Thomas Merton Center Pittsburgh’s Peace and Social Justice Center
PITTSBURGH’S PEACE & JUSTICE NEWSPAPER VOL. 47 No. 4 May 2017
Redwood's Struggle Against Systemic Oppression
By Carl Redwood, with Neil Cosgrove
Carl Redwood is the 2017 recipient of the Merton Center’s NewPerson award, which he will receive at an event scheduled for Monday, June 26th, from 6-9 PM at the Letter Carriers Hall on the North Side. Carl is Chair of the Hill District Consensus Group Board of Directors and a life-long community activist dedicated to economic and social justice. We asked Carl to discuss the issues with which he is most occupied at present—broad-based community development, affordable housing, and the fight for economic equality. We also wanted to know what moved him to become an activist when he was a young man. What follows is his reply to our questions. I would describe my “movement birthday,” or the time I became conscious of the need for community activism, as 1968. The experiences and issues that got me started as an activist were my opposition to the Vietnam War and the assassination of Martin Luther King. In his speech “Beyond Vietnam,” Dr. King encouraged us to “Rededicate ourselves to the long and bitter, but beautiful, struggle for a new world.” I accepted this challenge. The historic fight for Black freedom has been anchored in five ideological tendencies that are most often woven together in the thought and practice of any person, group, or movement. These five are Black liberation theology, PanAfricanism, Nationalism, Feminism and Socialism. As I moved toward “the movement” I began to study historical and contemporary movements for social change in the Black Radical Tradition. Of particular interest were the national liberation movements in Africa at the time and organizations like the Black Panther Party for Self Defense and the League of Revolutionary Black Workers. This study led me to accept that our common fight is against capitalism and for socialism.
In Pittsburgh there’s an affordable housing crisis. This crisis is most severe for families and households who have very low and extremely low incomes. Black families and households are being forced out of the city in large numbers because of the lack of affordable housing for lower income families. In Pittsburgh over the last four decades, politicians have promised an economically and racially diverse city, but one mayoral administration after another has accelerated existing class and race-based inequities. Public housing complexes have been demolished. Project-based Section 8 units are at risk. Unemployment continues to skyrocket. And wages for working people are stagnant. Some call Pittsburgh the most livable city, but it’s also the place where black people rank second from the bottom in economic opportunity. The current policy of the City of Pittsburgh is the forced migration of black people from Pittsburgh to the suburbs. In 1980, there were 100,000 black people in Pittsburgh. By 2010, there were 80,000 black people in Pittsburgh. During this same time period, the black population in Allegheny County not including the City of Pittsburgh went from eighty thousand in 1980 to onehundred and fourteen thousand in 2010. We lost twenty thousand black people in Pittsburgh and gained thirty-five thousand black people in the “suburbs.” This housing crisis cannot be solved in Pittsburgh. This crisis is the result of a century of racist housing policy in the United States. It is also a result of this current type of capitalism that has implemented the shutting down of government support for the people. This trend of privatization and austerity has continued under both the Democratic and Republican parties. Many of the so-called safety net programs have been cut drastically and now are considered for
Constituents gather outside State Rep Tony DeLuca’s office on April 13th to call on DeLuca to drop support for anti-immigration bill. To read more about what TMC is doing to fight anti-immigrant legislation, see page three. Pictured above from left to right: TMC member Ken Love, DeLuca constituent Gersom, Rep. Tony DeLuca, Casey Madden with the IWW, Kai Pang of Pittsburgh United and Gabriel McMorland with the Thomas Merton Center. Photo By Adi Rajkobic
In This Issue… Duquesne Defies NLRB….
Page 5
Intersectionality and Identity…
Page 6
Potential Budget Perils…
Pages 8 & 9
On Not Killing…
Page 11
Travel Ban II Still Discriminates
By Haider Ali Hamoudi
The public outcry over the Trump Administration’s travel ban directed against citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries has largely subsided. While this is understandable, the Trump Administration’s efforts to institute a revised version of the ban have not disappeared. Moreover, the efforts might ultimately prove successful, in a manner that will have deleterious results for Muslims living in the United States, and those seeking sanctuary within our borders. Before explaining why this is so, it is important to review briefly what has transpired to date concerning the partial Muslim ban, and where things lie legally.
President Trump’s initial executive order denied entry into the United States of nationals from Iraq, Iran, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, the Sudan, and Libya for a period of 90 days, and it suspended the refugee program for a period of 120 days for most refugees, but indefinitely for Syrian refugees. The administration drafted the order hastily, and without notice to the very agencies who would be asked to implement it. Because of this carelessness, the earliest legal decisions, and indeed even the Ninth Circuit decision that upheld a nationwide injunction on the travel ban, did not actually need to address the reliContinued on Page 4...
Continued on Page 3...
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.
PITTSBURGH, PA PERMIT NO. 458
PAID
THOMAS MERTON CENTER, 5129 PENN AVE. PITTSBURGH, PA 15224
April 2017
NEWPEOPLE - 1
NON-PROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE
TMC Projects
(TMC projects follow TMC guidelines and receive financial and ongoing resources and support from the Thomas Merton Center.)
Human Rights IS PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY THE THOMAS MERTON CENTER 5129 PENN AVENUE, PITTSBURGH, PA 15224
Thomas Merton Center
East End Community Thrift Store
Monday—Friday: 10 am to 4 pm
Tuesday—Friday: 10 am to 4 pm Saturday: Noon to 4 pm
Office Phone: 412-361-3022 — Fax: 412-361-0540 Website: www.thomasmertoncenter.org
The NewPeople Editorial Collective
TMC Staff, Volunteers & Interns
Executive Director: Antonio Lodico Finance Director / Project Liaison: Roslyn Maholland Director of Communications: Marni Fritz TMC Organizer/ Internship Coordinator: Gabriel McMorland Support Staff: Sr. Mary Clare Donnelly Activist & Office Volunteers: Raphael Cardamone, Christina Castillo, Monique Dietz, Nancy Gippert, Nijah Glenn, Lois Goldstein, Jordan Malloy, Joyce Rothermel, Judy Starr, Michael Telian New People Coordinator: Marni Fritz East End Community Thrift Store Managers: Shirley Gleditsch, Shawna Hammond, & Sr. Mary Clare Donnelly
Thomas Merton Center Interns: June Antley, Lucy Cheung, Krithika
Pennathur, Mollie March-Steinman, Monica Silny, Jacqueline Souza
Anti-War Committee awc@thomasmertoncenter.org
Cities for CEDAW
Pittsburgh Darfur Emergency Coalition jumphook@gmail.com; www.pittsburghdarfur.org
Fight for Lifers West fightforliferswest@gmail.com 412-607-1804 Fightforliferswest.org
School of the Americas Watch W. PA 412-271-8414 rothermeljoyce@gmail.com
Human Rights Coalition / Fed Up (prisoner support and advocacy) 412-802-8575, hrcfedup@gmail.com www.prisonerstories.blogspot.com
Environmental Justice Marcellus Shale Protest Group melpacker@aol.com 412-243-4545 marcellusprotest.org
Pittsburgh Campaign for Democracy NOW! 412-422-5377, sleator@cs.cmu.edu www.pcdn.org
Pittsburgh 350 350pittsburgh@gmail.com World.350.org/Pittsburgh
Pittsburghers for Public Transit 412-216-9659 info@pittsburghforpublictransit.org
Shalefield Stories (Friends of the Harmed) 412-422-0272 brigetshields@gmail.com
Steel Smiling info@steelsmilingpgh.org Www.steelsmilingpgh.org 412-251-7793
Westmoreland Marcellus Citizens Group 724-837-0540 lfpochet@verizon.net
Stop Sexual Assault in the Military 412-361-3022 hildebrew@aol.com
2017 TMC Board of Directors
Ed Brett, Rob Conroy (President), Neil Cosgrove, Bill Chrisner, Mark Dixon, Antonia Dominga, Michael Drohan, Patrick Fenton, Nijah Glenn, Wanda Guthrie, anupama jain, Ken Joseph, Anne Kuhn, Jonah McAllister-Erickson, Jim McCarville, Jordan Malloy, Joyce Rothermel, Molly Rush (co-founder), Tyrone Scales, M. Shernell Smith.
Economic Justice Harambee Ujima/Diversity Footprint Twitter @HomewoodNation
Western PA Student Organizing Network (WPSON) andrew.woomer@gmail.com
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.
TMC Affiliates
Pittsburgh Area Pax Christi 412-761-4319 Pittsburgh Cuba Coalition 412-303-1247 lisacubasi@aol.com
(Affiliates are independent partner organizations who support the nonviolent peace and justice mission of TMC. - Articles may not necessarily represent the views of Affiliates)
Pittsburgh BDS Coalition bdspittsburgh@gmail.com Pittsburgh North People for Peace 412-760-9390 info@pnpp.northpgh.org www.pnpp.northpgh.org
Abolitionist Law Center 412-654-9070 abolitionistlawcenter.org
We are mission driven volunteers who look to build love and community by serving others in times of need.
Amnesty International info@amnestypgh.org - www.amnestypgh.org Association of Pittsburgh Priests Sr. Barbara Finch 412-716-9750
www.associationofpittsburghpriests.com
Publish in The NewPeople
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 rothermeljoyce@gmail.com
Battle of Homestead Foundation
The New People is distributed each month to 3,000 people who belong to diverse organizations, businesses and groups. The deadline for all submissions is the 13th of the month for the following month’s issue. To Submit Articles, Photos, or Poems: Visit www.thomasmertoncenter.org/newpeople/submit. To Submit an Event to the TMC Calendar: Visit www.thomasmertoncenter.org/calendar/submit-event To Advertise: Visit www.thomasmertoncenter.org/newpeople/ad Advertising prices range from $15 for a business card size to $250 for a full page. There is a 10% discount when purchasing 6 months of ad space at a time, and a 20% discount when purchasing a year of ad space at a time. An additional 10% discount is available for non-profit organizations and faith-based groups. For more information: Call 412-361-3022 or email newpeople@thomasmertoncenter.org.
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
Page 1
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
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
Table of Contents
Complex Human Rights Are Undonditional
TMC is a Member of Pennsylvania Interfaith Impact Network 412-621-9230 office@piin.org Pennsylvanians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty Martha Conley 412-361-7872, osterdm@earthlink.net TMC supports these organizations’ missions.
