday, May 26- 7:30 pm- FILM - Lost Pittsburgh’s own building trades unions in the Hype- (45 mins): Analyzing racism in and members. Rediscover how these unionsports, this locally-produced documentary ists are an essential part of our city’s history explores the roles of players, fans, owners, and built environment. Rick Okraszewski media and your tax dollars in perpetuating this from the Carpenters Union will tell us about phenomenon. It features interviews with Pitts- their apprenticeship program. (Please notice burgh African-American leaders in many corrected date: June 16 is the correct date; it sports, as well as commentators, interspersed was previously listed as the 23rd) with photos and sports videos. Rob Ruck will lead Q&A, with discussion to follow. Joni Rabinowitz is program chair for the Battle of Homestead Foundation. The Battle of Homestead Foundation (BHF) offers a summer lecture and film series, free and open to the public at the Pump House, 880 East Waterfront Dr., Munhall, 15120. The BHF is a diverse organization of citizens, workers, educators and historians which aims to preserve, interpret and promote a people's history focused on the significance of the dramatic labor conflict at the Homestead Works in 1892.
2016 Bread for the World Lobby Day: June 7, 2016 By Joyce Rothermel
Throughout the month of May the Southwest Pennsylvania Bread for the World team has scheduled lobby visits in the local offices of PA U.S. Senators and Representatives to seek their support on funding for international child and material nutrition programs. The SW PA Bread for the World members and allies will follow up these visits with a trip to Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, June 7. There we will participate in the Annual National Bread Lobby Day. We plan to meet with our U.S. Legislators and their staffs along with our Bread Colleagues from Pennsylvania and around the country in a united push for funding for these important and effective programs that can be successful in reducing malnutrition among the world’s most vulnerable populations. Around those visits, Bread holds a morning gathering and orientation at a church on Capitol Hill. Bread staff assists participants in setting up meetings with the offices of members of Congress. The day will end with a reception, worship, participants sharing about the day, and awards given to legislators.
Group travel will be arranged to depart on Monday, June 6, returning the evening of June 7. Lobby Day is for activists of all types - those who are new to in-person lobbying in our nation's capital, those who are veterans of it, as well as anyone with experience between those ends of the spectrum. To get involved with the regional efforts of Bread for the World including possible participation in the 2016 lobbying meetings, contact me at 412780-5118 or by email at rothermeljoyce@gmail.com All are welcome to our planning meeting on Wed., May 4 at 10 AM at Pittsburgh Theological Photo from 2015 Lobby Day with Sen. Toomey Staff Member and Seminary. the PA Bread Delegation. SW PA Bread Member Jennifer Lawer Joyce Rothermel is Co-Chair of the SW PA Bread for the World Team.
Searching for Copies of The NewPeople 2004-2008 Are you in possession of any issues of The NewPeople between 2004 and 2008? We are searching for any remaining copies during this time period. They have not been preserved at the University of Pittsburgh archives and the in-house archives went missing during the TMC building move. These issues contain valuable history about the TMC's peace and social justice efforts and social movement struggles in Pittsburgh. If you have any copies, please contact Vanessa at vanessavesch@gmail.com.
is pictured second from the right. Photo courtesy of Bread For the World
Did you know that the NewPeople has a website? We update it weekly with article and blog posts you can’t find in our printed version! You can access our website here: http://newpeoplenews.wix.com/newpeoplenews
We promote our blog posts through our social media. Check us out! Twitter: https://twitter.com/tmcpgh Facebook: Search Thomas Merton Center Tumblr: http://thomasmertoncenter.tumblr.com/ Instagram: Thomas Merton Center Follow us and stay updated with our blogs and various social justice events in Pittsburgh! May 2016
NEWPEOPLE - 3
Fighting Racism and Building Communities Groups Promote a CBO Ordinance, Fight Exclusion and Build Black Communities Cont’d By JT Campbell
communities in growth and development. We are at a point in history where all of us, regardless of age, race, gender, and sexual orientation, are existing in a society dogged with systemic barriers and structural discrimination. Certain demographics are experiencing the harshness of these shortcomings more than others; and specifically identified intersections of these demographics have been experiencing the traumatic effects for more generations than others. There is no time to have a comparable competition of how bad it is. It is bad. We must work on open access to data and information that, once received, allows us to influence the change we know is right for our communities to achieve the equity that needs to be provided to our communities on all levels for our elders and our youth.
The folks at the Community Empowerment Association (CEA) and the Community College Allegheny County (CCAC) Job Placement and Career Services offered a resource and job fair on April 30th. Daily resume writing services and interview and presentation skills trainings led up to the event each day during the week of April 25th. A Call to Action is being organized to further the understanding of Community Benefits, Needs and Resources with an event on Saturday, May 21st from 1pm to 6 pm. The event is aimed at transforming communities from the roots by promoting health, well-being, wholeness of individuals and community life. The theme is rebuilding the black community one block at a time; the ERAC will kickoff the AdoptABlock campaign with music,
food, clothing and a non-perishables drive with access to community resources leading up to a door-to -door campaign to survey household needs. Please contact CEAPittsburgh at 412.371.3689 for additional details and information. Keep your eyes open as the Black Men Rising is organizing efforts to present the Day of Black Male Solidarity on June 18th – moving towards social, cultural, economic justice, and equality. JT Campbell is a volunteer and member of the Thomas Merton center.
Watch January’s SUMMIT AGAINST RACISM on TV By Carlana Rhoten
On January 22-23 Pittsburgh was hit with its worst snow storm of the winter, and yet more than 500 people came to the multicultural, multi-racial initiative of the Black and White Reunion. The theme was “Power Concedes Nothing Without a Demand.” Frederick Douglass Fortunately for those unable to attend, a lively hour depicting the Summit will air on COMCAST 21 and VERIZON FIOS 47, every Monday at 9 PM during May and June within the city limits. Internet access is available at www.youtube.com/richfishpgh. Participants were entertained by the youth singers and musicians from the Hope Academy of Music and Arts and by the Steel City Bhangra dancers from Pitt. Kimberly Merrell, Director of the Urban Metro Institute of the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, welcomed the Summit participants. She pointed out that a black person is killed every 48 hours by police, security guards, or “stand your ground” criminals. “ We cannot consider ourselves in a ‘postracial’ era while black communities are left out of employment, education , training and full financing for ownership of homes and new minority businesses.” Dr John Welch, Dean of Students at the Seminary, explained how economics was the foundation of slavery and of oppressive systems still in operation to our present day. White Americans, who do not understand this economic system, cannot understand today’s racism or the continual lack of economic justice in the black community. If white people fail to understand these powerful economic factors at work, and fail to take strong actions to remedy the injustices, then racism will continue to breed hostilities and incite conflicts. Tim Stevens, Founder of Black and White Reunion, and current chair of the Black Political Empowerment Project (B-PEP), explained its history. The organization was a response to a tragedy. In 1995, Jonny Gammage was murdered by white police in a local suburb. His only crime was “driving while black” in an expensive car, at night, in a predominantly white neighborhood. Out of this case and other examples of racist police actions, many
positive reforms have been taken by the community. Endless petitions, rallies, and demonstrations, and the quiet work of meeting and organizing, have produced results. A Federal Consent Decree was issued and the Civilian Police Review Board was created. Then, after the Jordan Miles beating by police, and other examples of unprofessional behavior, the Pittsburgh City Council passed four pieces of legislation. In 2015, Mayor Peduto hired Police Chief Cameron McLay to improve training, supervision and community relations. Other stories that exemplify the values of the Summit came from Lois “ Toni” McClendon and Randa Shannon. Their lives reflect a parallel black and white reunion. Toni grew up in a respectable black family in Northern Virginia, while Randa grew up in a family of KKK leaders in the South. In different cities, they both participated in “Free Angela Davis” rallies. When Randa moved to Pittsburgh they became friends and worked for civil rights and women’s issues. Until recently, Toni produced the BPEP radio program on WGBN- AM. Jewish Voices for Peace PGH representative, Ella Mason, spoke concerning their efforts to end Israeli occupation and to help bring peace between Jews and Palestinians. The Summit included a workshop and a Solidarity Room devoted to the difficulties confronting people in Gaza and the West Bank. A couple of local rabbis requested that the Palestinian programs be
Every Monday at 9 pm during April
18th Annual Summit Against Racism (January 23, 2016)
Airs Within City Limits COMCAST Channel 21 & VERIZON FIOS Channel 47
Progressive PGH Notebook TV Series PCTV21 Public Access Tv
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GAVpugV6m4
Videographer: Rich Fishkin C S Rhoten 412-363-7472 tvnotebook@gmail.com 4 - NEWPEOPLE
May 2016
eliminated. Rev Dr David Esterline , President of the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, along with Summit organizers, stood firm in their support of inclusion of these programs in the Summit Against Racism. Michael David Battle, poet with Trans Voices and Garden of Peace, read his Open Letters. So if you missed the Summit or would like to see it again, catch it on TV during May and June, every Monday at 9 PM. Or go to Rich Fishkin’s You Tube account at “richfishpgh.” Carlana Rhoten is the PCTV21 community producer of Progressive PGH Notebook TV Series and can be reached at 412-3637472 or tvnotebook@gmail.com.
Histories of Injustice
A Failed Genocide Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz directly confronts all the self-justifying myths and elided history about what happened between the indigenous peoples and European colonizers of North America over the course of 500 years in her book A n Indigenous People's’ History of the United States. Her biggest target is the comforting conclusion that somehow the American Indian “problem” has now been resolved, and that this country can put to rest its troubling genocidal history of aggression towards native populations across the globe. One of her strategies is to employ a corrective language in which, for instance, indigenous peoples are always “nations” and never “tribes,” nations that constituted, at the moments of their encounters with Europeans, mature societies with carefully workedout political processes, active diplomacy, and sustainable technologies for using natural resources. What they didn’t have was the desperate hunger for land and “precious” metals that characterized the European colonizers, nor the sense of racial superiority that convinced those colonizers their aggression was somehow in keeping with a deity’s will. Similarly, an “eagle-eyed” scan of the landscape of American history makes the charge of genocide directed towards American Indians difficult to refute. Dunbar-Ortiz argues that the ravages of European diseases for which native populations had no immunity may have conveniently hastened the process but also obscured the colonizers’ intent, and certainly does not excuse their behavior. The indigenous peoples of North America were, and still are to a lesser extent, in the way, an obstacle in need of removal. The English colonizing strategy began in Ireland, Dunbar-Ortiz contends, where a half-million acres of northern land were declared open for settlement and displaced western Scots were used as the settlers. “The ancient Irish social system was systematically attacked,” reads Dunbar-Ortiz achingly familiar description, “traditional songs and music
By Neil Cosgrove
forbidden, whole clans exterminated, and the remainder brutalized.” Nearly a quarter-million Ulster Scots then migrated to British North America during a sixty-year stretch of the eighteenth century, and became the vanguard of settlement in the Appalachians, the Ohio River country, and the land beyond the Mississippi when it became available. These “settlercolonialists” were useful as both squatters and as violent para-military eliminators of native peoples in partnership with organized, state-funded armies. Dunbar-Ortiz traces the U.S. Army’s development back to the strategies and tactics of “counterinsurgency” as directed towards recalcitrant Indian nations, a military approach primarily based on the concept of “total war,” in which populations were either slaughtered (some California and northwest nations rendered practically extinct), or subdued and placed on treaty-determined land that was often expropriated for further white settlement. It is no accident, the author infers, that our contemporary army still specializes in counter-insurgency campaigns in southeast Asia, Afghanistan, the Middle East, and Africa, or that contemporary military personnel still use the phrase “Indian country” and its abbreviation “in country” when referring to so-called “active” combat zones. Army leadership was disproportionately the realm of the Scotch-Irish settlers’ descendants for a very long time. Despite the taking of land, leaving most indigenous communities occupying small tracts, sometimes hundreds of miles from what was once home territory; despite the brutal attempts at forced assimilation, best symbolized by the notorious Indian boarding schools; despite disease, the scourge of alcoholism, and inter-breeding, millions of people in the current United States identify themselves as Indians and as members of a particular nation. The genocide has not worked, Dunbar-Ortiz observes, because of centuries of both active and passive resistance, because of the preservation against difficult
odds of core cultural elements, and because of the development of autonomous governing structures. Our best recourse now, Dunbar-Ortiz concludes, is to drastically alter the continent “physically and psychologically,” beginning “by honoring the treaties the United States made with indigenous nations, by restoring all sacred sites, starting with the Black Hills and including most federally held parks and land and all stolen sacred items and body parts, and by payment of sufficient reparations for the reconstruction and expansion of Native nations.” Her vision is stunningly ambitious, and our responses will likely echo the debate now occurring within the Democratic Party, a debate between what is the right thing to do and what is “possible,” between Bernie Sanders’ supposedly “radical” proposals and the self-proclaimed pragmatism of Hillary Clinton. Dunbar-Ortiz forces the question of just what is meant by the concept of “American exceptionalism.” Do we really aspire to moral leadership, to exemplifying how a country should behave towards both its own citizens and, perhaps more tellingly, towards those who have been victimized by historical acts of aggression and greed? Or is our exceptionalism that, as D.H. Lawrence once put it, the “essential American soul” is one of a “killer?” That we keep on our “frock coat” of “civilized hypocrisies” and “bland deceits” while “doing the most impossible things,” like seeking to remove whole peoples from both our consciousness and the face of the earth. Neil Cosgrove is a member of The NewPeople editorial collective and the Merton Center Board.