Page 12 April 15th Tax March in Pgh Drives 500 Supporters March for Science Brings Out Thousands Worldwide
Page 8
Page 3 TMC Statement on Bombing in Syria TMC Calls on Allegheny County Dems to Op pose Anti-Immigrant Legislation Redwoods Struggle Cont’d
Anti-War/Anti-Imperialism
Greater Pittsburgh Interfaith Coalition Anne Wirth 412-716-9750
Neil Cosgrove, Michael Drohan, Russ Fedorka, Marni Fritz, Nijah Glenn, Fatema Juma, Bette McDevitt, Mollie March-Steinman, Krithika Pennathur, Calvin Pollack, Joyce Rothermel, Molly Rush, Mike Schneider, Jacqueline Souza, Jo Tavener, Nina Young
Redwood’s Struggle Against Systemic Oppression Travel Ban II Still Discriminates
Book‘Em: Books to Prisoners Project bookempgh@gmail.com www.bookempgh.org
Trump Budget and Tax Proposals: A Disaster in the Making Food Security Safety Net in Jeopardy; You Can Help
Page 13 First Nations Condemn High-Level Liquid Waste Shipments Wimakaheya for Standing Rock (poem) Breaking the Cuban Embargo for the Past 25 Years
Page 9
Page 4
Local Results for Bad Budgets: How New Budget Proposals Could Effect Social Services Locally
Travel Ban II Cont’d Reconciliation (poem) Page 5
Page 14 Duquesne Administration Continues to Defy NLRB and Catholic Social Teaching Can Random Checks Exist Without Racial Profiling?
Page 10
Implicit Bias and Microaggressions Culture Watch: Musings on Intersectionality Politics and Culture
Page 11
Propose Military Budget for 2018: $600 Billion Waste? WILPF US Nuclear-Free Future Tour Coming to Pgh
Page 6
Page 7 Incentivizing Racism: US Prison-Industrial 2 - NEWPEOPLE April 2017
On Not Killing The Greatest Purveyor of Violence in the World
TMC Celebrates 45 Years (photos) The Supreme Court Remains Stable, Unlike the Senate and Presidency Page 15 An Intimate Portrait of Dorothy Day by Her Granddaughter Following the Heart
Merton Center News TMC Statement on TMC Calling on Allegheny County Dems to Oppose Antithe Bombing of Immigrant Legislation Syria
By Gabriel McMorland
On the night of Thursday, April 13th, the United States bombed an airbase in Syria with 59 Tomahawk missiles, and stated it was retaliation for Syria using the nerve agent Sarin on its own civilians. The Thomas Merton Center condemns this violence, the violence that surrounds it, and the violence that led up to this point, all the way back to imperialist actions at the root of this crisis; actions that predate the current nation of Syria. We also condemn voices around us attempting to goad our country into an all out war. This includes the current President of the United States. Violence begets more violence, murder leads to more murder. Our bombing was not just, not wise, and not done with the best interests of the people of Syria or the US in mind or heart. The way to stop this vicious cycle is for the US to stop. We urge the President of the United States to publicly cease all military action, beginning with the removal of US troops from Syria and a unilateral commitment to not use further military force in Syria. In peace and justice, Antonio Lodico Executive Director Thomas Merton Center
Redwood's Struggle Against Systemic Oppression Cont’d By Carl Redwood, with Neil Cosgrove
elimination. The struggle for affordable low income housing and against the forced displacement of families is just one front of the struggle. Whether in the Hill District, the city of Pittsburgh, the U.S., or the world, we must fight on all fronts against all forms of oppression. Our many fronts of struggle should come together as a common attack against the capitalist system as a racist system of class exploitation, national oppression, patriarchy, and imperialism. Another World is Possible! Another U.S. is Necessary! NewPeople Must Make It Happen! Carl Redwood is chair of the Hill District Consensus Group in Pittsburgh. Neil Cosgrove is a member of the editorial collective and the Merton Center Board.
After weeks of pressure from constituents, Dom Costa. DeLuca came outside to speak to the including two rallies outside his office and phone delegation, where he agreed to oppose SB10 but calls from hundreds of voters in his district, would not agree to revoke his sponsorship of HB Pennsylvania State Representative Dom Costa 459. DeLuca claims he sponsored HB 459 to proissued a public statement opposing SB10, protect workers from exploitation, but immigrant posed anti-immigrant legislation that would rerights groups say it will harm both immigrant quire local law enforcement to assist in the deten- workers and US-born workers. tion and deportation of immigrants. Costa’s stateIn a 2006 open letter titled, “DeLuca dement specifically refers to the current version of nounces Fox Chapel Golf Club hiring of immithe bill and leaves open the possibility that furgrants,” DeLuca referred to the hiring of tempother amendments could change his posirary foreign workers through the H-1 visa protion. Immigrant rights groups across the state say gram as “robbing our college students and resiSB10 is only intended to attack immigrant com- dents of jobs.” munities and there could never be a good version “I live in Penn Hills, and Mr. Deluca’s ofof this bill. fice has helped my family in the past. I came toIn 2016, Representative Costa cosponday because I want Mr. Deluca to stand up for sored and voted for HB 1885, a similar bill that what’s right by voting against the anti-immigrant failed to pass. Immigrant rights groups continue legislation currently under consideration in Harto call on the entire Allegheny County delegation risburg, including SB10, HB14, and HB 459, to publicly oppose SB10, HB14, HB 459, and which Mr. Deluca is instead co-sponsoring. other anti-immigrant legislation in Pennsylvania. These bills scapegoat immigrants. They will not Costa’s constituents are petitioning him solve the problems of Pennsylvania—they will to remove his co-sponsorship of HB 459, another only increase racial profiling and deportations, anti-immigrant bill targeting workplaces. HB 459 separating families in our community as well as will push more immigrant workers into dangeracross the state. ous working conditions and lead to increased “Please, Mr. Deluca, it’s time to stand up wage theft by employers. The bill threatens em- against hate and especially to drop your sponsorployers with fines and loss of their business liship of HB 459, a bill that will only encourage cense if they hire an undocumented worker, discrimination by, employers and which does not which will likely lead to increased workplace help workers in any substantive way,” said Liz discrimination and drive down wages and job Sutor, a DeLuca constituent. safety for all workers in the state. Pastor Ken Love, constituent, said “We need every legislator from Alle“Representative DeLuca claims he wants HB 459 gheny County to be very clear about which side to protect immigrant workers from exploitation, they’re on. Do they support the civil rights of all but this bill will hurt all workers and help noimmigrants in PA, or will they choose to exploit body. If he wants to help out workers, he could racism and xenophobia for cheap political points? focus on wage theft, workplace safety, and raisThese bills don’t help anybody, but they will hurt ing the minimum wage. I hope he will withdraw real people in our communities.” said Hannah this dangerous bill and work with leaders from Gerbe, a Costa constituent. the immigrant community to draft legislation that “Neighbors worked together to deactually helps workers in Pennsylvania.” mand that Dom Costa serve the real values of our Call your Representatives to tell them to community. We helped educate him on the issues vote against anti-immigrant legislation and urge and showed him that constituents expect him to them to make a public statement condemning do the right thing. I expect we’ll see similar acsuch legislation. tions in the districts of other reps with antiimmigrant records, such as Joe Markosek, Tony Gabriel McMorland is the organizer and internDeluca, Harry Readshaw, and Bill Kortz,” Gerbe ship coordinator for the Thomas Merton Center. added. “Costa only said he’s opposed to the current version of SB10 and further amendments might change his position, but there is no good version of this bill. It helps nobody, and its only goal is to score points with people Rep Dom Costa…….. (412) 361-2040 supporting a radical anti-immigrant agenda.” Rep Tony DeLuca….. (412) 793-2448 On April 13th, a delegation of con- Rep Joe Markosek…. (412) 856-8284 stituents and immigrant rights activists visited Rep Harry Readshaw…. (412) 881-4208 Representative Tony DeLuca’s Penn Hills of- Rep Bill Kortz………. (412) 886-2870 fice to ask him to publicly oppose antiimmigrant legislation in Pennsylvania, including HB 459, which he co-sponsors with Rep
Call Your Representatives TODAY!
Become A Member Today! Subscribe to The NewPeople by becoming a member of the Thomas Merton Center today! As a member, The NewPeople newspaper will be mailed to your home or sent to your email account. You will also receive weekly e-blasts focusing on peace and justice events in Pittsburgh, and special invitations to membership activities. Now is the time to stand for peace and justice!
Join online at www.thomasmertoncenter.org/ join-donate or fill out this form, cut out, and mail in. Select your membership level:
____$15 ____$15
Low Income Membership Youth / Student Membership
____$25 Introductory / Lapsed Membership ____$50 Individual Membership ____$100 Family Membership ____$500+ Cornerstone Sustainer Membership ____Donation $____________________________ ____ Monthly Donation– Become a TMC Peacemaker $____________________________ Or Become an Organizational Member:
____$75 Organization (below 25 members) ____$125 Organization (above 25 members)
____ I would like to receive the weekly activist Eblast _____ I would like to receive The NewPeople newspaper mailed to my house
Please complete and return to TMC. Thank you! Name(s):__________________________________ Organization (if any): ________________________________ Address:___________________________________
______________________________________
City:_________________ State:______ Zip Code:________ Home Phone:____________________________ Cell Phone: ______________________________ Email:__________________________________
Mail to TMC, 5129 Penn Ave. Pgh. PA 15224
Call (412) 361-3022 for more information.
April 2017
NEWPEOPLE - 3
Seeing the Individual Travel Ban II Still Discriminates Cont’d By Haider Ali Hamoudi
gious discrimination that the ban obviously intended. While the Ninth Circuit did express concerns about religious discrimination, it was easier and more straightforward for it to rely instead on the constitutional requirement of what is known as “due process.” The lack of notice, the idea that the ban covered travelers en route, and the fact that it encompassed permanent residents of the United States, who have long been deemed to have some constitutional protection, made due process a much easier ground to stay the order. When the Trump administration revised its order, however, the problem of religious discrimination became much more central legally. This is because the revised ban did include notice, excluded current visa holders as well as legal permanent residents, and removed language in the first order that suggested that Christian refugees would be given preference over Muslim refugees when the program resumed. (It also removed Iraq from the banned countries list.) Two separate Federal District Courts, one in Maryland and one in Hawaii, have ruled against the Trump administration on this matter, holding that the executive order is indeed a form of
Muslim ban. The Trump Administration has appealed, and the Ninth Circuit will review the Hawaii order this month. In issuing injunctions against the ban, the courts have made two important points that emphasize some of its pernicious effects. The first of them is that the ban’s discriminatory intent is obvious because of repeated statements made by members of the Trump administration, including the President himself, denigrating Islam and expressing an intent to ban Muslims from entry. The second point is that the mere fact that one does not discriminate against every single member of a group does not mean that one is not engaged in discrimination against that group. Imagine, for example, a large corporate conglomerate with tens of thousands of workers that decided to lay off 15% of its work force, where the vast majority of the discharged employees happen to be women. It would be extremely odd to suggest that this conglomerate was not engaged in an act of discrimination just because other women continued to be employed by it in some capacity. These wise arguments from our federal courts draw attention to the dangers that continue to lurk,
should the ban be reinstituted. Quite obviously, it is a stain on America’s moral conscience to deny admission to so many refugees and citizens of foreign states on the misguided assumption that they all pose such a pervasive national security threat that none of them can be safely vetted. In addition, the ban is a legitimization of discrimination against Muslims already in the United States. The fact that it does not take direct action against them is not the point. This ban is the product of a litany of statements issued by the President and his closest allies denigrating an entire religion and its adherents. Furthermore, it is designed to target Muslims. If this form of discrimination is permitted by our courts to stand, then the dangers to the Muslim community are legitimized and can only proliferate. When added to the spike in hate crimes directed against Muslims and those perceived to be Muslim, and the rising Islamophobia across the Western world, this executive order is cause for extreme concern for defenders of equality everywhere. Haider Ali Hamoudi is a Professor of Law at the University of Pittsburgh where he is the Associate Dean of Research and Faculty Development.