Your Food: Brought to You by Injustice By Joy Cannon
In recent weeks, I had the pleasure and opportunity to travel to Immokalee, FL on a mission trip with a campus ministry group from Duquesne University. As a student on this trip, I was exposed to the harsh conditions and challenges faced by migrant farmworkers and their families for the first time. Prior to my preparations for this trip, I had never taken the time to consider what injustices may be occurring in order to produce the food that I eat each day. Blame my youth or naivety, but regardless, this served as an eye-opening experience. Though older generations may remember a television special titled “Harvest of Shame,” injustices against farmworkers had long occurred in the form of inadequate conditions (including lack of water and shade, exposure to harmful pesticides, sexual harassment) and wages that are impossible for an individual, let alone a family, to survive on. Unfortunately, in the decades following the airing of this special, few corporations and farms have made progressive changes in order to provide farm workers with adequate pay and civilized working conditions. Those few corporations and farms have only signed on following the dedication and efforts of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) and Student Farmworker Alliance (SFA) to create and promote the Fair Food Program, a program designed by workers themselves to provide more livable conditions. Having created an impactful and worldrenowned social movement, the organizations are responsible for signing major corporations such as Trader Joe’s, Chipotle, and Walmart to the program in recent years, requiring them to purchase only from farms deemed humane by the program’s Fair Food Standards Council. This council, made up of bilingual professionals, travels to participating farms to investigate and meet with workers to ensure that their humane standards are being met. Most recently, the focus of this social movement has turned to the popular fast-food chain restaurant, Wendy’s. The CIW and SFA have an-
nounced a boycott of the restaurant until they agree to participate in the program. Among the reasonable requests is for Wendy’s and similar retailers to pay one cent more per pound of tomatoes, an item heavily involved in the mistreatment of workers. This boycott was anLong-term activist and spokesperson for the CIW, Gerardo Reyes Chavez, presents a nounced as part powerful message alongside the announcement to boycott Wendy's until they agree to of the organiza- participate in the Fair Food Program. tions’ 10-day Photo Credit: Coalition of Immokalee Workers tour of the East Coast to protest the unfair treatment of migrant farmworkers for the port this boycott and put an end to the conditions benefit of the rest of the nation’s consumption. Inthat these farmworkers have endured for decades. cluded in this tour is a protest route led by Ethel If you are as I was several months ago, this is Kennedy, widow of Senator Robert F. Kennedy, a the first you’ve heard about such injustices in our long-time supporter of this cause, past the vacation own country. If you’d like more information, watch home of Nelson Peltz, Wendy’s billionaire chair“Food Chains,” a documentary which provides man. viewers with a glimpse into this major social issue Very simply, if you are opposed to slavery (yes, (it’s bigger than tomatoes – it’s involved in the proslavery) and mistreatment of farmworkers forced to duction of your favorite wine as well). Additionally, work under deplorable conditions, you must support companies and farms that participate in the Fair the CIW and SFA in their efforts. Such social injus- Food Program can be found at fairfoodprogram.org. tices persist because we, as consumers, refuse to recJoy Cannon is a Sociology and Social Policy unognize the discriminations occurring. So, the first dergraduate student at Duquesne University, as step may depend on what is available to you. Perwell as a Program Coordinator for the local youth haps you will pass on a Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger from Wendy’s or perhaps buy all your produce from non-profit, Center of Life. Walmart, but regardless, we must find a way to supMay 2016
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Choosing Fear or Fairness The People Have Spoken Unblurred, the gallery crawl in Garfield on April 1, was well attended and lots of fun. The Anti-War Committee had anti-war posters courtesy of JustSeeds on the walls of the TMC annex, Russ Fedorka’s cartoons were on display and we held a penny poll. Several TMC members were there to speak about the Thomas Merton Center. As people looked around, checking out the posters, I would ask them to take the penny poll. They usually asked what 73 people took the poll. Some added money out of their own pockets. These were the results: Environment $1.78 Veterans $.53 Health $1.19 Mass Transit $.69 Housing $.87 Food $1.00 Military $.08 Education $2.66 Participants realized how difficult it is. Most took it quite seriously and agonized over it. It was great to get people thinking about this.
By Edith Bell
that was. Then I handed them a flyer showing the Federal budget in a pie chart. I would point out that the budget allocates almost half to the military, and then I would hand them 10 cents to create their own budget, by distributing “their tax dollars” into the jars on the table, which were labeled with important categories requiring financing by the government. Participants realized how difficult it is. Most took the poll quite seriously and agonized over it. It was great to get people thinking about choices. Since it was April Fools Day, we had a poster with our dream budget which included a big chunk for education and only 6% for the military. Several people looked at it puzzled; it did not jive with the other budget that I had handed them, until they noticed “Budget April 1” and had a chuckle. The Pittsburgh branch of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), together with the American Friends Service Committee and the Raging Grannies, have held tax day rallies and penny polls for the past 10 years on the last day to pay income tax, usually April 15. We set up next to the post office in Squirrel Hill with posters and a large banner, showing how the federal budget allocates lots of money to the Pentagon and lit-
tle for human needs (See photo on page 13). We handed out War Resisters League pie chart flyers, and we had our jars for the penny poll. We started out with just 5 categories, but added Veterans, Mass Transit and Environment in later years. Education usually is the big winner and the military get very few pennies. Although there is always lots of foot traffic on the street, people are busy going somewhere and don’t have the time like they have at an Unblurred evening to ponder how to divide their tax dollars, so we don’t get as many participants. Of course the experience varies with the weather. We have stood in the cold, in snow and/or rain, but also in beautiful sunny weather, since Pittsburgh April weather is quite unpredictable. Nobody likes soggy flyers in the rain. They are more likely to linger in nice weather. Consequently we had tax days, when we handed out almost 400 flyers, and rainy and snowy days when we would distribute only 100. Besides the pie chart, this year’s flyer contains an article on Pentagon Spending vs. Security, details on the budget, and resources. We hope they will be read. Edith Bell is the coordinator of the Pittsburgh branch of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
Fear and Longing: Donald Trump and Conservative Ideology By: Justin Hughes
Donald Trump has made a discovery that many in the mainstream political and media establishment appear to find surprising. Conservatives and reactionary forces in the US have no real political ideology. It has long been an accepted notion that Republicans have a firm commitment to conservative principles -- limited government, low taxes, economic freedom for businesses owners, and traditional family values. For decades the mass media has granted conservatives a certain benefit of the doubt. Although we may sometimes find the conclusions to which their ideology leads them to be contradictory, antiquated, and even backwards, their motivations at least seemed pure. The 2016 Presidential Race has shown that no-
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tion to be hollow and lacking foundation in reality. Donald Trump has struck a nerve with American conservatives that has nothing to do with policy positions, tax rates, or legislative strategies. To be sure, when it comes to social welfare programs, at least relative to many traditional conservatives, Trump teeters on the edge of centrism. Trump has vocally supported some form of universal healthcare; opposed cuts to Social Security and Medicaid, been comparatively soft on his opposition to Planned Parenthood; proposed heavily taxing and penalizing American businesses who outsource jobs; and strongly denounced the war in Iraq for its destructive impact on both American soldiers and Iraqi civilians. For the past eight years the conservative populace has been screaming for a candidate who would stand up for true conservative principles, how can they now be swarming to support a man who takes positions they've spent decades claiming to oppose? This is where Donald Trump has discovered the core of conservative ideology. Trump’s seemingly insufficient commitment to what we've been told are "The Principles of Conservatism" are more than made up for by his commitment to the real foundation of conservatism -- fear of the other, false radicalism and a desire to return to nebulous glory days that never actually existed. American conservatism’s reality has nothing to do with government or law-making; it is a reactionary fearbased belief system that tells us that we are under attack by external forces. Mexicans are streaming across the border in droves to steal our jobs and rape our women, Muslims are sneaking into the country to murder us, and liberal politicians are fraudulently usurping the United States government in order to take your paycheck and line their own pockets. Walls need to be built, borders patrolled by men with guns, and those whose way of life looks different than our own need to be kept in check. The
bogeyman might change from day to day but the message is always the same: We are under attack by the outside world and must protect ourselves. This has been the root of right wing manipulation of the working classes throughout the last century. Specific policies have been little more than window dressing for this singular belief, so virtually any political position can be tolerated as long as it incorporates this narrative of fear of the outsider. Trump's entire campaign has been centered around a longing to "Make America Great Again," to return to some poorly defined bygone era when we were safe and secure. Which time period he hopes to return us to is irrelevant; what matters is that we are uncomfortable in the modern age; we feel lost, disoriented, and insecure. That the political positions of the right are abhorrent isn't generally up for debate in progressive circles. What goes unmentioned and unexplored all too often are the actual mechanisms of reactionary ideology. To say that the mainstream political establishment, both progressive and conservative, was unprepared for the onslaught of Trumpism is an understatement. Both sides spent the lion's share of the run up to the presidential primaries rolling their eyes at the prospect of a Donald Trump presidential campaign and they did so because they failed to understand the primary motivator of reactionary movements throughout history. Trump might be anti-intellectual but he is far from stupid: he correctly identifies the true roots of conservatism, even boasting about this in his campaign events, "I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody. And I wouldn't lose any voters, OK?" And as long as the person he shot was someone unfamiliar and frightening, he's absolutely right. This is the true danger of right wing ideology; this is what needs to be opposed. Laws can be changed, politicians come and go, but this mentality of fear and longing has been arguably the most destructive force in human history. Donald Trump is showing us all the underlying belief systems of the right. We'd be fools not to pay attention. Justin Hughes is a freelance writer from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Imbibing the Campaign Kool-Aid The articles appearing on pages six and seven regarding electoral politics do not necessarily reflect the views of the Thomas Merton Center. The Thomas Merton Center does not endorse or take a stance on any specific political candidate.
Culture Watch: More Follies On The Campaign Trail. Don’t Drink The Kool Aid By Jo Tavener
March 30th was a great day for the anti-Trump forces. Brought to you by an unexpected ally, Chris Mathews of MSNBC and his bullying interview style, Trump made the mistake of voicing the obvious conclusion of Right-to-Lifers that women should be jailed along with their abortionists. Hillary Clinton joined the party, tweeting “Just when you thought it couldn’t get worse. Horrific and telling.” The Trump campaign tried to rescind the remark but by April 1, even yelling “April fools” from a mountaintop wouldn’t have helped. As noted by Jason Easley, writing for Politicus USA, “Trump demonstrated zero knowledge of the abortion issue and the temperament of a child. Under the slightest bit of pressure, Trump blurted out a vague answer that when he was forced to refine it displayed all his weaknesses as a candidate.” There it was. Not only was Trump a misogynist and sexist, he was also uninformed: a childish blow-hard who said whatever came to mind, making him a national security risk as well. The media echo chamber put Trump on trial and convicted him, justifying the Republican cabal’s ardent hope that cooking up a Convention stew would poison the Donald without getting their hands dirty. On April 6th, Bernie Sanders had ultimately had enough with the innuendos, the willful distortions of his policy positions by the Clintons and their surrogates, and the inexplicable paucity of mainstream coverage and obvious bias. In response to a W ashington Post headline in which Clinton questioned Sanders’ qualifications for president, Bernie struck back and questioned Clinton’s presidential credentials, given her hawkishness, her close ties to Wall Street, and her use of super PACs. In
response, the entire Clinton machine, aided and abetted by a delighted Press, created a maelstrom calculated to bring Bernie down. Obviously, his decisive defeat of Clinton in the Wisconsin primary was beginning to cut into the mythos of Clinton as the inevitable candidate. And the New York primary loomed large on the horizon. Something had to be done. Sanders walked into the trap and a new news cycle was born. Though the pundits all acknowledged the implied Clintonian insult, the actual crime, they said in unison, was committed by Sanders for not playing the game according to Hoyle. In case you haven’t been paying attention, it all started with Sanders’ interview with the Daily News editorial board. No surprises there. A recent Daily News editorial entitled “Scary Bernie” criticized his views on the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Embracing American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s (AIPAC) line that Palestinians were terrorists and Israel had a right to defend itself in any manner necessary, the editorial board found Sanders’ views dangerous. In the interview, Bernie was grilled in a manner befitting a Congressional hearing but without the benefit of notes or fore-knowledge of the issues to be addressed. As I read the transcript, it began to feel like a set up. That was only Act One. Act Two had other media agreeing with Hillary’s remark that Sanders “hadn’t done his homework...he’s been talking more than a year about things he obviously hadn’t studied or understood.” Sanders fought back by shining a light on Clinton’s past actions, wondering aloud if such behavior made her qualified to be president. On April 7th, Charlie Rose interviewed Sanders and brought up all the criticisms of the Sanders’
campaign as if they continued to have currency. Having brought up the questions, he waved off Sanders’ responses to return each time to the notion that Sanders had crossed the line and needed to apologize to Clinton. But for what? Playing the game of dirty politics with finesse? Nothing about this supposed scandal makes any sense unless you read between the lines. Just as the Republicans are frightened that Trump will unseat the Party insiders, so too the Democratic corporate establishment have begun to feel the Bern and realize that he too is remaking the Democratic party. In both parties, the base has defied its masters and refused to drink the Kool Aid. Frank Rich of New York Magazine cited the words of Jacob Helbrunn. editor of the National Interest, “In debunking the GOP’s hollow men and bringing the Bush-Cheney era to a close, Trump is essentially kicking in a rotten door.” As for Sanders, he has caused the Clinton presidency and Hillary’s part in it to be reexamined and found wanting. His candidacy became the occasion to shine a light on how Clinton moved the Party to the right and how his wife is now reaping the rewards of its super delegates and the Democratic donor class. If Trump is kicking in the door, Bernie is turning on the lights. Suddenly, today, the feud is over...at least for now. The press continues on, turning the campaign season into spectator sport. Don’t let the media bias affect your voting decision. The moral of the tale for the ‘well informed’: DON’T DRINK THE KOOL AID. Jo Tavener is a member of the Editorial Collective, writing a blog on our media saturated society.
The Taboo Questions in the Presidential Election Debates By Michael Drohan
Analysis of the content of the presidential election debates so far and of the topics under discussion in those debates reveals a number of vitally important issues - related to our welfare, safety, the future of humanity and the future of the planet - that are completely off the table. Here are some but by no means all of the issues that seem taboo in the presidential discourse: Nuclear Weapons: I would wager a bet that you have never heard or will hear the topic of nuclear weapons mentioned in the so-called debates. However, there is no issue that poses a more extreme danger and existential threat than that of nuclear weapons. The Obama administration has announced a modernization program of our nuclear weapon arsenal that is to cost over $1 trillion over the next 30 years. These nuclear weapons will be smaller and more usable, and being more usable means there is a higher probability of their being used. The modernization includes new ballistic missiles, a new manned bomber for the Air Force, and new missile-
launching submarines. So much for the nonproliferation treaty and the abolition of nuclear weapons. And what about the commitment of the US and the other nuclear weapons states to abolishing them as outlined in Article 6 of the NonProliferation Treaty? Wherefore the utter silence in the debates? By any standards we are being lulled into a fantasy world.
mentioned as a crime against humanity. But we have heard and will hear ad nauseam of the occasional settler who is killed by Palestinians. It’s just part of a discourse divorced from reality.
The Welfare and Fate of the First Peoples of the United States: The or iginal cr ime of the United States is the dispossession and brutality directed towards the native peoples of this country. One might say that it is a crime and that as long as we do not Military Occupation of the World: The US has military forces or military activities in 147 countries. come to terms with it we will never be whole. It still continues in various and sundry ways. But did you What is this about and who ever voted for such an occupation of the planet? Today we hear of the US ever hear of a discussion of this issue in the election bombing a group of people in Somalia, killing 150 debates or are you likely to do so? Talk of lives matpeople, supposedly terrorists. So where next will we tering, native peoples’ lives never mattered and do hear of the US unleashing deadly bombs? Did you not still matter. The crime still cries to the heavens. hear anything of this nature discussed in the election Repairing the Sins of Slavery: The institution of debates or are you likely to do so? My guess is no. slavery and all that it entailed was a crime that almost defies understanding. Nevertheless, it was a Oppression of the Palestinian People: No doubt we have heard of the instances of violence perpetrat- crime on which the industrial revolution and the ed by Palestinians in the debates, and of the right of wealth of the United States was built. But the human Israel to exist. The depredation it caused is still with us and our prison candidates from all system is our way of dealing with the dislocation and deprivation. But did you hear of any candidate parties fall over speaking of the need for reparations or undoing the each other in proracism that justified slavery? fessing their love for and commitThis is just a preliminary list of crucial issues ment to Israel while that do not receive an airing in the election extravaignoring the unganza. You can add your own issues to these which bearable conditions will not receive an airing in all likelihood. What it under which the seems to reveal to us is that we are being immersed Palestinian people in a fantasy world. The media pundits have put are forced to survive. The mowing themselves in the position of arbiters of what are the down of over 2,000 real issues. Eyeballs, sensationalism, selfGazans in the most aggrandizement and professions of the uniqueness of the US in world history become the determinants of recent invasion of Gaza, the vast ma- worthiness for discussion. jority of them being Michael Drohan is a member of the Board of the civilians, men, Merton Center and of the Editorial Collective of women and chilthe New People dren, will never be May 2016 NEWPEOPLE - 7
Day of Action for a Livable City
April 14, 2016 Day of Action for a Livable Pittsburgh. Workers from all over Pittsburgh took to the streets to demand a $15 minimum wage and the right to form a union. The day culminated in a march through Oakland, stopping at UPMC and McDonald’s along the way. Photos by Ray Gerard.
“When We Fight, We Win.” Working toward a Livable Pgh Cont’d By Marni Fritz
employees’ wages to $10.10 per hour. This is not
good enough. It is time to push our elected officials, our institutions and corporations to stop saving money at the expense of workers’ lives. Strikers and fellow protesters continued their demonstrations throughout the day, supporting strikers at the Stanwix St. McDonald’s, demanding a fair contract at the Omni Hotel, and supporting currently striking Verizon workers, all leading up to the rally and march in Oakland. The Oakland march focused on the demand for UPMC to raise their wages to $15, which they have announced will happen by 2021, and for workers to continue to push for the right to form a union. But economic justice includes not just a $15 minimum wage and a union. Throughout the rally, different people called for childcare, maternity leave, accessible healthcare, student debt relief, union rights for adjunct workers, rights for people with disabilities, and an end to racism and xenophobia, highlighting the true plight of the low-wage worker. Leslie, a UPMC worker, spoke at the rally on the need for not just a $15 minimum wage, but a union also: “I have been there for 13 years and recently just started organizing, about four years ago thanks to SEIU. I’m here to tell you that just because they said they are raising it to $15 they have no pressure from us. Come on now. Now let’s put some pressure on them because now we need one more thing. We 8 - NEWPEOPLE
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need that union! (Crowd cheers.) We’re not gonna stop until we get it!” Students spoke about the crippling debt facing them come graduation time, while the University of Pittsburgh has workers working for under $15 an hour. Genavieve, a Pitt student, spoke about the difficulties of having to work two jobs while a full-time student and still struggling to live while debt accumulates: “We need $15 for Pitt students because I should not have to work two jobs while going to school full time to get by.” After approaching UPMC, a delegation of workers and organizers asked to speak to the President of UPMC, who was nowhere to be found, and left chanting “We’ll be back,” asserting that $15 in five years is not good enough. The president of SEIU, Mary Kay Henry, spoke in front of UPMC: “Today we are calling for an end to subsidizing corporations unable to give a living wage.” The march then stopped at the McDonald’s on Forbes Ave in Oakland, which was successfully closed for the day, while echoing the chant “if we don’t get it - shut it down.” In addition to worker representation, voices from the Muslim community, students with disabilities, activists in the Black Lives Matter and the anti-fracking movements, came together in solidarity to demand an end to racist and xenophobic sentiments that are building in
this country. The speakers also stood up against the exploitation of people, particularly people of color, under our current capitalist system. “Is $15 our problem? Is Islamophobia our problem? We are united and we won’t lose,” said Wasiullah Mohamed of the Islamic Center of Pittsburgh. Signs quoting Malcom X, “You can’t have capitalism without racism,” were thrust into the air as the crowd stood in solidarity around these issues. Currently, cities such as San Francisco and New York City have already passed the $15 minimum wage, inspiring the message “When we fight, we win.” In Pittsburgh, we continue to fight for a livable city for all, including paid sick leave, a $15 minimum wage, the right to form a union, paid maternity leave, equal pay and an end to police violence. In a system designed to keep people poor, we have a lot to overcome. The call for $15 and a union is a springboard, not an end goal. We need to continue to rally around issues of injustice because “when we fight, we win.” Marni Fritz is The NewPeople Coordinator and Administrative Assistant for the Thomas Merton Center.