TMC Calling on Allegheny County Dems to Oppose Reconciliation Anti-Immigrant Legislation By Krithika Pennathur
My voice is hindered when you tell me that i am not Enough because of my identity. -these thoughts below are my way of reconciling with myself-
~ what is asian? what does it mean to be asian? why is my identity politicized? Asian is so vague when you think about it it encompasses many countries many countries i am not familiar with their cultures or customs because when i go back to the motherland we, all of the asian countries, are not considered as a Whole Entity. Asian Strips Away The entire diversity of our identities or so it seems.
why am i broken when people tell me i am not asian enough when i have a complicated political, radical, way of thinking about the term.
they tell me i must be in medical field or engineer that is the way to go ~ After all i love math and science ~ i begin to rethink as i go on in college. i begin to fall in love with the way the words sound rather than the joys when i solve a derivative i begin to fall in love with learning about the human connection through books and i hope to see a representation of myself in a character one day i read and write. they don’t quite understand my value is more than meeting the stereotypes
I am first Asian, lumped in a group, rather than Indian. We as a group aren’t solidified so how can i hold and Cherish this label on me
~
There are some people who tell me i am not asian because my origins are not from east asia yet when i fill out the identifier form that is the only identifier that fits me the only identifier the US will recognize me as. 4 - NEWPEOPLE
~
April 2017
i go through my days trying to meet this ideal of being Asian that i can’t quite meet because of The internal battles Justifying Myself And my identity Krithika Pennathur is a sophomore English Writing (nonfiction track) and History major pursuing minors in Chemistry and Statistics and certificates in Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies & Public and Professional Writing at the University of Pittsburgh.
Opposing Misguided Policies Duquesne Administration Continues to Defy NLRB and Catholic Social Teaching By Neil Cosgrove
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has, once again, ruled against the Duquesne University administration, telling it to cease nearly five years of stonewalling and begin collective bargaining with its adjunct faculty. Predictably, Duquesne’s President Ken Gormley has rejected the NLRB’s ruling and plans to challenge it in court. Perhaps confident that their adjunct faculty would reject unionization, Duquesne’s administration did not seek to prevent a NLRB sanctioned organizing vote in 2012, but when those faculty did overwhelmingly choose to form a union, the university administration (then under President Charles Dougherty) quickly changed course and began the “legal maneuvering,” as United Steel Workers (USW) President Leo Gerard puts it, that has lasted to this day. Duquesne’s administration has offered up specific arguments for their position, none of which are very convincing when held up to close scrutiny. President Gormley insists that Duquesne, as a “faith-based” university, is exempt via judicial precedent from NLRB jurisdiction. However, the USW, with which the adjunct faculty union is affiliated, points out that the school’s original position was that the NLRB was the best sanctioning body for the unionizing vote. And the NLRB itself observes that, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,“it first asserted jurisdiction over Duquesne in 1982 and that the school did not challenge the agency with regard to other unions on campus.” In addition, the union has frequently offered to bargain outside the NLRB framework. Duquesne’s administration has consistently rejected such offers. Robin Sowards, a USW organizer and researcher, says the administration most recently told the faculty “they would not engage in any kind of bargaining whatsoever with the part-time faculty until the jurisdictional question is resolved in their favor.” The judicial precedent to which Gormley refers,
most specifically, is a narrow 1979 Supreme Court ruling that exempted teachers in “parochial schools” from coverage by the 1935 National Labor Relations Act. But the Catholic periodical A merica has challenged the conclusion that Catholic universities are “parochial” because their mission is to “permit a level of free inquiry not suitable to elementary or secondary education.” Moreover, there are many instances in which American parish and diocesan schools have chosen to bargain with faculty unions outside NLRB jurisdiction, including the Pittsburgh Diocese, currently operating under a five-year contract with lay teachers in eight high schools. More broadly, President Gormley, and President Dougherty before him, have claimed Duquesne’s “Catholic mission in the Spiritan tradition” would be threatened by collective bargaining with its part-time and temporary faculty. These arguments are very similar to those made by administrations for two Jesuit institutions, Seattle University and St. Xavier University in Chicago, when they also challenged NLRB rulings. And the NLRB has dealt with these challenges in similar ways. In August, 2016 the Board ruled the Seattle and St. Xavier administrations must accept the organizing votes of their adjunct faculty, while theology, religious studies and ministry faculty “should be excluded from union eligibility.” In April 2017 the NLRB told Duquesne’s administrators they could exclude theology instructors from the adjunct faculty with whom they must bargain. As for Duquesne’s supposedly threatened spiritual beliefs, American bishops pointed emphatically to the church’s social teaching in their 1986 pastoral letter entitled “Economic Justice for All.” “All church institutions,” wrote the bishops, “must fully recognize the rights of employees to organize and bargain collectively with the institution through whatever association or organization they freely choose.” Sowards wonders why Duquesne’s admin-
istration cannot agree with those administrations of Catholic universities that “have voluntarily recognized their part-time faculty’s union, including Georgetown, Dominican, and Trinity Washington universities, St. Mary’s, St. Francis, and St. Michael’s colleges, and the University of San Francisco.” Last October Seattle President Stephen Sundborg refused, like Gormley, to bargain with the adjuncts’ union, saying it was a matter of religious freedom and that the case could go to the Supreme Court. Will Gormley join forces with Sundborg in their appeals to the court? According to Dahlia Lithwick in Slate, the Supreme Court appeared to say in the Hobby Lobby case that “what believers assert about their faith must not be questioned or even assessed. Religious dissenters who seek to be exempted from neutral and generally applicable laws are given the benefit of the doubt, even when others are harmed.” The question confronting judges in the Seattle University and Duquesne University cases vs. the NLRB will involve which faith assertions should be most privileged, those of a couple of union-resistant university administrations or that of the American Catholic bishops speaking in concert, of numerous other Catholic universities, and of Catholic bishops and school administrators who have freely bargained with unionized teachers. One wonders what can turn around the Duquesne administration on this issue. Will it be alumni who decide to stop writing the university checks? Or students who choose to attend other, more enlightened institutions? Or other unions, along with social justice organizations, that demonstrate ongoing and vociferous solidarity with the adjunct faculty members at Duquesne?
Neil Cosgrove is a member of the NewPeople editorial collective and is a member of the TMC board.
Can Random Checks Exist Without Racial Profiling? By Marni Fritz
On Friday, March 31st, activists and community members attended the Port Authority board meeting to address their concerns regarding the new Proof of Payment on the T policy. This policy will be put in action starting July 1st and would require riders pay their fare in advance rather than when they enter and exit the T. Armed port authority police will do random checks on the T to see if riders have paid their fare in advance. If a person hasn’t paid, their name with be run through criminal records to check for outstanding warrants. According to Board Chairman Bob Hurley in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, if there are no outstanding warrants, “they will be issued a citation, which calls for a maximum fine of $300 for a first offense and could involve up to 30 days in jail for repeat offenders, both at the discretion of a district judge,” thus criminalizing fare evasion on the T. Molly Nichols of Pittsburghers for Public Transit stated that “we’ve been concerned about a lack of transparent processes for developing the policy itself… We know these systems are on the rise across the country but we have heard in other cities of instances of racial profiling and questions about the relationship between fare inspectors and Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE)... We understand that riders have to know there are consequences to not paying fare but should that [mean] being brought into the criminal justice system or going to jail?” It is possible for these issues to be addressed, but Nichols is concerned that a threemonth implementation plan is too fast to consider such concerns and get feedback from the community. In a statement to the Pittsburgh Port Authority Board, Monica Ruiz of Casa San Jose shared her concerns regarding the new policy: “You will be using armed police officers to patrol public transit
during people’s daily commute. This is not an appropriate way to collect bus fares and it is hard to believe it will not increase racial profiling. The Port Authority has a history of acting without accountability. These upcoming plans make it even more urgent for the Port Authority to develop policies that protect the civil rights of its residents and that includes immigrants. I work with the undocumented community and these people are being victimized by agencies every day and I do not want the Port Authority to be another one.” Ruiz brings up the important consideration of racial profiling. According to an article in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, the Pittsburgh Port Authority said it “did not intend to use racial profiling or other methods to identify [undocumented] immigrants.” Implicit bias exists and can manifest in the form of racial profiling whether that was the intent the individual law enforcer or not. If the Pittsburgh Port Authority’s intentions are true, what policies will be put in place to take an active stance against racial profiling? Christina Castillo of the Thomas Merton Center echoed Ruiz’s concerns: “We the public are worried about the role of police departments and ICE policing and likely profiling riders on the T and we are here to acknowledge that this will be harmful for people of color and immigrants and specifically undocumented immigrants if the Port Authority and ICE work hand-in-hand. We would like people to ride public transit without fear of deportation. We want to make sure Port Authority police do not collaborate with ICE in any way.” Proof of Pay systems have been shown to make transit more efficient, but have also served as a mechanism for discrimination in places such as Los Angeles. An effective Proof of Pay model to look consider is San Francisco’s. In July of 2012, the San
Francisco Municipal Transit Agency (SFMTA) implemented their All-Door Boarding policy systemwide. This policy was the first of its kind nationwide and led to shorter stops, faster trips and a decrease in fare evasion, according to the SFMTA Evaluation Report. Penalties for fare evasion are strictly administrative, rather than criminalization. “In San Francisco, their ultimate goal is increasing ridership and making the system run more smoothly. They have un-armed fare inspectors who check for fare evasion. If someone has failed to pay, they escort them off the bus or train and show them how to pay their fare. Or they may issue a ticket. If this ticket is not paid, a third-party vendor is assigned to collect the debt. The processing overall mirrors that of parking violations. No one ends up in jail for not paying a transit fare,” said Nichols to the Pittsburgh Port Authority Board. “The SFMTA system has shown many benefits, including: reducing the burden on the criminal court system, more convenient and flexible payment and protest options. In addition, the revenue is retained by the issuing agency. Their policy also does not allow fare inspectors to share the names or addresses of those who received tickets with any other agency, including ICE. And the fare inspectors are trained in de-escalation to avoid unneeded conflict with riders.“ To see Pittsburghers for Public Transit’s demands and to stay updated on the situation visit pittsburghersforpublictransit.org. To voice your concerns to the Pittsburgh Port Authority, please call 412-442-2000. Marni Fritz is the NewPeople Coordinator and is passionate about racial justice issues.
April 2017
NEWPEOPLE - 5
The Complexities of Oppression Implicit Bias and Microaggressions Perception and Deception. These are the words I would use to describe the ways in which we, as a society, think about identity. Specifically, the ways in which we think about other identities. It is said that the human brain tends to naturally categorize and label, because we are trying to make sense of the world in our heads. As a culture, we are taught to notice the differences more quickly than the similarities between one another. And that creates a culture where pervasive judgment can exist. It’s hard to fully understand someone else’s experiences. Especially if you are indoctrinated by the idea that there is a clear difference between the both of you. Try NOT even attempting to do this
and then making comments about the other because they are different than you. You immediately start to implement a bias upon a particular person, maybe even a particular race, gender, and sexual orientation. We all start out with implicit biases. And this is greatly due to the way the world is presented to us. For example, if one grew up in a world where homophobia was persuasive, you may tend to categorize the lgbtq+ community as an other and think negatively against them. If people are flooded with media images that portray a certain kind of ethnicity in a stereotypical way, they may start to subconsciously believe that stereotype. Yes, we all start out with implicit biases. But it is up to us to inherently correct them. It is important for us to realize that not all black males are criminals, even though media suggests otherwise. It is important to realize that not all Latinx people have strong, thick accents and are only cleaning ladies. It is important to realize that not all Asians are scrawny nerds. It is important to reject these media images and to check ourselves. Why is this important? Because implicit biases lead to the formation of miParticipants in the April 4th Rally for Economic and Racial Equality proceed up croaggressions. Centre Avenue from Freedom Corner in Pittsburgh's Hill District while listening to Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Riverside Church" speech. April 4th marked the 50th an- The exact definition niversary of that speech and the 49th anniversary of King's assassination. Photo of a microaggression
By Krithika Pennathur
is a statement, action, or incident that is purposely directed towards a particular minority identity. In other words, a microaggression is an indirect, subtle form of discrimination. An example of an obvious microaggression is asking a woman, in a predominantly male office, if she is here to be a cleaning lady, or asking an Indian woman if she speaks “Indian” and wears “the dot” on her head. But microaggressions can also come in the form of asking the only Indian person in a room about yoga, asking a Muslim person about ISIS, or asking a black person whether they know Tamir Rice (or any other black victims of police brutality). With microaggressions, not only are you solely equating a particular person with their racial and gender identity, you are reducing them to it. You are making that person a “resident information giver” on particular topics relating to their identities. Implicit bias and microaggressions have always been important, but I feel that they are even more important now in this day and age. Discrimination is switching to more subtle forms, as opposed to expressing outward hatred, especially in professional settings. It is important to be aware of microaggressions, but also the implicit biases that cause them. Unfortunately, there is not one particular answer that will fix this. However, introspective reasoning, starting a conversation with ourselves and critically analyzing our surroundings is an impactful start. Krithika Pennathur is a sophomore English Writing (nonfiction track) and History major pursuing minors in Chemistry and Statistics and certificates in Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies & Public and Professional Writing at the University of Pittsburgh.
by Neil Cosgrove
CULTURE WATCH: Musing on Intersectionality, Politics and Culture By Jo Tavener
Kimberlé Crenshaw is professor of law at UCLA and Columbia Law School; she is also a pioneer in critical race theory. In her 2016 TED Talk, Professor Crenshaw defines the term, intersectionality, as indicating the complexity of oppression that goes unmarked in our society. She explains it in conceptual terms as undoing the framing barriers that make it difficult for courts to acknowledge the combined oppressions of racism and sexism that black women experience on the job on a daily basis. Unrecognized, their legal complaints go unanswered. The silenced voices of black women reaches far into the culture. The inability of all but four in her TED Talk audience to name the black women, whose pictures she provided with the same ease they named the black men killed by the police proves her point. It is the unacknowledged overlapping or intersectionality of race, class and gender, as experienced by black women, that causes their oppression and subsequent suffering to remain nameless. The very culture that frames so many struggles in terms of identity politics often has difficulty acknowledging intersectionality when it comes to activism -- each group separate from the other even though, in large part, those who work against sexism also claim to stand against racism. As separate groups with specific agendas and goals, it is easy to see how they might work parallel paths without crossing over and acknowledging mutual and common concerns. We saw the same lacunae occurring during the 2016 Presidential election. The surprisingly strong showing for Trump in the Rust Belt, where unions were once strong and workers voted the straight Democratic ticket, caught the party by surprise. Attempting a coalition of various identity groups on the rise -- women, Latinxs, LGBTQ people, millennials and progressives together with media, tech and financial elites -- the New Democrats 6 - NEWPEOPLE April 2017
(as they call themselves) thought they could abandon their traditional base, the industrial working class, and still win the election. What I couldn’t understand at the time was how one could hope to win without fiercely fighting for the working class and its issues, its unions, and against the gr ave economic inequality that has hollowed out our lives. How could one possibly be for women and neglect economic concerns? Seventy percent of the population makes less that $50,000 and women in this group make a half to a third of what white men make; their prospects for advancement are slim to none. The same applies for female college professors. If you come in at $40,000, you won’t make much more after years of service unless you become a star. Then there are the college students, both black and white, male and female. The mantra that higher education provides higher incomes is a joke when seen in the context of college indebtedness that turns students into indentured servants. Sanders got Clinton to climb on board progressive policy initiatives that all but died once she became the party candidate. It was easier to name what the party was against. How could it name what it was for without campaigning for income redistribution? The intersectionality of gender, race and class must be addressed if we are to speak to the realities of the everyday life of the bottom 70%. Sounds strange, doesn’t it? We are the economic majority and yet we are treated separately and often see ourselves as minorities with discreet concerns. What is so powerful about the concept of intersectionality is that it enables us to identify and understand our particular differences, yet come together around our mutual concerns and our common identities to grasp our collective power. I’ve left out one group from this discussion. Can anyone guess which one? It is so omni-
present, yet so distorted by our consumer culture that turns genes into property and our stages of life into an array of consumer products. Botox anyone? I’m talking about growing old, being mortal, living for 20 to 35 years (even more) as senior citizens. We even have a name to identify us, to turn us into a demographic, a media buy. There are hosts of products to make our slow but steady decline more bearable: health products, food products, medicines, exercise machines and gyms. The intersectionality here is between age and class, with even greater indignities when sexism and racism are added to the line-up. I can attest to the experience of being thrown away once one reaches a certain age. Consumer culture is organized for obsolescence. Is it so difficult to acknowledge that it throws away people as well? What happens to workers who can’t work anymore? Where are the pensions? Where are the cultural forms and social organization necessary to sustain the meaning of life for those no longer valued as workers? Many turn to loved ones but problems there abound because the family is working or absent. To uncover what is going on around us, we need the framing of intersectionality to reveal the complex overlappings where age is concerned. The aging process is not just a medical sequence of events. It is a cultural phenomenon of overlapping assumptions, biases and fantasies affecting us all. Intersectionality could help us arrive at an understanding of what we are up against, providing the necessary insight to possibly alleviate the suffering, isolation and depression that so often accompanies the last cycle of life. Jo Tavener is a member of the NewPeople Collective. A retired assistant professor of media and cultural studies, she is teaching a course on the experience of aging at Pitt Osher this summer.
The Prison Industrial Complex Blues Incentivizing Racism: U.S. Prison-Industrial Complex By Jacqueline Souza
Before the 2017 Academy Awards, I watched a number of the documentaries that had been nominated for my favorite category, Best Documentary. One of those films, 13th, particularly struck me, and left a lasting impression. It’s been months since the first time I watched it, and I still think about the film’s implications regularly. The creators of 13th outlined the chronology of black oppression within the U.S.--slavery, Jim Crow, Nixon’s famous creation and propagation of the “War on Drugs,” and Bill Clinton’s legislative push for mass incarceration all paved the way towards the legalized slavery we see in our federal prisons today. It’s easy to look at the numbers and see that Black Americans are disproportionately affected by the prison industrial complex---in 2015, the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics reported that there were approximately 2,220,300 incarcerated individuals in the country and Black men account for nearly forty percent of that number while African-Americans only represent just over twelve percent of the U.S. population. This is the most obvious evidence of the injustice which is perpetuated by our prison system, but what are the other implications and consequences of this oppression? It’s important to emphasize the various incentive structures of the U.S. prison conglomerate. Privately-owned prisons, which account for nearly ten percent of all U.S. prisons, must legally maintain at least ninety-percent occupancy at all times, even if crime rates in an area are decreasing. Mandatory
sentencing accompanies the most common criminalized offenses, like trivial drug charges, so that regardless of the individualized context of someone’s arrest, that arrested person is required to spend a certain minimum number of years in prison; Black Americans are more likely than white people to be affected by these sentences, as they are incarcerated at disproportionate rates. Localized drug task forces receive more federal funding if they report an increase in arrests, which creates problematic incentives for officers to make more arrests for small drug offenses. Major corporations are able to exploit incarcerated individuals, as they profit from the prison complex; U.S. prison labor laws allow for little to no compensation for the individuals working behind bars. Within the U.S. criminal justice system, which is inherently related to the prison-industrial complex, a Black American is more likely to serve a longer sentence than a white person for the same exact crime. The NAACP reports that Black people are six times more likely than white people to be incarcerated, and despite accounting for twelve percent of the overall U.S. population, they account for nearly a third of all formal arrests made by police. Statistically, we see the ways in which racism has defined our federal prison system. How can we say that our criminal justice and prison systems are just and fair when it is blaringly obvious that they are not? Major players in these institutions literally profit off of the oppression that is perpetuated by the
Human Rights Are Unconditional In addition to being a racist system that intentionally targets people of color through “brokenwindows policing”, stop-and-frisk policies, and racial profiling, the prison industrial complex is also a highly calculated, profit-maximizing capitalist system. Despite conservative rhetoric about reducing crime or limiting undocumented immigration, underlying policies do exactly the opposite, providing profit incentives to keep prisons and detention centers full. Though national crime rates were at an all time low in 2016, many incarceration facilities have occupancy requirements as high as 80-100%. Keeping prisons at high capacity means having more crime on the streets, requiring longer sentences for nonviolent offenses, and high recidivism rates due to inadequate preparation for reentry into society. For every year an individual is imprisoned or detained in a private institution, the corporation managing the facility makes thousands of dollars. This is because state taxes must pay the private prison for each “bed”, or available spot in the facility, whether it is in use or not. States sign contracts with private prisons that can last as long as twenty years, and are contractually obligated to pay heavy fines if the prison population is below the occupancy requirement. CoreCivic (previously Corrections Corporation of America) and GEO Group are two of the major entities profiting from mass incarceration. They lobby politicians to pass anti-immigrant, racist, and propolice policies. As noted in the film 13th, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) writes most of this harmful legislation, but CoreCivic and GEO Group are the primary organizations lobbying for it to pass. According to a 2016 Huffington Post article, GEO Group helped fund the SuperPACs of Republican candidates during the 2016 primaries, including Trump’s. It is not a coincidence that CoreCivic and GEO Group saw their stocks skyrocket after Trump’s election, or that CoreCivic subsequently donated $250,000 towards the inauguration, according to Bloomberg Markets. Private prison companies, like the ones mentioned above, also have federal contracts to manage detention centers. The criminalization of undocumented people was a strategic decision to ensure that for-profit detention centers remain at maximum capacity, similar to how the War on Drugs filled prisons with Black people. Though this may not be the stated intention of policymakers, it is important to understand that our prisons and detention centers are filled with low-income people of color, not the affluent Wall Street bankers who caused the 2008 reces-
racism that exists within these organizations. As white people, we appeal to stereotypes about Black fatherhood without acknowledging the fact that one in four Black men is incarcerated. We criticize the “Black Lives Matter” movement without recognizing its unwavering verity; in our history, Black lives have never been as valued as those of white men, or of white women. But we continue to argue that they do, as we murder Black children, shame Black mothers, lock up Black fathers and then justify the systemic injustice. We say racism has ended because slavery is over, when it’s only been legalized, manifested and exemplified in prisons across the country through mandatory sentencing, the school-to-prison pipeline, prison labor, and the criminalization of petty drug offenses. We make many mistakes when we talk about crime and race. We use stereotypes and inaccurate statistics to justify the disproportionate incarceration of people of color. Instead of focusing on improving our criminal justice system and minimizing the pervasiveness of the federal prison complex, we are quick to defend our corrupt institutions without digging deep into the discrimination that allows them operate on such a grandiose scale. When will we start looking more closely? Jacqueline Souza is an intern for New People and also studies sociology and journalism at the University of Pittsburgh. She is interested in racial justice, social movements, and U.S. politics.