Local Activist Events The Red Cup Project Three thousand, seven hundred and eighty are the approximate number of sexual assaults that will occur on Pitt’s (Oakland) campus every year. Every 107 seconds, an American is sexually assaulted (Rainn.org). Surveys conducted by The Campus Sexual Assault Study, on behalf of the White House Justice Department’s National Institute of Justice, released on April 29, 2014, show that one in five women and one in sixteen men will experience campus sexual assault every year; combining this data with a population of about 28, 617 on the Pittsburgh campuses (including both undergraduate and graduate schools) of the University of Pittsburgh, the American Association of University Women Pitt Chapter estimated the 3,780 number, and The Red Cup Project was born. The Red Cup Project was a visual representation of how sexual assault affects students campuswide, through the use of red cups, representing the approximately 3,780 people who experience sexual assault each year at Pitt. Red cups were chosen as the visual aid for this demonstration because most sexual assaults on college campuses occur under the influence of alcohol. Starting around 9 a.m. on the morning of April 12th, 2016, members of Pitt’s AAUW came together to place the 3,780 red cups on the William Pitt Union lawn, along with posters noting various facts regarding sexual assault. From 12:30 pm to 5:00 p.m., students were able to view the display as well as write messages of support to sexual assault survivors on the red cups. Pitt’s AAUW intends to read all of the messages and send these words of support to local organizations providing help to sexual assault survivors. The campus frequency of sexual assault was the impetus for the event, and allowed the AAUW to represent the national statistics through the use of a product familiar to many students. One big reason Pitt’s AAUW chose to hold this event was to increase awareness of how much of an issue sexual assault is on college campuses nation-
By Erin Ludlow
wide. According to a study conducted by The Center for Public Integrity, 95% of college sexual assaults go unreported--making it the largest unreported crime. Additionally, in today’s college system, it is easier for a student to get expelled from college for cheating than for a sexual assault crime. Currently, national statistics suggest the chances of women being sexually assaulted on a college campus is now approaching 1 in 4. As for men, the number is predicted to be a lot higher than the current 1 in 16, since men are often more ashamed than women to come forward regarding their assault, in fear of being emasculated by peers. Another group that is underreported for sexual assault crimes is the LGBTQAI community. The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, conducted in 2010, reported that 44% percent of lesbian women, 61% of bisexual women, 26% percent of gay men, and 37% of bisexual men experienced rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner at some point in their lifetime--yet when it comes to reporting sexual assaults, this community is greatly underreported. Some misunderstandings about college sexual assaults relate to how they occur. Most people think that people are raped in an alleyway by some random person while walking home from a party; while this does happen, in reality 92% of female rape victims are assaulted by someone they know, and additionally, ⅔ of rapists on college campuses are serial offenders--with an average of six rapes each-meaning they often are aware of the crime they are committing, and often target their victims prior to the crime with the intent to sexually assault them (thinkprogress.org). Sexual assault is something that can and most likely will follow a survivor for the rest of their lives; 80% of rape survivors suffer from chronic physical or psychological problems over time (pact5.org), ranging from issues with anxiety and depression, to difficulty sustaining a romantic relationship--moving past a sexual assault can take a
Erin Ludlow, the Public Relations Chair of Pitt’s AAUW at The Red Cup Project.. Photo By Kim Gagnon
lifetime, and Pitt’s AAUW wanted to bring awareness to how traumatic it can be. Overall, the event was a huge success and brought this issue to the attention of many students campus-wide. Students were shocked by the number of cups that sat on the William Pitt Union lawn, in disbelief that this number represented survivors on a yearly basis. Several survivors approached members of Pitt’s AAUW and the display, and thanked them for bringing this issue to awareness on Pitt’s campus Pitt’s AAUW paired with other organizations on Pitt’s campus for Sexual Assault Awareness Week (April 11th- 15th), in efforts to show the Pitt community how much of an epidemic sexual assault is on campuses nationwide. Pitt’s AAUW, Pittsburgh Action Against Rape, The Pitt Police, and It’s On Us helped sponsor The Red Cup Project. For more information about Pitt’s AAUW, follow them on twitter @PittAAUW. Erin Ludlow is the Public Relation chair for Pitt AAUW, a Pitt student, and an Editorial Collective intern for The NewPeople.
Passion Brews at Pittsburgh Equal Pay Day Rally By Matt Petras
With music like “She Works Hard for the Money” blaring from speakers, a diverse crowd gathered in Market Square, Pittsburgh on Wednesday, April 13th for the “Equal Pay Day Rally.” Many speakers were welcomed to the podium from both the public and private sector to discuss not just the pay gap but other issues as well, like racial disparity and minimum wage legislation. All this activity coincided with Equal Pay Day. “I gotta be honest with you, I wasn't sure how to address you guys today. I mean, how do you address a group of people gathering to right a wrong as outrageous and unnecessary as a wage gap?” Southwest Director for PA Governor Tom Wolfe Erin Molchany said in her speech. “It’s 2016!” According to the American Association of University Women, women in the United States on average make 79% of what men make; the specific number for Pennsylvania happens to be the same figure. The figures are less favorable for black and Hispanic women, the former making around 64% and the latter around 54% of what white men make for the same work. The event was organized by the Women and Girls’ Foundation (WGF). Ciera Marie Young was
Chief Executive Officer of the YWCA of Pittsburgh Magdeline Jensen speaks at the Equal Pay Day Rally in Market Square, Pittsburgh on April 12. Photo By Matt Petras
the first and last speaker as well as the woman who introduced each of the speakers who followed. Public servants who work with Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto, such as Chief Executive of Allegheny County Rich Fitzgerald, Chief Administration Officer Debbie Lestitian, and City Councilman Dan Gilman spoke at the event. Fitzgerald explained that Pittsburgh will host a “National League of Cities” event on November 1619, with mayors from around the country. “It’s going to be right after the presidential election, so the president is going to come here and it’s going to be exciting and it doesn't matter who she is, but when we have the president here, we want to make sure we are showing good strength in those areas,” Fitzgerald said, alluding to a Hillary Clinton presidency. Gilman lauded new legislation guaranteeing paid sick leave for men and women in the city and brought attention to legislation he has sponsored regarding pregnant women and mothers. Alongside these governmental speakers were people from various private groups. Jezebel Rivera, who is president of the Latin American Cultural Union, spoke during the rally about how the wage gap specifically affects Latina women. She spent some time explaining how massive she finds the gap between Latina women and white men. “There is a huge gap between how much we work and what the system thinks we are worth,” Rivera said. Chief Executive Officer of the YWCA of Pittsburgh Magdeline Jensen offered some historical context for the crowd. "We spent some time looking at our archives and our documents and I found a real gem regarding equal pay,” Jensen said. This gem is a little book of which the organization passed out stapled photocopies. “When [World War II] was over, there was a problem with unemployment. There wasn't enough work for the men back from overseas and so the government was pushing women out of the workforce,” Jensen said. “I found this little booklet from the YWCA, and the title of it is ‘Are Women Peo-
ple?’ It was produced, we think, between 1946 and 1950.” This comedic booklet, printed in just red, black and white, and resembling a children’s book, was written and illustrated by Florence Anderson. It is filled with cartoon drawings that fight against the effort to remove women from the workforce. Several booths were set up before the noon event for groups such as Fight for $15, the YWCA of Pittsburgh, and Pittsburghers For Public Transit, which is a project of the Thomas Merton Center. One booth hosted by the WGF was manned by young girls selling pastries at a bake sale. Men were charged a dollar, white women 76 cents, black women 64 cents, and Hispanic women 54 cents. T-shirts were sold for $10 by WGF that advertised the cause. One t-shirt purchaser is 33-year-old Katie Harrison, a white Pittsburgh-based attorney brandishing a button advertising the Hillary presidential campaign, who is passionate about the equal pay movement, even though she doesn't think she is personally discriminated against in her profession. “It’s really important for me to be here and hear what women’s concerns are and to be able to understand what those concerns are so I can then advocate on their behalf in different ways,” Harrison said. Another supporter was a young man named John Schifalacqua, who loved the rally. “I enjoyed talking to the folks who attended,” Schifalacqua said. “I ran into old faces and new faces but all really eager, talented folks who are willing to take a stand for what I think’s right.” Despite being an event with a title devoted to equal pay, there was a clear understanding at the rally that inclusivity and a broad examination of various factors regarding women’s wages is necessary. “I don't want equal pay for shitty work,” La’Tasha D Mayes, one of the speakers, said during her speech. Matt Petras is an intern for The New People covering LGBTQ issues and local activism. He is a Class of 2018 Point Park University student majoring in journalism. May 2016
NEWPEOPLE - 9
How Clean Is Gas? A Goldmine for Gardeners I take part in a community garden, in an alley in Deutschtown, and because we are all city dwellers, wheelbarrows and gardening tools are in short supply. We needed some of these things for a spring cleanup, and I went to Construction Junction, but they were cleaned out of garden tools. I was minutes away from buying a wheelbarrow to maybe use four times a year, and some implement to cut back ornamental grasses that had grown way too big. I thought perhaps Grow Pittsburgh, who has encouraged urban gardening in a hundred ways; surely would have some resources. And I struck it rich. Grow Pittsburgh has created a Garden Resource Center, where gardeners who join can borrow, yes borrow, rakes, shovels, power equipment, gloves, wheelbarrows, and tools you didn’t know existed. There’s more; members receive free woodchips, compost, mulch, straw, and organic amendments for your soil, so many bucketfuls a month. There are free seeds and a library of ‘how to’ books on every-
By Bette McDevitt
thing you need to know about starting and maintaining a garden. On my first visit, Jeremy Fleishman the coordinator, was explaining how to use a rototiller to a young woman, before he helped her load it into the back of her car, along with a container of gasoline to run it. When he finished, he took time to show us all the tools and supplies, and helped me load a garden cart, easier to use than a wheelbarrow, and a great new Fiskars tool to tackle the dried grasses I wanted to cut down. He gave us, my gardening friend Jyoti and me, lots of advice about using the tools and taking advantage of all the benefits of membership. When I returned my tools a week later, I met a helpful volunteer, Annie Dunn, who is one of eight Repair the World Fellows who have spent the last year in Pittsburgh, doing useful work on many fronts. Annie's’ work has centered on food, hunger and urban gardens. When her year ends in July, she wants to stay in this city she has grown so fond of.
The Garden Resource Center is located in Larimer, at 147 Putnam Street, and this will be their third year. Larimer was chosen as the location because there is a lot of gardening activity in the neighborhood. You can find out more about it at: http://www.growpittsburgh.org/garden-resourcecenter/ I’ve been a big fan of Grow Pittsburgh, since I saw the way they have turned several vacant blocks in Braddock into a thriving garden that serves the residents of Braddock with a farm stand every week, and supplies restaurants in Pittsburgh with organic vegetables during the growing season. Now, I have another reason to love Grow Pittsburgh. Bette McDevitt is a member of the Editorial Collective, and a gardener.