By Mollie March-Steinman
sion.
Dan Baum, in a 2016 Harper’s article, recalls Nixon advisor John Ehrlichman telling him in 1994 that the “War on Drugs” was intended to vilify and criminalize the anti-war Left and Black Civil Rights activists. As described by CNN (LoBianco, 2016), Ehrlichman said, "We knew we couldn't make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities….We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did." The criminalization of Black people for nonviolent drug offenses directly resulted in racist, for-profit mass incarceration. In addition, U.S. foreign policy destabilizes vulnerable regions, which creates more undocumented refugees and immigrants. Our intense vetting process prevents most refugees from entering our country with required documentation. When desperate individuals enter undocumented, or overstay their visas, they are vulnerable to detention and deportation. Refugees are also more susceptible to pay gaps, wage theft, and poor living conditions. These factors, combined with a greater police presence in lowincome areas, make these communities more likely to be targeted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). In 2016, ICE reported that three-quarters of detained immigrants are held in for-profit facilities. According to the ACLU, 7% and 18% of prisoners were held in private state and federal prisons, respectively, in 2015. The New York Times noted in 2013 that the annual cost of housing each inmate at Riker’s Island was $167,000. As inmates have to suffer terrible conditions, violence, sexual assault,
and inadequate nutrition (Mother Jones, 2013), it is obvious that the $167,000 per inmate is largely used for profit, not for the rehabilitation and care of inmates. Private prisons and detention centers maximize their profits in numerous ways. Prisoners and detained immigrants are forced to labor for free or next -to-nothing; if they strike, they are punished with solitary confinement. The comparison of mass incarceration to modern-day slavery is not an exaggeration. Despite the magnitude of these injustices, it is our responsibility to end mass incarceration. We must continue to insist, every day, that the school-toprison pipeline is destroyed, racist policing is abolished, and that capitalism’s violence will not stand. We must protect our immigrant neighbors from ICE banging on their doors like the Gestapo to break up their families. We must support incarcerated individuals’ efforts to resist violations of their human rights. Humans are not commodities, and the fight to affirm that reality did not end with the Civil War or 13th Amendment. Mollie March-Steinman is currently self-designing an Economic Justice major at Chatham University. She is passionate about promoting peace and justice for all. Mollie is an intern with the NewPeople Editorial Collective. April 2017 NEWPEOPLE - 7
Federal Budget Follies Trump Budget and Tax Proposals: a Disaster in the Making By Molly Rush
Up to now, little attention has been paid to President Trump’s proposed budget and its impact on most Americans. And that’s no accident. Trump’s has a genius for deflecting media attention, with Twitter, constant revelations about everything from the Russian interference in the election, to responses to international crises, and inner turmoil in his administration. So the plans for huge budget cuts in programs that support the common good have been under the radar. Here is a snapshot of these planned cuts.
range of domestic priorities by $17 billion this year and in 2018 by $54 billion. In other words, the $54 billion increase in the military budget would be paid for by those most in need of support. Other cuts include, for instance, Neighborhood Legal Services and food programs, including Meals on Wheels.
Proposed cuts to Agencies and Departments Environmental Protection Agency 31% State Department 29% Agriculture Department 21% Block Grants Labor Department 21% Since 2000, overall funding for low- and mod- Health & Human Services Department 18% erate-income people has shrunk 37%, accounting for Commerce Department 16% inflation and population growth. Now it will proba- Education Department 14% bly get worse. Many voters who supported Trump Housing & Urban Development 13% could take the biggest hits. Transportation Department 13% While he won’t get everything he wants from Department of the Interior 12% Congress, the extent of his attacks on programs that Energy Department 6% benefit local communities, and especially on the Small Business Administration 5%; poor, and those he promised to help, is devastating. Treasury Department 4% For example he would cut or eliminate block Justice Department 4% grants to states totaling at least $8,616 billion for NASA 1%. these programs: The National Institute of Health program for training Temporary assistance for needy families [TANF] health professionals would also be cut. Child Care Programs cut include: Low income Home Energy Assistance National Heritage Areas; Air Traffic Control; Community Development AMTRAK; Teacher Training; After school and sumJob training mer programs; aid to first generation and low inSubstance abuse and treatment come students; Office of Science; Energy Star and Social Services Weatherization. HOME investment partnership Native American housing Increases Maternal and child health Veterans Affairs +6% Community Mental Health Services Homeland Security +7% Preventive Health and Health Services Department of Defense +9% Also: Housing Choice Vouchers; public housing; rental assistance for people with disabilities and The Republican majority in Congress passed seniors. the Budget Control Act in 2011. It placed tight caps He would cut the part of the budget that funds a
on spending for non-defense discretionary programs as well as the sequestration cuts that further reduced those caps. That act has already led to significant cuts in domestic spending. This proposed budget goes much further erasing decades of hard fought reforms that have improved Americans’ lives. Trump Tax Plan Another Disaster? “Tax Reform” has been the mantra of Republicans for years. What did that term mean? Well, the Trump plan spells it out: huge tax cuts for the rich. “It would shrink government to Truman-era levels,” according to Isaac Shapiro of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. It would reduce revenues by $9.5 trillion over ten years, according to estimates by the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. Multi-millionaires and billionaires rely on their lawyers, accountants and estate planners to avoid taxes through loopholes provided by a willing Congress The estate tax on inherited wealth would be abolished, a long held Republican dream. It applies only to households with assets of over $11 million (just .2% of the population). The rest of us can’t game the system, so we pick up the tab for programs that benefit everyone as well as for those who don’t pay their share. As for specifics, the devil is in the details and they keep shifting. Reports are that Trump scrapped his original plan and, as a New Y ork Magazine article on April 10th put it, “is going back to the drawing board in a search for a Republican consensus behind legislation to overhaul the U.S. tax system.” In the end, we the people must rise up and - as we did with Paul Ryan’s health care bill – flush it down the toilet. Then demand true reform of the system and do what it takes to make it happen. Onward! Molly Rush is a member of the editorial collective, the TMC board and a founder of the Thomas Merton Center.
Food Security Safety Net in Jeopardy; You Can Help By Joyce Rothermel
Global efforts, including that of the United States, have made great progress toward ending hunger and poverty over the last three decades. Around the world those living in extreme poverty, on less than $1.90 a day, have been cut in half over that time. It is not enough. Now, nearly 800 million people in the world go hungry. Here in the U.S., one in six children lives in a household that struggles with hunger. The U.S., along with many countries around the world, has agreed to work to end hunger, as well as for other sustainable development goals by 2030. Leaders from many sectors believe this is possible. It will require the efforts of families, churches, businesses, non-profit organizations and, most crucially, the governments. This year, the U.S. federal budget process has already begun. If the President’s proposed budget for 2018 is any indication, we could stand to lose much hard-earned ground. The focus must now be on Congress, as the various committees begin their work. Only the Congress can make funding decisions that put us on track for the achievement of the 2030 goals previously stated. Through the budget, we invest in many anti-poverty and antihunger programs that help people stay out of poverty and thrive. This year Congress is expected to use two budget tools that can lead to drastic cuts and changes to anti-hunger programs: sequestration and budget reconciliation. Sequestration (automatic budget cuts) imposes tight limits on discretionary spending on programs like the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program, humanitarian assistance, and global nutrition. Budget reconciliation is a legislative procedure that enables Congress to make big changes to programs and policies at the same time. Reconciliation bills have fast track privileges, allowing them to more easily get passed. Many in Congress want to use this year’s reconciliation bills to drastically change the structure and funding for Medicaid and 8 - NEWPEOPLE
April 2017
SNAP (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly the Food Stamp Program). The budget has a moral aspect, as it is a statement of our country’s values and priorities. It should be evaluated on how it treats the most vulnerable people at home and abroad. The funding decisions that Congress makes this year will have far-reaching impact on the lives of people who are struggling here and around the world. If investments for strategic programs are cut, people will suffer and many die. On the other hand, positive investments and funding decisions can accelerate progress against hunger, save lives, and move us toward the 2030 goals. NOW IS THE TIME TO ACT. Contact your Congress members, asking them to invest in and protect: 1) SNAP, which provides millions of eligible low-income individuals and families with financial assistance to purchase nutritious food. SNAP moved 4.6 million Americans out of poverty in 2015. 2)WIC, which provides 8.2 million low-income women and young children nutritious food and nutrition education annually. 3)Poverty-focused development assistance (PFDA) programs, which provide improved nutrition and food security, access to safe water and sanitation, better farming techniques and agricultural productivity, and more. Fewer children around the world are dying and more are thriving because of investments in these programs. 4)Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (the refundable portion), which move more people out of poverty than any other program, aside from Social Security. Cutting funding or drastically changing these programs would dismantle the progress made in addressing hunger and poverty over the past 50 years. Over the next several months, advocates will be visiting local offices of our U.S. Congress members, conducting letter-writing campaigns, participating in
national lobby days. Locally organizations like SouthWest PA Bread for the World, the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, Just Harvest, and faith-based congregations will be gathering advocates to participate in their advocacy efforts. Join them. Here is a sample letter: Dear Senator ______ (U.S. Senate, Washington, DC 20510) or Dear Representative ___________ (U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20515): As Congress works on the 2018 budget and spending bills, I ask you to make funding decisions that will put us on track to end hunger by 2030. I urge you to adequately invest in programs like WIC, SNAP, tax credits for low-income workers, and international development assistance. These programs are helping millions of people escape from hunger. We have made great progress reducing hunger and poverty in our country and around the world, but our work remains unfinished. My values and civic responsibility lead me to urge you to make public investments that will reduce and move us closer to ending hunger. Sincerely, (Your Name, address, city, state and zip code) To participate in visits to local Congressional offices, and/or to participate in the Bread for the World Lobby Day in Washington, DC June 12-13, contact me at 412-780-5118 or at rothermeljoyce@gmail.com I can also assist your faith-based congregation or nonprofit organization in organizing a letter-writing campaign. To find out about other advocacy efforts on this issue, go to www.pittsburghfoodbank.org and www.justharvest.org Your voice joined with others can make a critical difference. This is what democracy looks like! Joyce Rothermel is co-chair of the SW PA Bread for the World Team.
Bad Budgets = Bad Results The Impact on Basic Adult Education
The Impact on Hunger and Food Access By Emily Cleath
By Don Block
In our state it is nearly impossible for people who don’t have a high school diploma to find work. Yet there are over 700,000 Pennsylvanians of working age who don’t have a diploma. They need our help. Adult basic education programs allow adults who didn’t finish high school or who are refugees or immigrants to improve their skills, get a high school credential, and enter employment or higher education. A recent survey of the programs in our state showed that 6,000 potential students were on waiting lists because the programs didn’t have the resources to enroll them. This is truly a social justice issue. The federal government provides only about $20 million of funding to our state for adult basic and literacy education. With thousands on waiting lists and many more in need, this is no time for the federal government to reduce its commitment to those learners. If the new administration is serious about bringing jobs to Americans, then adult basic education is an essential service. Please include adult basic education in your advocacy efforts with federal officials. Don Block is the Executive Director of the Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council.
Pennsylvania's child hunger rate of 1 in 5 is a disgrace. In Allegheny County it’s even worse: roughly half of African-American and Latino children live in poverty. Yet President Trump and Congressional Republican leaders apparently care more about bombing children in other countries than in helping them in ours. Their budgets and new policies have been documents of class war – outright attacks against struggling families, seniors, people with disabilities, veterans, LGBTQs, immigrants, people of color, and other vulnerable households. Their agenda is not a reflection of the majority of Americans' values and priorities. Taking from the poor to give to the rich and the military is not only amoral, it's bad governance -- because starving our communities of needed resources creates costs of its own that we all must bear. Instead of a War on the Poor we need a real War on Poverty. That requires a living minimum wage and expanding tax breaks for low-income workers, and other key worker protections. Or it requires substantive investments in the critical safety net programs that provide nutrition, cash, child care, medical, housing, and home energy assistance – because these days 80% of Americans need such assistance at some point in their lives.
This is a set of articles in which leaders of local service organizations describe the possible impacts of proposed federal budget cuts on the services they provide and the issues that concern them.
The Impact on Affordable Housing
Emily Cleath is Communications Director for Just Harvest, an organization dedicated to securing healthy food access and economic equality.
The Impact on Transitional Housing
By Larry Swanson
The impact of the Trump administration's Office of Management and Budget proposal to Congress on affordable housing is that a 13% reduction in the HUD budget would result in the elimination of the CDBG (Community Development Block Grants), HOME, and Choice Neighborhood Programs, major reductions in Operating and Capital Improvement funds for Public Housing and a reduction in Housing Choice Vouchers. This happens because although HUD has a $ 43 billion budget the 13% reduction must be applied to programs in which funds are not committed for multiple years. This budget, if approved by Congress, would effectively end all new affordable housing production as well as significantly reduce the staff of many operating agencies. What it means to Pittsburgh and Allegheny County is a loss of $ 62 million dollars per year in affordable housing funds; and the elimination of key programs that provide for affordable housing and allow the Public Housing Authorities to improve their properties, and reduction of vouchers for both the City and the County. ACTION –Housing develops and operates affordable housing that has supportive programs for people with special needs. This has included people with disabilities, youth in crisis, Veterans, and single persons with chronic needs. While we can maintain our current properties we would be unable to respond to critical community needs and provide opportunities for people to build self sufficient lives. We believe most Pittsburgh residents, like most Americans, support providing safe and affordable housing that creates the opportunity for people to build safer and more self-sufficient lives.
By Sr. Mary Parks
Sisters Place has been helping homeless families for twenty years. Recently we have been alarmed by what seems to be an attempt to end homelessness by “definition.” Allegheny County, which acts as the lead agency for providers who secure HUD (Housing and Urban Development) grants, decided to end its HUD funded Transitional Housing Programs. Consultants warned that the county might lose these programs anyway, no matter how many families we were helping. Since all people in Transitional Housing are still considered homeless by definition, ending this support for needy families will immediately reduce our homeless statistics. To be clear, this is not going to reduce homelessness, just those considered homeless by federal definition. We are further concerned to learn that the newly appointed Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Dr. Ben Carson, approves of a drastic $6.2 billion reduction in funding for his agency. This sets a tone very like that of Ronald Reagan’s HUD Secretary Samuel Pierce. You may recall that at the end of the Reagan years homelessness was at epidemic levels and we still have not totally recovered. Now I fear we never will. Since 1997 … 62 babies have been born at Sisters Place and we have housed 320 families, including 328 parents and 643 children. Sr. Mary Parks is Executive Director of Sisters Place, Inc., which is dedicated to assisting homeless single-parent families.
Larry Swanson is Executive Director of ACTION-Housing, Inc. in Pittsburgh.
The NewPeople Editorial Collective is Looking for New Members! We are looking for volunteers to join The Editorial Collective! Writers, Editors, Photographers, and Web Editors all welcome! Contact marnifritz@thomasmertoncenter.org for more details! April 2017
NEWPEOPLE - 9
Beating Swords Into Ploughshares The Proposed Military Budget for 2018: $600 Billion Waste? By Michael Drohan
In late March 2017, President Trump produced a proposed budget for 2018 in which there would be an increase of $54 billion in military spending while an equivalent amount would be cut from social and health programs. The proposed budget would drive military spending above $600 billion. One has to ask what this increased military budget is in aid of, as no specific initiatives are mentioned in the proposal. There is no question of a “missile gap” or any other kind of gap and US military spending already exceeds that spent by its five nearest competitors. To all intents and purposes, then, it seems like an expansion of the already bloated military in search of a purpose. To put this budget in a broader context, let us compare the US with Costa Rica for a moment. I had the privilege of visiting this country in March 2017. After a civil war in 1948, the President of the country at the time, Jose Figueres Ferrer, issued a decree on December 1, 1948 abolishing the army. He symbolically broke a wall in the headquarters of the Army, the Cuartel Bellavista, symbolizing the killing of the military spirit. Then in 1949 the abolition was enshrined in the Constitution of Costa Rica as Article 12. Monies dedicated to the military were henceforth dedicated to security, education and culture. The Headquarters of the Military, the Cuartel Bellavista, was turned into the Museo Nacional, which I enjoyed visiting. It houses a butterfly garden and artifacts dating back to pre-historical times. Since 1949 Costa Rica has never invaded or been invaded by any country. In the 1980s the US, by command of Oliver North, established an airbase for the Contras in Northern Costa Rica to attack the
Sandinista Government in Nicaragua. However, the President of Costa Rica in 1986, Oscar Aries Sanchez, ended that occupation and school children planted flowers where the base had been. President Sanchez went on to negotiate a settlement in Central America between the conflicting parties in El Salvador and Nicaragua. He received the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in bringing peace to the region. He also made December 1st a national holiday, named Military Abolition Day. The effects of the abolition on Costa Rica are salutary. While most of the other countries in the region: El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Honduras, have all been embroiled in brutal civil wars, Costa Rica has prospered with a high level of education, health care and social services. Compared with its neighbors, all of which have large armies, there is relatively little crime in Costa Rica. The contrast is little short of extraordinary and raises the entire question of standing armies and military spending. There are other questions regarding the US military budget and the Central American countries. The cause of much of the mayhem in Central America has been due to our military adventures in the region. In 1954 the US enabled the overthrow of the democratically elected President of Guatemala, Arturo Arbenz, on behalf of the United Fruit Company. In the 1980s the US practically ruined Nicaragua by visiting upon it a civil war in which they supported the Contras. Nicaragua has never recovered from that military intervention and has been reduced to being the second poorest country in the Americas, after Haiti.
To return to the US military budget and what it is in aid of; the title “Defense Budget” is a misnomer since it is almost entirely designed for offense. Central America has been replaced today by the Middle East as the focus of US military exploits. Oil has replaced bananas as the resource we are seeking control of. But the entire enterprise seems to be counterproductive. By attacking Iraq and overthrowing Saddam Hussein we have made a hell-hole of the country and in the process created Al Qaeda, ISIS and a host of other groups dedicated to the destruction of the “Crusaders.” The same pattern is created all over the region; we might call it creation of enemies. What about defending democracy, Europe and the freedom of the seas? There may have been a time when the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) had a purpose, when the Soviet Union existed. But since the end of the Soviet Union in 1989, NATO has become a force designed to expand US power and threaten Russia on all its borders. It is hardly defending democracy or peace. Europeans, it seems, are willing partners in the offensive industry. In Asia, the US policy seems to be to isolate China and build an alliance of countries hostile to China. Once more, it is hardly a defense of peace and security. In conclusion, although at this time in popular discourse abolishing a standing army in the US may seem like crazy talk, to me it makes a lot of sense when I study the case of Costa Rica. Michael Drohan is a member of the NewPeople editorial collective and a TMC board member.