Dirty Gas Has No Place in a Clean Power Plan – Pennsylvanians Against Fracking Position Statement By Wanda Guthrie
Pennsylvanians Against Fracking supports the swift and just transition to 100% renewable energy. We oppose the continued reliance on any and all fossil fuels. Since shale gas development began in Pennsylvania, every administration has aggressively promoted, not just continued but expanded, reliance on natural gas. This has spurred shale gas development and its inevitable damage and is absolutely unacceptable. Gov. Wolf plans to rely on natural gas in his Clean Power Plan by building new gas power plants and using shale gas to meet energy needs, despite the damage this will cause. The Obama administration has also promoted an increased reliance on natural gas, touting it as a bridge fuel to get the nation through the transition to renewable energy because it is considered to be cleaner than coal and oil. When burned, it generates about half the CO2 than that of coal or oil. If that was the whole story of natural gas and climate change, there would still be plenty of reasons to oppose continued shale gas development — contaminated water, polluted air, illnesses, deaths, destruction of natural resources, and many others. However, natural gas’ role in climate change cannot
be fully understood without looking beyond consumption to see its impacts during production. When unconventional drilling began in Pennsylvania, little peer-reviewed science had been done on the new technology. The Environmental Protection Agency incorrectly assumed that methane release rates at well pads were negligible. We now know that a 3% leakage rate at well pads alone cancels any climate benefit natural gas provides when burned; leakage rates of more than double that are typical. Even worse, leaks occur at every phase of production; processing, transmission, and distribution. In addition, every well drilled today will join a legacy of hundreds of thousands of old wells that leak methane unless they are maintained every 25 years. The state has not even located the vast majority of the old wells yet, much less maintained them or developed a system to maintain the new glut of legacy wells . The only solution is to stop fracking and speed the transition to 100% renewable energy, energy efficiency and conservation. Methods for accomplishing that as soon as 2050 have been proposed. All of the methods rely on honest scientific and technical analysis to guide us forward, and aggres-
sive measures requiring political will, measures not found in the Clean Power Plan (CPP) put forward by the Obama administration. Some may view the CPP as a small step forward, but small steps are not helpful when you are at the edge of a cliff and it’s the leap that will save you. Make no mistake, we are collectively at the precipice. Unfortunately, its lack of sufficiently aggressive measures is not the only problem with the Clean Power Plan. In fact, the Clean Power Plan may well do far more harm than good. It may ensure that we will be unable to avert warming the planet beyond the 2 degree C climate scientists have been telling us for several years is the point of no return. More recently, climate scientists have noted more extreme climate impacts at a 1 degree C change than they’d anticipated. At COP21 in Paris in December, 2015, representatives of island nations implored world leaders to agree to reduce the target to 1.5 degrees C. Their nations will be under water by the time the planet hits 2 degrees C. Wanda Guthrie is an environmental activist, and Thomas Merton Center, GreenFaith and Pennsylvanians Against Fracking Steering Committee member.
The Clean Power Plan as it is Currently Proposed ... What Does it Look Like? By Wanda Guthrie
The Environmental Justice Committee of the TMC sees these problems with the current proposal of the Clean Power Plan (CCP):
The CCP doesn’t limit how much a state can rely on gas to meet its target States choosing to meet their targets by relying The CCP puts natural gas in the “clean” column 100% on natural gas would not be out of compliance Methane is a short-lived but very powerful green- with the terms of the Clean Power Plan. Even if no house gas. In the all-important 20 year time scale, it state is brazen enough to propose something so exis 86 times more efficient at heating the atmosphere treme, they are certainly under no pressure to take the kind of aggressive steps needed. as is carbon dioxide. As mentioned above, the climate benefit natural gas provides during consumption is quickly canceled thanks to leaks that occur at The CCP institutionalizes and enables pollution The public is absorbing the costs of harmful an alarming rate at every step in the product life cycle of natural gas and continued leaking that occurs health impacts, disease, drinking water contamina“beyond the grave,” as old wells leak without proper tion, and environmental degradation that accompanies natural gas development. Taxpayers are burmaintenance. Natural gas has no place in a true Clean Power Plan, yet Obama’s plan allows for it to dened with paying for government subsidies and the costs of regulatory loopholes that incentivize natural be among the energy sources states can choose to gas. There is no attempt to realize these hidden costs achieve their targets. to provide parity with renewable energy sources, The CCP guarantees increased reliance on natu- which will lead to perpetuating these unacceptable ral gas impacts. States like Pennsylvania that have gone all-in on The CCP means we can kiss a fracking shale gas development will elect to transition from moratorium or ban goodbye coal-fired power plants to natural gas-fired power In his paper, “A Bridge to Nowhere, Methane plants rather than transition to clean, sustainable, renewable energy alternatives. When climate scien- Emissions and the Greenhouse Gas Footprint of tists are telling us to leave 80% of all fossil fuels in Natural Gas,” Dr. Robert Howarth of Cornell Unithe ground, trading one fossil fuel for another makes versity notes that converting from coal to natural gas will require “unprecedented investment in natural no sense economically or in terms of tackling cligas infrastructure and regulatory oversight,” the mate change. Coal, oil, natural gas, all fossil fuels kind of investment you don’t make in a temporary that emit greenhouse gases, must be left in the bridge fuel. Although Pennsylvania’s Clean Power ground. 10 - NEWPEOPLE May 2016
Plan is still being drafted, a proliferation of natural gas power plants, attempts to incentivize pipeline development, and the Wolf administration’s recent announcement of methane rules bear out Howarth’s warning. If the Clean Power Plan is not changed to remove natural gas as an alternative to coal, we will continue to see more power plants, more pipelines, more compressor stations, and more wells. The things we will never see are a moratorium or ban on fracking.
Wanda Guthrie is environmental activist, Thom-
as Merton Center, GreenFaith and Pennsylvanians Against Fracking Steering Committee member.
Developing Clean Energy Sources The Mission of the Fossil Free Pitt Coalition By Kathleen Mannard
What actions do we take to end the investment in fossil fuel companies? How do we change the world? The individuals striving for the sustainability of all humans, who act on their principles, will change the way the world operates. The divestment from fossil fuels campaign incorporates individuals, college campuses, nonprofits and global leaders of nation-states. Individuals can make a difference, but it is when we come together as a group that our voices become one. At the University of Pittsburgh, two of the many individuals involved with the Fossil Free Pitt Coalition act as representatives on and off campus for the divestment cause. Andrew Woomer, a second-year nontraditional student, with a major in Urban Studies, is the founder of the Fossil Free Pitt Coalition and an activist for the Oakland and Pittsburgh community. His original appreciation of and admiration for the environment was sparked during his childhood through nature summer camps and visiting the forests of the Laurel Highlands in Western Pennsylvania. Woomer learned about fossil fuel divestment in 2013 at Power Shift, the youth organizing conference fighting for social, economic and climate justice. His ideas for challenging the investing in fossil fuel industries, along with his interest in the role money plays in the economy, influenced his initiation of the Coalition on Pitt’s campus. Part of Woomer’s role on campus includes spreading awareness of the Office of Sustainability and the Fossil Free Pitt Coalition. During an informational session at the 2015 Freshman
Orientation, freshman student Sarah Grguras was pulled in by Woomer’s advocacy and began regularly attending Free the Planet, Coalition and Sustainability meetings. With a double major in biology and environmental sciences, Grguras now currently serves as one of the representatives for Fossil Free Pitt Coalition. The campaign for the University of Pittsburgh’s divestment from fossil fuels began in October, 2014. A rally held in Schenley Plaza hosted a number of community partners, including the Thomas Merton Center’s Fossil Fuel Divestment Campaign, Carnegie Mellon University’s Divestment Campaign and others to discuss divestment and reinvestment of Pitt’s revenue. Other colleges nationwide have begun divestment plans due to the action of student groups. This past April, Syracuse University announced a policy change to directly end university endowment investments in coal and other fuel companies. What are the Fossil Free Pitt Coalition’s short-term and long-term objectives? Woomer and Grguras said they were divestment in the University’s endowment funds from fossil fuel industries along with the long-term screening of investment in a socially responsible manner. With 35 coalition partners and almost 3,000 student supporters, the University has taken notice of student power. In February, Grguras and another representative met with the Pitt Board of Trustees to pitch the idea of a Student Affairs campaign. This breakthrough lays the groundwork for an institutionalized process among students, faculty and the administration of how to
use University endowments in the future. So what’s next for the Fossil Free Pitt Coalition? Woomer and Grguras agree that divestment is only the beginning. Before divestment can occur, they hope to build committees consisting of student representatives who advocate for where and how university endowments are invested. Built into their tentative timeline is a divestment of direct holdings in three years and divestment of indirect holdings in five years. They hope to see Pitt’s reinvestment in the communities that are exploited and damaged by the fossil fuel industries. Educating the people on the effects of the fossil fuel industries is key. One of their on-campus partners is Active Minds, who educate on mental and emotional health. With Active Minds, the Coalition discusses the mental and emotional health effects of the industries. The goals of the Coalition are for safe livelihoods and the investment of funds into the exploited communities. The investment in fossil fuel companies affects human beings now and actively affects the climate. The people, our choices, and our voices create the change. The Fossil Free Pitt Coalition hosts monthly Divestment 101 meetings and their office hours are from 2-4pm on Friday’s in the William Pitt Union. Kathleen Mannard is a third year student at the University of Pittsburgh with a major in Anthropology and the environmental justice intern for the Thomas Merton Center.
Allegheny Solar Cooperative – A Solar Cooperative Solution! By Ron Gaydos
Solar energy is great, isn’t it? It creates needed electricity and heat without combustion. It’s decentralized. And it uses a resource that will never give out. But right now, installations are done slowly, one array at a time. Progress, therefore, is very slow. The Allegheny Solar Cooperative (ASC) wants to speed the process up by facilitating more installations in the the region, and doing so through a for-profit cooperative business model. As Ian Smith, an ASC co-founder, says, the business is “fully community memberfunded, without any subsidy.” However, a few things had to happen before the ASC could get started. First, forward-thinking community leaders in Millvale began initiatives to take advantage of their unique riverfront location, and then began planning a Millvale eco-district, tying sustainable development to inclusive economic progress. Smith credits Millvale’s Sustainability Coordinator, Zaheen Hussain, for working tirelessly in eco-district planning and attracting more people to solar as an option. Solarize Allegheny, which promotes solar energy throughout Allegheny County, helped homeowners navigate the solar development process and raised awareness that solar energy was feasible. Then the Millvale Community Library, and the Imagine Center next door, installed the first Millvale array on its roof as an example. Brian and Mandy Wolovich installed a second on their Millvale home. The third, was on the Millvale Community Center on Lincoln Avenue. “At first we intended for the development to be on non-profit buildings,” said Smith. Vari-
ous locations were explored, discounted, and explored again. However, a planning meeting at the Grist House Brewery over beers got the attention of the Grist House owners, who invited a proposal. That became the ASC’s first project! The model is simple. Members invest in shares in ASC. That investment capital is used to develop a solar project. ASC then charges the project building owners a competitive price for the energy, and ASC also gets paid through the reimbursement received from the electric utility for the excess electricity not used and sent back into the grid. Profits are then distributed to members or reinvested in new projects or other expenses, according to the members’ democratic decisions. Any federal income taxes owed by the cooperative are then reduced by tax credits the federal government has established for businesses. ASC is a for-profit Pennsylvania cooperative business, the type known as a “producer cooperative”. They may do solar projects in any Pennsylvania community, but for now will focus on the Pittsburgh region. Mandy Wolovich, an ASC co-founder, says, “we’re just finishing up a guide for establishing a producer cooperative like the ASC, and we’ll be glad to share it with anyone interested”. It is not easy. Every new initiative takes coordinated effort, and for the ASC it was no different. Cooperatives are not a shortcut, nor are they a charity. But, as in the case of the ASC, it is an empowering means for self-help among community members, sharing the burdens of a large investment in order to make their community better. There are still a few challenges to largerscale solar production in Pennsylvania, which
would take another article to describe. For the ASC there was, more importantly, the necessary investment in time and expertise (and often money) to solve technical challenges, organize the business, and deal with legal matters. Despite those challenges, the founders of the ASC have largely overcome the challenges of learning cooperative culture-level decisionmaking and of operating under the less common cooperative business model. Looking to the future, ASC has three goals: first, to become a major solar developer, installing larger arrays in more locations and spreading the economic benefits; second, to directly employ many people in the solar industry, in administration and in technical positions and “possibly even as a worker-owned cooperative;” and third, to share their experience and capacity as a regional resource by “being successful enough to engage the region with great expertise,” said Smith. They’ve already had a positive impact on the solar energy scene in Millvale. It probably won’t be long before they have a greater impact throughout the Pittsburgh region, reducing greenhouse gasses and becoming a progressive leader in the local cooperative business culture. For more on the Allegheny Solar Cooperative see www.millvalelibrary.org/alleghenysolar-cooperative Ron Gaydos is a consultant in inclusive economic development, entrepreneurship, and organizational strategy. He is a member of the Thomas Merton Center’s New Economy Campaign, and Co-Founder of the Pittsburgh Chamber of Cooperatives. May 2016
NEWPEOPLE - 11
Improving America’s Healthcare A Doctor for Everyone: The Passing of Dr. Quentin Young By Theresa Chalich
Our leader, our inspirator, Dr. Quentin Young died this past March. Dr. Young campaigned tirelessly for a singlepayer health insurance - a Medicare for All Plan. As he often said, a single-payer system would eliminate the need for private insurance companies, which "are in the business of finding reasons not to care." Thus a campaign slogan of "People over Profit." Dr. Young's life reads like a social activist itinerary through the historical events of the 20th century. His causes might have been unpopular at one time but he was proud that they became issues accepted by the many. In the 1960s he worked to desegregate Chicago hospitals. He was a founder of the Medical Committee for Human Rights. This committee went to the South to provide care for the civil-rights workers. It treated members of the Black Panther Party and protesters during the 1968 Chicago Democratic national convention. He was fired as chairman of the Department of Medicine at the Cook County Hospital be-
cause he supported the doctors' efforts for bargaining with providing health-care, we could not overlook rights and improved patient care. the importance of working on the social ills that ac"In time, however, Dr. Young's activism came company poor health. to be appreciated. In 1983, he was appointed by Chicago Mayor Harold Washington as President of Theresa Chalich, R.N. is the Southwest Coordinator of the Health Care For All Chapter. Chicago's Board of Health. He had the distinction, no doubt due to his socialjustice work, of being the personal physician to Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., Barack Obama, and Studs Terkel. "When On April 7 Governor Wolf signed Executive Orders prohibiting emthe now-famous incident occurred that ployment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender Dr. King was hit by a rock while demon- identity and gender expression for Commonwealth employees and strating segregated housing in Chicago, it Commonwealth contractors. The executive orders signal that Comwas Dr. Young who treated him." monwealth agencies and businesses that contract with the CommonWe at Health Care For All PA know wealth are open, inclusive, and competitive in today’s economy. Gov. Wolf is the first governor in Pennsylvania history to prohibit him as National Coordinator of Physicians for a National Health Program and employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity and expression for employees under state contract President of theAmerican Public Health via executive order. The order will impact more than 3,525 state conAssociation. It was at a national public tracts and 9,000 agency grantees for the first time in history. health meeting that I had the privilege of meeting him. He taught us that along
Kudos to Governor Wolf
The Need For Alternative Mental Health Care By Imaz Athar
As a volunteer counselor at APPRISE, an East Liberty agency providing free one-on-one health insurance counseling to individuals, I spend the day advising our clients on their Medicaid or Medicare options, with a team of other counselors. While most days are pretty routine, others are more unusual than others. One day, one of our clients pulled from her folder what looked like a list of names. She began to explain that she was pregnant, but she wasn’t able to find a doctor who would deliver her baby; the list of names was a petition intended to help her find doctors. Right away, none of this clicked. The client was in her 60s, so there was no way she could be pregnant. We asked if she needed help with anything health-insurance related, but she insisted that we sign her petition. She brought some paperwork with her, and we began to
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look through it. After a few minutes of digging, we discovered that she had been admitted to a psychiatric hospital in the past. After some more digging, we found out why: she had schizophrenia. We weren’t entirely sure how to address the situation at that point. So, we pivoted, and obtained help from one of the more experienced counselors. It turns out the client did have a few health insurance issues we were eventually able to help with. But, after the client left, we were still caught up by the whole ordeal. A couple of big questions stood out to me. First, why wasn’t she receiving treatment for her psychiatric disorder? It seemed that she slipped through the cracks somewhere. There had to be a reason she was sitting at APPRISE, a health insurance counseling center, rather than in front of a mental health professional. Another question was how she could consider her health insurance options while her schizophrenic symptoms were still very clearly present? It’s hard to answer these questions without knowing more about our client’s background. When we asked her about her stay at the psychiatric facility, she told us she didn’t like it and that’s why she was no longer there. This raises a number of concerns. First, it’s widely known that schizophrenia can be an extremely debilitating illness, if not treated. During our visit, she was convinced that she was pregnant. It was so believable, in fact, that I was almost convinced of her pregnancy myself. Who knows how much worse her symptoms could get without treatment, considering how driven she was by her pregnancy delusion? There must be ways to improve treatment so that patients, especially those with serious illnesses, are able to live with it. For instance, studies have shown that culturally aware mental health treatment is very
effective. Some patients may view mental illness differently than practitioners, based on their own personal beliefs. Perhaps if psychiatrists, or other mental health professionals, better understood their patient’s view of illness, they’d be able to better treat it. But, then again, this kind of culturallysensitive, patient-centered treatment is very difficult to provide in our current healthcare environment. Physicians are expected to see patient after patient after patient in a short amount of time. How are physicians able to build relationships with patients when they’re only able to see them for minutes at a time? Rather than establishing a deep connection with a patient that informs effective treatment, psychiatrists are forced to rely heavily on prescribing medicine so they can see their next patient in a day full of them. Providing more ‘aware’ treatment requires a great shift in patient care; a change that can be very difficult to realize. On to my other question. How would our client address her health insurance options while her schizophrenic symptoms are still very clearly present? As I mentioned earlier, our health insurance system can be very difficult to navigate. I, myself, have trouble remembering all of the eligibility requirements, policies, and intricate terminology, even though I went through a training course before I became a counselor. For many of our clients, it’s almost like learning a new language. With that said, I can’t even imagine how challenging it would be for someone with a severe mental illness to understand all of their health insurance options. This is where mental health competency is incredibly important. Training physicians, counselors, and others to communicate effectively and sensitively with individuals with a mental illness could go a long way. I certainly would’ve benefited from it. I feel like I would’ve been better able to help our client if I just knew where she was coming from. Like culturally sensitive treatment, providing mental health competency is by no means easy. It requires a shift in how patient care and effective treatment is viewed and understood. These are things clinicians, counselors, social workers, and other professionals need to think about and consider. It’s up to us to help shape a health care system that maximizes the well-being of all patients, including our client at APPRISE. Imaz Athar is an intern for The NewPeople.
Feminism So White Blog Beats
This segment will feature a blog post from an intern during the past semester on a wide range of topics. This is where our journalism interns can really flex and find their voice. Check out more of our blog posts here: http://newpeoplenews.wix.com/newpeoplenews
White Feminists, What's Good? White Feminists, What’s Good was originally published on our blog on January 20, 2016. Okay, I'll admit it: I'm super guilty of having watched HBO's series Girls. I'll go even further and admit that not only did I not hate watching it, but admit that I was an avid watcher and even a fan of Lena Dunham's portrayal of my generation (okay, I was born in ‘95, but let me live). At some point during the end of my senior year, however, something about the show began to rub me the wrong way. I began to wonder, Why are they in BROOKLYN and the cast is whiter than paper? Why does everything regarding the feminist aspect of the show revolve solely around sex-positivity? Why don't we see any of the girls break the glass ceiling in jobs not traditionally called women's work? How can they afford the rent? These were a few of the aspects that bothered me while rewatching the first two seasons. A common term thrown at Dunham not long after the first season was "White Feminist." I couldn't understand why anyone would draw color lines between different feminists, or even what the term meant. However, with a stronger handle on what a White Feminist is, I want to illustrate the complexity of White Feminism by using Girls as a piece of media displaying it. Allow me to establish the differences between White Feminism™ and just your general feminism. Both have good intentions. However, White Feminism is detrimental to the movement for a few reasons: it exclusively focuses on the issues faced by white women (ie 78¢ to $1.00 of salary when women of color do not make that sum), uses the movements created by people of color (PoC) to advance only the case of white women while remaining silent on issues regarding PoC, and is committed to fighting for bodily autonomy while disregarding that cis- and trans-women of color (WoC) do not have that such luxury. Feminism in its best form is inclusive of all genders and sexualities. It seeks to make the world more equitable for all, while ensuring the safety of all women, be they trans or cis (and those who are non-binary), and seeks to
bridge the inequalities faced by all in regards to race/religion/class/physical abilities. Not all feminists who are white are white feminists, but many disregard the full battery of feminism and engulf themselves in the pitfall that is white feminism. The first of many questions pertain to the lack of racial diversity in Dunham's show. While I am a born Pennsylvanian, my family has roots in the borough of Brooklyn. Knowing the history of Brooklyn and the diversity it has, I was incredibly upset when gentrification began to take hold. I had told my mother about my desire to see a band at Baby's All Right, a venue in Bushwick. When I told my mother where the venue was, I watched the color drain from her face as she told me "even when I was a child, we weren't allowed to go to Bushwick because it was synonymous with drugs and now hipsters play there?" Given that even 5-10 years ago Bushwick was considered conventionally unsafe because of its demographic (mainly low-income and African American), it was quite flooring to consider that the now gentrified neighborhood was now considered safe enough to attract bands of boys who play surf rock and probably know five people of color collectively. After this conversation I re-watched Girls determined to find at least 10 people of color within the first three episodes. Despite taking place in Brooklyn, I found that even the screen time was gentrified. Is it possible that Dunham didn't write the series to be so massively white? Of course. Does it mean that she shouldn't be accountable for writing a series that does not take the racial diversity of the borough into account? No, and certainly not when Dunham herself is a woman in her 20s who has grown up with extensive media representing PoC. And even more troubling, the only interactions we see of PoC are in service jobs (such as when Jessa takes a position as a nanny and is the sole white face) or in a satirical character meant more as a mockery than a person (Donald Glover's incredibly problematic and short-lived character). As a feminist, it is important to consider the role of women in any work. By reducing her WoC characters to nothing more than service jobs, she places a barrier between herself and other white women and WoC. Another troubling issue I noticed connected to White Feminism was the representation of bodily autonomy and women in the workplace. Given the history of WoC, such
Goodness in the Gilded Age By: Martin H. Levinson
A stock broker bumped into the good-deed fairy on the E-train. She was wearing a short frilly dress, holding a pink magic wand, and sported gossamer wings flecked with glittering faith and selfless delight.