WILPF-US Nuclear-Free Future Tour Coming to Pgh By Carol Urner
What we in Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, US Section, now call the WILPF Nuclear Free Future Tours had their genesis in August 2014. Earlier Ellen Thomas, cochair of the WILPF-US Disarm/End Wars Committee, made a similar tour under the auspices of Proposition One Campaign in 2009 after her husband, William Thomas, died. William Thomas was a philosopher and visionary who knew that nuclear weapons were a threat to all life on Earth. In 1981 he began a vigil in front of the White House that his wife Ellen continued for 18 more years. On the current Nuclear Free Future tour, now co-sponsored by WILPF and Proposition One, Ellen Thomas shares experiences from those years. She tells the story of Proposition One, the 501-c-4 corporation Ellen and William cofounded in order to launch a voter initiative in 1990 for nuclear weapons abolition. A small group of committed DC voters collected over 25,000 petition signatures to put DC Initiative 37 on the ballot in a city where citizens have almost no power in political decisions that affect them profoundly. Although The W ashington Post and the city’s white power elite bitterly fought this initiative, it succeeded and became the basis for a bill introduced in every session of Congress by Eleanor Holmes Norton between 1994 and 2016. During the 2015-16 session of the House the bill was “HR 1976.” This bill should have become law under President Obama, who promised in Prague to work toward nuclear weapons abolition. Instead, US policy since then has been the “modernization” of the whole US nuclear weapons complex, including the weapons already manufactured. As you well know, a trillion dollars has already been allocated for this project and costs will almost certainly become higher. On the 2017 tour Ellen will be asking people to seek their legislators’ co-sponsorship of Norton’s “Nuclear Weapons Abolition and Economic and Energy Conversion Act.” She will be calling for support of the current negotiations in the UN General Assembly for a treaty banning nuclear weapons and criminalizing their continued possession and production. 10 - NEWPEOPLE
April 2017
The majority of this planet’s sovereign states (158 out of 193) have now rebelled against being held hostage by the nine nuclear weapons states and their approximately fifty client governments. Those states have made no progress toward a treaty abolishing nuclear weapons, as required by the 1970 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and so the General Assembly itself is now negotiating it. Since that body is more democratic than the Security Council, with no veto and one vote per each sovereign state, decisions can be made by majority vote when consensus cannot be reached. This is a radical change in UN governance that can have far reaching consequences in the whole UN decision making process. WILPF, by the way, has had a major role in developing and promoting this new ban treaty, and Ellen will be sharing information from our extensive resources. WILPF’s Reaching Critical Will has developed over the past twenty years to assist the UN, sovereign governments, and organizations like the Thomas Merton Center to achieve abolition of nuclear weapons. The International Red Cross/ Red Crescent Societies have also been deeply involved as well as a significant group of other international organizations, especially within the health professions. Together with concerned national governments, nuclear activists have shifted discussion of nuclear weapons from strategic political concerns to the humanitarian implications of those weapons and warfare. That has made a significant difference in both debates and government policies toward the most destructive and dangerous weapons humans have ever devised and developed. In WILPF we are now campaigning to end the whole nuclear era – including the promotion and production of nuclear power and other uses of nuclear energy. We think this is necessary for the survival of living species on earth, and for the health of our beautiful and amazing planet home. We trust that most of you share our concerns and that all of us can work together in nonviolent and creative ways to save our planet and its living species, including human beings. Carol Urner, Co-Chair Emeritus of WILPF-US Disarm/End Wars Committee
“Let’s End the Whole Nuclear Era” On Thursday May 18 at 7:30 pm, the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, with Remembering Hiroshima/Imagining Peace, will host an evening with members of the 5,000 mile tour promoting a nuclear-free future at the Friends Meeting House, 4836 Ellsworth Ave in Oakland. Ellen Thomas and Odile Hugonot-Haber are representing Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom on the tour, and will be joined in Pittsburgh by environmental scholar Patricia DeMarco. They will speak about: * The nuclear weapons ban treaty negotiations June 19July 7, 2017, and the Women’s March to Ban the Bomb on June 17; * Eleanor Holmes Norton’s nuclear weapons abolition and energy conversion bill, introduced each session since 1994 – move the money from nuclear and other weapons to carbon-free, nuclear-free energy, environmental restoration, and other human needs; * The campaign to stop the unnecessary and extremely hazardous shipments of highly radioactive liquid waste from Chalk River, Canada to Savannah River Site, South Carolina; * Efforts to achieve the uranium mining moratorium and cleanup bill promoted by Defenders of the Black Hills; and * Voter initiatives as a tool for education and change. Patricia DeMarco will discuss "The Nuclear OptionEthical Issues and Obligations" Ellen Thomas is currently Co-Chair of Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom Disarm/End Wars Committee (since 2008) and co-founder of Proposition One Campaign for a Nuclear Free Future (1990). She maintained a vigil for global nuclear weapons abolition north of the White House day and night for 18 years (1984-2002). Odile Hugonot-Haber is currently chair of WILPF-US Middle East Committee and recent co-chair of WILPF-US Program Committee. She is working for a Weapons of Mass Destruction-Free Middle East. Patricia DeMarco is a Visiting Researcher and Writer, Carnegie Mellon University, Institute for Green Sciences and Senior Scholar at Chatham University. She was elected to Forest Hills Borough Council 2016-2020. Her most recent book is Rachel Carson’s Environmental Ethic – A Guide for Global Systems Decision Making. Picture: https://www.facebook.com/proposition1campaign
Unnatural Violence
On Not Killing In World War II, at least three out of four U.S. combat infantrymen did not fire their weapons at the enemy, even in the midst of battle. In the moment of decision to engage in mortal combat more than 75% of combat soldiers became conscientious objectors. LTC (Ret.) Dave Grossman, in his ground-breaking book On Killing, said in World War II, “… 80 to 85 percent of riflemen did not fire their weapons at an exposed enemy, even to save their own lives and the lives of their friends. In previous wars, non-firing rates were similar.” Other research, Grossman points out, shows that there is “a powerful, innate human resistance toward killing one’s own species….” After World War II, the U.S. Government/ Military decided that their combat training had to change, and that soldiers needed to become reflexive firers. Soldiers needed to be conditioned to believe that they had no choice but to fire, and fire on reflex (muscle memory). They had to be conditioned to kill, because killing humans is antithetical to humanity. Additionally, this conditioning included the systematic dehumanization of real or potential enemies to ensure that the soldier would not be presented with a moral dilemma when the moment arose to engage the enemy—other human beings. Thus, the soldier had to be dehumanized as well. Since the combat training program was changed after World War II, the individual fire rates in com-
By Reverend Paul Dordal
bat have increased in every U.S. war, to almost 95% today. It shouldn’t be surprising then that retired Navy psychiatrist William P. Nash believes that upwards of 75% of returning combat veterans since Vietnam are suffering from a PTSD-like malady called Moral Injury. Nash said as soldiers come home from war, “something is damaged, broken. They feel betrayed; they don’t trust in [the military’s] values and ideals anymore.” If it is in the nature of humanity not to kill humans, and we condition people to do so, once that conditioning is no longer needed (post-combat), a significant moral crisis will inevitably occur. In order for humans to kill humans, the military must convert humans into something inhuman to kill those they have convinced are worse monsters. But if the U.S. as a society allowed the government through its military to forcibly convert 75-80% of peace loving humans into killers in just a span of a few decades, could not we as a society have even more readily converted the 20-25% of those who might kill into peacemakers? If we think war is an inevitability because a small minority of people are capable of using deadly violence against others, are we being honest with ourselves about the capacity of the overwhelming majority of peaceful humans to nonviolently restrain the potentially violent? Do we not delude ourselves when we believe that the best
way to combat violence is with the same means through which violence is perpetrated against the innocent and peaceful? The apostle Paul called Christians to not use the “weapons of this world” to resolve conflict (2 Cor 10:4a). Jesus said, “Put your sword away. Everyone who uses a sword will die by a sword” (Mt 26:52). The call of Christ is to be peacemakers, not killermakers or war-makers. We are called to “transform deadly weapons into farming equipment, and swords into kitchen utensils. Nations are not to attack other nations with military force, and all the countries of this world must cease from training their citizens to become killers” (Is 2:4). The call of all true religion is to bring peace to the world. If you are veteran, please join a local chapter of Veterans For Peace. If you are a civilian, join the Thomas Merton Center’s Anti-War Committee. If you are a Christian or religious person join a peacepromoting congregation or call on your current congregation to join the peace movement. Let’s get busy! It is time for us to live up to our human potential. Peace is possible. Rev. Paul Dordal is a member of the Thomas Merton Center, a combat veteran, and an organizer for Veterans for Peace.
The Greatest Purveyor of Violence in the World By Michael Drohan
April 4th 2017 was the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s famous speech entitled “Beyond Vietnam,” delivered at the Riverside Church in New York City. He delivered this speech to an audience of 3000 people and was sponsored by the Clergy and Laymen Concerned about Vietnam, a growing interfaith group opposing the brutality of the Vietnam War. One year to the day after the delivery of this address, Martin Luther King was assassinated and that is scarcely incidental. In his sermon he excoriated US political leaders of all shades for the atrocities being committed in Vietnam and demanded an end to the violence. Although rarely quoted, this speech is one of MLK’s most brilliant pieces of oratory and political and economic analysis of war, peace, violence and the intersection between the violence visited on the peasants of Vietnam and the violence of poverty and discrimination visited on the ghettos of America. MLK was roundly attacked for this speech by political parties of all stripes, by the press and by the Churches. It took America a long time to realize the truth and wisdom of what King laid out on that historic night. Further, we might add, little of that speech has been implemented and taken seriously in the US political and economic establishment. The lessons of Vietnam were never learned and so we are condemned in the age of Trump to committing the same mistakes, atrocities and crimes. In his speech King laid out seven reasons why it was important and urgent to bring the war on the Vietnamese people into the field of moral vision. The one that raised the most hackles and truly shocked the establishment was the third, which goes as follows: “My third reason moves to an even deeper level of awareness, for it grows out of my experience in the ghettos of the North over the last three years, especially the last three summers. As I have walked among the desperate, rejected, and angry young men, I have told them that Molotov cocktails and rifles would not solve their problems. I have tried to offer them my deepest compassion while maintaining my conviction that social change comes most meaningfully through nonviolent action. But they asked, and rightly so, ‘What about Vietnam?’ They asked if our own nation wasn’t using massive doses of violence to solve its problems, to bring about the changes it wanted. Their questions hit home, and I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without
having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today: my own government. For the sake of those boys, for the sake of this government, for the sake of the hundreds of thousands trembling under our violence, I cannot be silent”. In those lines, King made an audacious claim, namely that his own government, that of the US, was the greatest purveyor of violence in the world and further, he suggests that the violence visited upon the long suffering people of Vietnam could not be separated from the violence at home. But he goes still further by laying bare the contradiction in taking young black and white boys to far distant shores to supposedly fight for their freedom and civil rights when they were denied these same rights at home. He put it as follows: “Perhaps a more tragic recognition of reality took place when it became clear to me that the war was doing far more than devastating the hopes of the poor at home. It was sending their sons and their brothers and their husbands to fight and to die in extraordinarily high proportions relative to the rest of the population. We were taking the black young men who had been crippled by our society and sending them eight thousand miles away to guarantee liberties in Southeast Asia which they had not found in southwest Georgia and East Harlem. So we have been repeatedly faced with the cruel irony of watching Negro and white boys on TV screens as they kill and die together for a nation that has been unable to seat them together in the same schools.” This moral challenge which King laid before America is more relevant than ever today in 2017. We are purveying violence today on so many benighted peoples and countries. To name a few, we have the Yemen, Somalia, Iraq, Af-
ghanistan, Libya and Syria. In a mere two months, the Trump administration has upped the ante in violence upon Syria and Afghanistan and is threatening North Korea with the same. Trump is exulting in his excellence at violence delivery. We in civil society, however, have to take King’s challenge to heart and let his life and challenge be not in vain. Michael Drohan is a member of the NewPeople editorial collective and the TMC board.