By Nijah Glenn
as Saartje Baartman, being exploited for their bodies, and having little autonomy, there is very little positive media regarding WoC. Many prominent figures from Beyoncé to Nicki Minaj have been targeted by embracing their sexuality, yet Dunham and her characters face no such flack. The ability for white women to embrace their bodily autonomy in media makes her constant nudity hardly groundbreaking. That is not to discredit her for brazenly displaying her body despite not falling into societal conventions, or to slut shame her; it is just noting that as a white woman, she has agency that WoC lack. Given the constant sexualization of WoC and even young adults, there is no opportunity for agency. While discussing sexuality is important in a society that categorizes women into their worth based on the social construct of virginity, Dunham's focus on this issue alone solidifies the privilege she has as a white woman. An issue additionally glossed over is the role of women in the workplace. Nearly all roles that the girls hold in seasons one and two are associated with women: Hannah is a writer and former liberal arts major, Marnie works in art, Jessa is a bohemian and later a nanny, and Shoshanna is a student. Obviously, I am very aware that these titles can be held by any gender; the societal connotations of a nanny or recently a writing-major-turned-writer are associated with women. Unfortunately, for as much as the series is heralded as a snippet of modern feminism on onscreen, none of the girls actually break the glass ceiling. None of them are in roles that are traditionally (and still are) associated with men. We understand all of them to be paid enough to live on, but not demanding higher wages. We don't see any roles imposed on them that do not seem improbable for a woman—and it's not because we have stopped gendering jobs or education. Instead, her illustrations present the girls in a way we typically see white women: feminine, educated/well-traveled, and behaving in an "unconventional" manner vis-à-vis working and living in a place where they would not be expected. Is Dunham the only offender of white feminism? Absolutely not. Unfortunately, it is an easy convention for many to fall into. However, the saturation of Dunham's material makes her work an easy study in understanding white feminism. Is this to say you cannot enjoy Girls? Nah, it's only a reminder that you should be realistic and consider the unreality in portraying someone's reality. Nijah Glenn is an intern at the Thomas Merton Center and a member of the NewPeople editorial collective.
He apologized for accidentally banging into her. She replied no apology needed, give a dollar to the homeless guy with the shabby black pants, beat-up sneakers and torn tattooed allegories on his arms sitting at the bottom of the uptown staircase in the Fourteenth Street Station with a cardboard sign saying “I am drowning in a sea of grief” around his neck. The broker took out his wallet which contained only tens and twenties meant for wine, women and Caramel Brulée Frappuccinos, flashed a fuck you smile at the charitable apparition, popped a Xanax and focused on the presentation he would be giving later in the day to the piggies at the bank on the near term outlook for pork belly options. Martin H. Levinson is a member of the Authors Guild and the National Book Critics Circle, and serves as book review editor for ETC: A Review of General Semantics. He has published nine books and numerous articles and poems in various publications. He holds a PhD from NYU and lives in Forest Hills, New York.
The Raging Grannies singing outside the Squirrel Hill Post Office on April 14th for the annual Tax Day Rally. Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) and American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) collaborate to put on the tax day rally every year to educate the public about the gross amount of our income taxes that go to the military while our social services are consistently lacking. Photo taken by Amanda Gross, AFSC.
May 2016
NEWPEOPLE - 13
Activist Voices Rich Fishkin: Champion of Video Activism By Neil Cosgrove
Rich Fishkin has been the videographer for many events sponsored by the Merton Center and other activist organizations over the years. He is convinced that these organizations could use video far more effectively than they have to further their missions and educate the public about issues. His long list of suggestions includes partnering “with media organs, Pittsburgh Filmmakers, the Art Institute,” co-sponsoring “more screenings, festivals and competitions” and obtaining grants to “teach media literacy, use cell phones on police, do’s and don’ts, know your rights, help non-profits make and understand media, partner with other peace and justice groups to make and promote video.” Such a program, Fishkin believes, would foster “a greater awareness of the role mass media propaganda plays in clothing the military industrial complex, turning war criminals into aristocrats and heroes.” Video brings immediacy and presence to activism, but activists themselves need to learn to “talk effectively, openly, honestly to the camera” and to prepare for video “with outline, photos, audio, music, tiles, all the elements needed for good production.” Activist organizations don’t do enough, he argues, to promote and distribute such video following production. Fishkin’s convictions about the efficacy of video activism took root during his late ‘60s, early ‘70s involvement in the environmental movement, when he discovered how video “allows us to see and hear ourselves as others do.” As a young adult he became aware of childhood contradictions; being the son of a well-to-do lawyer living in the “best part of town” who was also the “only Jew in public school,” experiencing “lots of anti-Semitic bullying.” This awareness, combined with a growing passion for video production and concern about the environment, transformed him into an activist. His first involvement with the Merton Center
came about through that same environmental activism, at nuclear protests against Rockwell International and the Beaver Valley nuclear power plant in Shippingport. “Too bad I don’t still have those tapes,” he exclaims. Perhaps his most arduous and frustrating struggle, one that lasted “maybe eight years,” was the debate in Pittsburgh over the cable franchise. “I tried to educate groups on the potential of public and educational channels,” but the city council “let cable corporations write the public policy we now have, designed public access to fail, with no educational access at all. …rich media, poor democracy.” Fishkin remains proud of work he did on “homework hotline.” “You might say, what does this have to do with peace? Nothing, but it has everything to do with media reform, allowing kids to use television rather than being used by television—immediate, direct homework help which uses media as a classroom, extended into the living room, and promoting educational excellence. WQED/WQEX was not interested in the homework hotline model of television because they could not re-package and sell it. They wanted a cash register, not a classroom—a fraud.” Fishkin’s connection to public access television is perhaps his most lasting, as at the age of 71 he continues, “as events/opportunities come up,” to make programs for Progressive Pittsburgh Notebook, which airs every Monday at 9 p.m. on PCTV 21. “I can’t stay away from this presidential election cycle.” When asked if he is particularly proud of specific videos he has produced, he cites two: one focused on CIA whistleblower John Stockwell, specifically on CIA funding and organizing of narcoterrorist groups in Nicaragua and Kosovo. Spending two weeks in Serbia in August, 1999, six weeks after the bombing stopped, was Fishkin’s “witness to ‘war’ and through research I learned … the
Rich Fishkin, a self portrait .
whole Kosovo war was triggered by false flagstaged violence and the propaganda machine that turns lies into truths, turns black into white, can make a devil look like an angel.” The second documented a lecture given by ecologist John Todd in 2002 at Duquesne University on the ecologically friendly treatment of sewage. This video has proven, over the years, to be the videographer’s most popular. What shouldn’t be overlooked is the documentary value of Fishkin’s work and how it ensures that seemingly fleeting expressions of democratic commitment and progressive thought can be experienced again on sites like YouTube—the Regional Peace Convergence of 2003, the Occupy Pittsburgh movement of 2011, speeches by Bill McKibben, Martin Sheen, Jeremy Scahill, Barbara Lee. “Step back and begin to explore the pure process side of video,” admonishes Fishkin, “the interpersonal, sometimes deeply intimate feedback experience, and build individual and organizational strength from that base.” Neil Cosgrove is a member of the NewPeople editorial collective and the Merton Center board.
Justice Is Sought in Killing of Berta Caceres Following the assassination of indigenous activist Berta Caceres in Honduras in March (see article in April issue of The NewPeople), two actions occurred in Washington, DC to expose her murder. In one, two large banners were unfurled in front of the headquarters of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). They read: Berta Caceres, Presente! And USAID: Stop Funding Murder in Honduras. In the other, activists disrupted an event at the Council of the Americas by denouncing the U.S. government’s support of the criminal coup governments of Honduras over the last six years. Peter Bolton and Jose Spade of the Latin America and Caribbean Action Network told James Nealon, the U.S. Ambassador to Honduras, that he had blood on his hands due to the recent assassination of Berta Caceres and the destructive role that the U.S. has played in Honduras during the 2009 School of the
Americas-led military coup and its disastrous aftermath. Amy Goodman interviewed Berta Ziniga Caceres, Berta’s daughter on Democracy Now in which she discusses her mother's assassination. She also stated that U.S. military aid to Honduras has resulted in an "increase in insecurity, violence and repression, very much directed against the Honduran social movement." Many people answered the “Action Alert” of the School of the America Watch and wrote and/or called their members of Congress to demand justice for Berta and a suspension of U.S. military aid to the Honduran government. Sixty-two Representatives heard the demands and sent a strong message to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Honduran officials! The pressure on the funders and enablers of the violence in Honduras is working, as Dutch and Finnish banks announced that they were suspending
their involvement in the DESA-Agua Zarca dam project that Berta lost her life opposing, although they did leave the door open to releasing the funds in the future. To join with others in efforts for justice for Berta and ending the murders in Honduras, contact the School of the America’s Watch of Western PA at the Merton Center or go to www.soaw.org. (Honduras, which has the highest murder rate in the world, has been reported to have had over 10,000 human rights violations by state security forces, which for the most part have impunity. Most murders go unpunished. Yet U.S. military training and aid for the Honduran security forces continue.)
Joyce Rothermel is a member of the School of the Americas Watch of Western Pennsylvania.
Delio: Co-Creating an Unfinished Universe Ilia Delio can rock the cynics. In fact she did much more than that to the more than 200 people attending the Association of Pittsburgh Priests’ Spring Lecture last month. After a whirlwind tour of history from the big bang through the evolution of Homo Sapiens, she walked us through the scientific history that shaped the worldviews in the Ages of Ptolemy, Copernicus, St. Bonaventure, Thomas Aquinas, Newton and Descartes. The latter two, credited with much of today’s scientific and mechanical definitions, also contributed to separating us from our natural environment. The Franciscan nun, who holds Ph.Ds in both Science and Theology, showed how the possibilities of Einstein’s breakthroughs can help us better understand God, the Incarnation of the Word, the Cosmos, the environment, ourselves and our relationships. 14 - NEWPEOPLE May 2016
Her message that we are still evolving, calls us to move from “closed systems of rules and hierarchies” to “open systems of love.” She analogizes “God’s love” to Einstein’s discussion of “ever present energy” and the “power of gravity” to powerful love pulling us, still evolving, ever closer to God. We are, she says, “co-creators of an unfinished universe.” She says the very name God is a cosmological notion and calls on us to change our relationship to the whole of the environment. In fact she says the original Greek word for “catholicity” is a “consciousness of the whole” and “church” or “ecclesia” is a “gathering of us ‘into the whole.’” There is a famous quote, “if you are not confused by Einstein, then you didn’t understand”. It is a little like that with Delio. I didn’t understand everything in just a two-hour lecture, but I left with a sense of wonder and awe, wanting to know much,
By Joyce Rothermel
By Jim McCarville
much more. If readers would like to get a DVD of the talk, contact Joyce Rothermel at rothermeljoyce@gmail.com It is available for a low cost plus postage. Stay tuned for the fall lecture series of the Association of Pittsburgh Priests. It begins with Tony Norman on Sept. 22 on “Faith, Fear, and Following Your Conscience in Voting.” On Oct. 27 Jame Schaeffer will speak on the environment. Finally, on Dec. 5 Tina Whitehead will talk about life in a Palestinian Refugee Camp. All the fall talks begin at 7 PM and are held at the Kearns Spirituality Center in Allison Park.
Jim McCarville is a Board Member of the Thomas Merton Center and serves on the Editorial Collective of The NewPeople.
Reader’s Voices BREAKING NEWS FROM THE GIORNALE VATICANO The Porcine Cardinal’s Demise (Episode 4)
By Robert Jedrzejewski
The porcine figure, his Cardinalate’s red robes flashing, waddled from his chauffeur-driven Mercedes-Benz into the toniest ristorante on the Via Veneto, Rome's 5th Avenue of glitz and conspicuous consumption, Le Sans Souci. His Eminenza Cardinal Grosso Izzalotto was making his weekly excursion to collect the graft due him by a grateful chef, as well as to gorge himself on the finest cuisine that euros could buy. He was blissfully unaware that his every move that week was being tailed and filmed by Giuseppe Schiaffino (aka Joe the Jun), faithful janitor at the Santa Maria in Trastevere parish, and loyal consort of The Bat-Priest (aka Fr. Franco Bergoglio), Reuben (aka Ricardo Goldenson) and The Moth (aka Umberto Falena), the intrepid trio of crime-fighters dedicated to extirpating evil and badness from the Roman Curia. Their efforts thus far enabled the Holy Father to put two Dicasteries on the path of righteousness. Here was a third challenge Cardinal Izzalotto was the supreme economic head of another of the Roman Curia's Dicasteries (Departments). This one was called the Prefettura di Dispozitione Commerciale. All goods, products, and commercial enterprises for and in the Vatican City State were controlled by this agency. The controlling Cardinal's fingers were not only itchy, they were tentaculous. He not only got a "piece" of everything that moved, his monicker was on every credit card of the 3,000 or so Vatican City residents and workers, as weil as the TENS OF THOUSANDS of outsiders who somehow found their way into the Vatican City stores to take advantage of the crooked
Cardinal's largesse and kickback scheming.. Electronics and food were the big ticket items that generated the most euros. Gathered in the Bat-Cellar, the three heroes of righteousness were briefed by "Joe the Jun" and viewed his cinematic repertory of Cardinal Izzalotto's urban meanderings. The vastness of his greedful enterprises seemed daunting: sides of Aprime beef, even truffles, "discounted" to the toniest ristorantes, truckloads of "wholesale" popular electronic/cyber gizmos to waiting warehousemen, and lengthy lines of consumers with fake I.D.s inside Vatican City waiting to purchase them. The hubristic scope of the enormous chicanery was almost too titanic for a humble parish priest like Fr. Franco to fathom. Not so for Ricardo Goldenson (aka Reuben), who had been privy to similar schemes in the crooked world of Gotham City financial hoodwinkerdom. It was he who suggested a modus procedendi: with his financial analytical skills, Umberto Fanela's (aka The Moth) media know-how, and the Bat-Priest's command of the Bat-scroptic praxometer they could actually take down the corpulent giant of grossitude and greed, the disloyal Curial thug, Cardinal Grosso Izzalotto. Collating all of "Joe the Jun"s reels of video and The Moth's financial analysis into a ten-minute TV newsworthy segment, The Moth turned the material over to the Bat-Priest for the coup de grace. Utilizing the Visuo-Intermodal-Protrudocon (VIP) attachment to the Bat-scroptic praxometer, The BatPriest masterfully succeeded, with perfect timing, to
Voices From Our Readers To the NewPeople Editorial Collective I read your paper NewPeople occasionally and I like it for the most part. It has stories and articles you don’t find elsewhere in Pittsburgh. Although I don’t agree with everything, there is a certain honesty in the tone and effort of the writers. I particularly like the stuff Neil Cosgrove writes; he seems to have a broad range of interests and knowledge and expresses himself well. The student-intern columns are refreshing, though tinged with a bit of youthful naivete at times--
keep them writing. The paper gets a bit heavy sometimes, which is to be expected, I guess, with all the evil around us; and reads like the doom and gloom greyish The Nation magazine. That’s why I thought the Bat-Priest series was a happy surprise when I figured out the satire, and showed you do have a sense of humor. Keep up the good work. -By Harry Andrews
interrupt ALL Italian 6:00 p.m. evening TV newscasts and to inject the damning video expose of The Ignoble Izzalotto -and Betrayal of Papal Trust. The entire viewing public, including the cronies and cohorts within the Cardinal's Prefettura who saw the shockful and damning video cut-in, knew the jig was up. Within hours, massive resignations were on the Pope's desk. All Izzalotto-signed credit card holders were immediately personae non grata and halted at the St.Anne's gate entrance to the Vatican by the colorful Swiss Guard. And most satisfying of all: early next morning, Cardinale Grosso Izzalotto received a registered letter from the Posta Vaticano. He was given a choice of re-assignments - after "donating" his ill-gotten fortune back to the Prefettura, he could one, serve as janitor in Cardinal Albatrosso's residence in Sierra Leone, or two, serve as an orderly at the Ospedale di Bambino Gesu on the Janiculum Hill, with a cot in the basement near the hot water heater. He chose the latter. (Next: Bergoglio and Bergoglio - what's going on? A Pope and The Bat-Priest with the same name! A mere coincidence - hardly likely!!!!) Robert Jedrzejewski is a retired college instructor of philosophy, theology and literature
Let’s Hang On to What We’ve Got I felt harassed the other day when a dear friend suggested a fabulous selection of vinyl records I pillaged from an old person could be recycled into hockey pucks or ash trays. I also felt harassed when a dear friend told me that the chicken sandwiches at Panera were just as good as the Chicken Gyro at Ritter’s Diner. Pink Floyd was right about folks trading in hot ashes for trees. It’s true that is there is some water damage and some black mold. It is also true that there is a fistful of the Moody Blues and Bad Finger and a Liverpool band called the Searchers. With a rag and some water the records sound great. You cannot recreate a person’s record collection with MP3s or Pandora or anything else. What comes out in a fistful, that’s a taste of the moment, first heard and last shelved--a selection that was made for me in another time and place. Our newspaper is the same way. We should stop the paper recycling at the Thomas Merton Center. The words need to linger a little bit longer. The assertion that we save something with the digital files is a lie. A digital file is useless and often the assertion that it exists at all is frivolous. The NewPeople has been in publication for 40+ years and decades are lost. Recycled. We are not going to save the planet by denying ourselves newspapers and increasing the speed at which we dispose of them. I don’t think we want to work on our newspaper in a perfectly sanitized and uncluttered space. There are piles and pile of things that we need in our space. Of course, managing it all is a problem; it is
the nature of our co-existence… but the constant recycling of newspapers and fliers and printed material of all kinds should please stop now. There should not be anyone who comes to TMC and does not leave with a stack of newspapers… old ones and new ones. We want to encourage organizers to bring stacks of newspapers from schools and small communities all over the world. There should be a New Y ork Times and a New Pittsburgh Courier at TMC for you to enjoy with your coffee every morning and every night. Why not play some records at the Thomas Merton Center? That is why I have asked the personal shoppers at Thrifty to call me on the phone and offer me first dibs on donations of audio equipment. Finding a time and a space and a volume to supplement the activity around the TMC conference table with meaningful sounds, perhaps to prepare for B-PEP Jazz on Easter Monday or to relive George Harrison's 1971 Concert for Bangladesh at Madison Square Gardens. That is what I am asking for from my colleagues at the NewPeople Editorial Collective. Yes, it is asking a lot. -By Kenneth Miller Kenneth Miller is a Luddite. Needs permission to make some human noises and spread our newspapers on the floor. This seems reasonable. That these are things we would want to share with one another.
May 2016
NEWPEOPLE - 15
Sunday
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May Day March for Immigrants Rights– 2:30– 4:30- St Catherine of Siena Church, 1810 Belasco Ave Northside Block Party– 4-7pm– 2000 Rockledge St. lot
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Remember to tell you Mother you love her. Happy Mother’s Day!
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Tuesday
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Saturday
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Fix It Film Screening– 7pm– Shaler North Hills Library– 1822 Mt. Royal Blvd. Glenshaw PA
Bread For the World Planning Meeting—10 am– Pittsburgh Theological Seminary
1969– 231 military induction orders burnt in LA
Women’s Law Project Annual Fundraiser– 5:309:00 pm– Fairmount Pittsburgh, 510 Market St.
Best Sex(Ed) Event Ever!- 11 am– 8pm– Ace Hotel Ballroom 120 S Whitfield
In The Middle: Conversation on Gentrification– 69pm– 5129 Penn Ave
Every Mother’s Son Film Screening– Noon -3 pm- Artists Image Resource 518 Foreland St.
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1985 Philadelphia police drop bomb on Black radical MOVE house
1961 Freedom Riders’ bus bombed and burned
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1963– Birmingham agrees to end segregation
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Friday
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TMC Anti-War Committee Meeting Rescheduled Meeting Time– 11 am0 TMC 5129 Penn Ave
Panel: Prison Nation- The PrisonIndustrial Complex– 2-4 pm- Pump House 800 E. Waterfront Dr., Munhall 15120
CeaseFirePA "GET ON THE BUS!" DAY– 7 am—8:30 pm– Harrisburg PA RSVP ASAP at rob.conroy@cea sefirepa.org or at (412) 9650383
1831– First Women’s AntiSlavery Convention
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1838– Trail of Tears begins forced removal of Cherokee, 4,00 die
Multiple Entry Points: Race and Racism in the Arts– 68:30 pm– BOOM Concepts 5139 Penn Ave
How to Be A Muslim Ally– 68 pm– Islamic Center of Pittsburgh– 4100 Bigelow Blvd
FILM - Lost in the Hype– 7:30—9 PM– Pump House 800 E Waterfront Dr. Munhall 15120
Pittsburgh March Against Monsanto2-3pm– Strip District Food Freedom Festival– 3-5:30 PM– Market Square
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May 2016 Regular Meetings Sundays: Book’Em: Books to Prisoners Project First three Sundays of the month at TMC, 46pm Contact: bookempgh@gmail.com
Mondays: SW Healthcare 4 All PA /PUSH Meeting 1st Monday, 6:30 —8 pm Squirrel Hill Library Contact: bmason@gmail.com Association of Pittsburgh Priests 2nd Monday, 7—9 pm, Prince of Peace Rectory 162 South 15th, Southside, Pgh. PA 15203 Amnesty International #39 2nd Monday, 7—9 pm First Unitarian Church, Morewood Ave. 15219
Wednesdays: Human Rights Coalition: Fed-Up! Every Wednesday at 7p.m. Write letters for prisoners’ rights at the Thomas Merton Center Darfur Coalition Meeting 1st and 3rd Wednesdays, 5:30 – 7:00 pm, Meeting Room C Carnegie Library, Squirrel Hill 412-784-0256 Pennsylvanians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (PADP) 1st Wednesdays, 7-8pm, First Unitarian Church, Ellsworth & Morewood Avenues, Shadyside Pittsburghers for Public Transit 2nd Wednesday, 7pm, 1 Smithfield St., lower level
Thursdays:
International Socialist Organization Every Thursday, 7:30-9:30 pm at the Thomas Merton Center Global Pittsburgh Happy Hour 1st Thursday, 5:30 to 8 pm, Roland's Seafood Grill, 1904 Penn Ave, Strip District Green Party Meeting 1st Thursday, 7 to 9 pm, 2121 Murray, 2nd floor, Squirrel Hill Black Political Empowerment Project 2nd Thursday, 6 pm: Planning Council Meeting, Hill House, Conference Room B
Fridays:
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Unblurred Gallery Crawl 1st Friday after 6 pm, Penn Avenue Arts District, 4800-5500 Penn Ave., Friendship and Garfield 15224 Hill District Consensus Group 2nd Friday, 10 am — 12 pm, Elsie Hillman Auditorium, Kaufmann Center 1825 Centre Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15219 People of Prisoners in Need of Support 3rd Friday, 7:00pm New Hope Methodist Church, 114 W. North Ave, Pittsburgh 15212
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1854– Lydia Flood Jackson Memorial Day. starts first TMC Closed school for black children in Sacrament0, CA
Anti-War and Anti-Drone Warfare Coalition 4th Saturday at 11:00 am at TMC, 5129 Penn Ave., Garfield, PA 15224
1954– Brown vs. Board of Education US Supreme Court orders school desegregation
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Project to End Human Trafficking 2nd Sat., Carlow University, Antonian Room #502 Fight for Lifers West 1st & 3rd Saturday, 10 a.m. to 12:30 pm, Thomas Merton Center
May 2016
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