April 2017
NEWPEOPLE - 11
Local and National Activism April 15 Tax March in Pittsburgh Draws 500 Supporters By Joyce Rothermel
organize for a political cause. I had the opportunity to work with some great people from the area: Rena Moore, Tavia Washington, Steve Rine, and Janet Lea. I have also received support and mentorship from Tracy Baton. We all organized independently of other organizations, but many groups were very supportive and advertised for us, such as Indivisible, Pittsburgh Women's March and Tuesdays with Toomey.” There was an amazing turnout! Over 500 came bringing signs, wearing t-shirts, ready to chant and make their collective will known to all in hearing and seeing distance. Michael Drohan and I brought the Thomas Merton Center banner and were happy to see many TMC members Rally in Market Square on April 15th. Photo by Joyce Rothermel there. But there were many more faces we didn’t recognize; all Following the election last November, many sharing the same message: people who had not been on the radar screen of ac- “Release your tax returns, tivism began to appear. At the Merton Center, calls now!” came in almost immediately from people who want“I am very happy with ed to get involved. In February, we were contacted what we achieved,” Ian reby Ian Price. He wanted to find out if anyone was ported. “We managed to get organizing a sister march to align with the national a good crowd, have a solid march being planned for April 15 regarding depositive message to empower mands for the release of Donald Trump’s tax repeople, and get coverage turns, to fulfill his campaign promise to do so. Simi- for our message on local lar sister marches were being planned in several cit- media. The moment I felt ies throughout the country. like we really accomIan was referred to the Women’s International plished something was League for Peace and Freedom, which each year has when I heard the President a public event calling attention to how our taxes are needed to re-route his golf spent. On the day taxes are due, they conduct a trip for a march in Palm “penny poll” asking individual tax payers how they Beach. I knew we had been would prioritize the allocation of their hard-earned noticed. tax dollars. “Through the planSince their objectives were very different, Ian ning process people asked decided he would move forward to organize a Pitts- how we would make sure burgh march. The outreach flyer called Pittsburgh- our message got to the ers to, “Join your fellow citizens for a peaceful President. I told them if march to call on the President, as a public servant, there were enough of us, to disclose his financial interests to the American he wouldn't be able to look people. Without him releasing his tax returns, away.” Americans are in the dark about President Trump’s Ian urges all of us, conflicts of interest, his foreign entanglements, and “Write to your members of whether he even pays any taxes at all. congress. Call your memIan says, “This is my first real foray into politi- bers of congress. Ask Concal activism. I've gone to marches and been ingress to make financial volved in clubs before, but never really trying to disclosures mandatory for
Presidential candidates and for the President. Write to the president. It may not seem like much, but it adds up. Together we're stronger in our demands.” When asked what is next on his activism agenda, Ian says, “I plan on expanding on this effort to grow an interest in government accountability. I am hopeful that President Trump will have released his finances by this time next year, but I wonder if I should start planning for next year's march!” To other new grassroots organizers, Ian would offer this insight: “Organizing is ultimately about people, and people require patience and understanding. This has required me managing expectations, in particular, my own! There were many days and weeks that nothing seemed to be coming together, then for a day or two out of nowhere I would get a break through that would keep me going.” Ian Price moved to Pittsburgh from Florida in 2004 to go to school, and has stayed. He has his PhD from the University of Pittsburgh in Mathematics. Joyce Rothermel is a member of the TMC Anti-War committee, TMC board and the NewPeople editorial collective.
March For Science Brings Out Thousands Worldwide
Make Hypotheses Not War. There Is No Planet B. Without Science It's Just Fiction. These are a few of the slogans on display at the March for Science, Pittsburgh, Saturday, April 22, Earth Day. Similar demonstrations took place at the same time in hundreds of cities around the world. Thousands marched in Washington and thousands more in NYC. Many who came out in Pittsburgh were in part motivated by thoughts of Pittsburgh's own Rachel Carson: Science, not Silent Spring, said one of the marchers. Organizers noted that the current administration proposes 31 percent cuts in funding to EPA (along with a legislative proposal to eliminate EPA), 20 percent cuts to the National Institutes of Health, along with the looming threat to existence posed by climate-science denial. Pittsburgh speakers stressed that funding for research supports the health and welfare, peace and dignity of all people. Photos and Caption by Mike Schneider 12 - NEWPEOPLE
April 2017
Cold War Fallout First Nations Condemn High-Level Liquid Waste Shipments
Wimakaheya for Standing Rock By M. J. Balobeck
By Molly Rush
The Iroquois Caucus and Anishinabek Nation in Canada have declared their opposition to the planned transport of 5812 gallons of liquid, highly radioactive nuclear waste from the Chalk River on the edge of Lake Ontario, 1300 miles away, to the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. One quart of this highly toxic waste, if dispersed, could contaminate the entire drinking water of Washington, DC [108 million gallons pumped per day]. Over four years 100 to 150 truckloads would travel along secret shipping routes over public roads and bridges in an attempt to avoid terrorist attacks. The waste is so volatile that it can’t be shipped all at once. Mary Olson of the Nuclear Information and Resource Service, said, “Even without any leakage of the contents, people will be exposed to penetrating gamma radiation and damaging neutron radiation just by sitting in traffic beside one of the trucks.” Patrick Madahbee, Grand Council Chief of 40 Anishinabek First Nations said, “We assert inherent ownership of the water and jurisdiction within our regions and traditional territories. “We will stand with our Iroquois allies to protect the drinking water. Water is the lifeblood of Mother Earth….Millions of people would be affected—on both sides
of the border… A spill into any of the waterways would have a tremendous impact on the Great Lakes.” The weapons grade waste originated in the US. After processing in Canada, it is nearly 17,000 times more toxic and radioactive. Never before has such highly radioactive material been transported over public roads in liquid form. At the Savannah River Site it will be down-blended into a form that can’t be used for weapons. The transports are set to start this spring, following a February 2 ruling by US District Judge Tanya Chutkan in favor of the Department of Energy. The legal challenge to the shipments was brought by a coalition of environmental groups led by Beyond Nuclear. Adapted from an article by Dr. Gordon Edwards in NUKEWATCH Quarterly, Spring 2017, (www.nukewatchinfo.org) This edition of NUKEWATCH also includes articles on the Fukushima disaster, “What Does It Mean to Have Trump’s Finger on the Nuclear Bomb?” and “Bomb Tweeting While the World ‘Comes to its Senses.”
When the best minds howl and ev’ry Fool wears a crown And no one knows anything but ev’rybody knows better Settled civilization’s new beasts slouch toward the holy hometown Lies! Truth! Not knowing who cares the difference is down the rabbit hole & you must be your own reality interpreter when the best minds howl and ev’ry Fool wears a crown and proofs of truth are by contracted acclaim shouted down and mere verbal guarantees of Certainty proclaim the matter settled, civilization’s new beasts slouch toward the dark’ning town relentlessly, dragging their hoarded poverty around like a collective frown swaggering fast-buck fascists at-large, each one a lost lack-love soul debtor when the best minds howl, and ev’ry Fool wears a crown. Do not trust in a face, like the lost children of Cronus, and drown in the gloat of the maw in the belly burning wetter as settled civilization’s new beasts, slouch toward our wide-eyed town. Cap & bells and bells & whistles clinking tinkling precede the clown of organized plutocracy, and you must become your own revelator when the best minds howl and ev’ry Fool wears a crown and settled civilization’s new beasts, slouch against the burial mound of your own last little piece of Freedomtown.
This is a topical, modified villanelle. The first word in the title is of Lakota origin, meaning "energy" or "that which enables a person to accomplish much."
Molly Rush is a member of the NewPeople editorial collective and the TMC board.
Breaking the Cuban Embargo for the Past 25 Years By Joyce Rothermel and Michael Drohan
On October 19, 1960 the US imposed an embargo on all trade between the US and Cuba excluding food and medicines. Ostensibly the reason was the nationalization by Cuba of US owned oil refineries. Cuba did offer compensation but not on a level that the US would agree to. In 1962 the embargo was extended to include a ban on all imports. Over the decades the embargo has been expanded and made more punitive. There is little doubt that the real reason for the embargo was to punish and strangle the Cuban experiment in socialism. It is the longest embargo imposed on any country in human history. What it has caused in terms of human and economic cost to the people of Cuba has been enormous, amounting to several billion dollars. In the opinion of most people it is gravely unjust and a crime against humanity. In the US there have been over the decades many groups that have resisted the embargo and shown solidarity with the Cuban people and government. One of these solidarity groups was the Vinceremos Brigades, which organized groups of people from the US to go to Cuba to harvest the sugarcane crop in the 1960s and 1970s. Another group which has stood in solidarity with the people of Cuba is Pastors for Peace, aka the Interfaith Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO). For the last 25 years they have organized humanitarian caravans to Cuba, bringing goods that the Cuban people are short of such as computers and simple machines. The more overt objective of Pastors for Peace is to challenge the embargo and help to end it. They do
this by travelling to Cuba without government permissions or permits because they consider the embargo illegal and a denial of the freedom to travel. The 25th Humanitarian Caravan to Cuba will take place in July 2017. As a preparation for it, various members of the Caravan have fanned out across the country, educating people about the hardships and suffering that the embargo imposes on the people of Cuba. They also try to educate people in the US about the achievements of the Cuban Revolution despite the embargo. Cuba has universal health care provided by a very sophisticated system of health services. Cuba has also invented vaccines for the cure of lung cancer that are unknown and unavailable in the US. Advanced treatments for hepatitis C and diabetes have been discovered in Cuba. They have universal education and life expectancy in Cuba is higher than in the US. These are all extraordinary achievements despite the economic hardships they endure on a daily basis. On April 17 and 18, 2017 two members of the Caravan Team stopped over in Pittsburgh and held information-sharing sessions at the Kingsley Center and the Thomas Merton Center. The members of the team were Ms. Gail Walker (daughter of Rev. Lucius Walker, founder of IFCO) and Bill Hill. They pointed out that Congress has the legal authority to end the blockade of Cuba and that there are several bills in the Senate and House that are aimed at ending, at least partially, the blockade. In the Senate, there is the Agricultural Export Expansion Act (S. 275), which would allow the fi-
nancing of sales of agricultural commodities to Cuba, sponsored by Heidi Heitkamp, D- ND, and 13 other Senators. In the House, there are two bills that have been introduced this year. One is the Cuba Agricultural Exports Act (H.R. 525), which is similar to the bill in the Senate. The other is the Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act (H.R. 351), introduced by Marshall Sanford (R-SC). These efforts are supported by the US Chamber of Commerce and a wide range of US companies and agricultural organizations, plus the World Council of Churches and many US religious denominations. Something that all of us can do is to ask our Senators and Congresspersons to cosponsor and vote for these bills in Congress. To join in solidarity with the people of Cuba in an on-going way, consider becoming a part of the local Pittsburgh Matanzas Sister Cities Partnership. To learn more, go to http://cubasipgh.org/, call 412303-1247 or email Lisa Valanti at lisacubasi@aol.com Tax deductible contributions to IFCO/Pastors for Peace can be made out to IFCO/AFGJ (Alliance for Global Justice) and sent to 418 W. 145th Street, New York, NY 10031. To find out more about the upcoming caravan in July, go to www.ifconews.org Joyce Rothermal and Michael Drohan are both TMC board members and are members of the NewPeople editorial collective.
April 2017
NEWPEOPLE - 13
TMC Past Award Winners TMC Celebrate 45 Years!
The Thomas Merton Center is celebrating 45 years of peace and social justice work in Pittsburgh! As a result, we are sharing photos from our vibrant 45-year history. Above are past award ceremonies held by the Thomas Merton Center. Left photo: Historian Howard Zinn speaks at the 1991 Merton Award dinner. Middle: Angela Davis, 2006 award winner, with staff and interns. Right: Merton Award winners Fr. Daniel Berrigan, Molly Rush and Msgr Charles Owen Rice at the 1989 Merton Award dinner. Photos from the Merton Center archive.
The Supreme Court Remains Stable, Unlike the Senate and Presidency By Paul Titus
Neil Gorsuch has been confirmed and now sits on the Supreme Court of the United States. It could have been worse. A Republican President - especially our current President -- was not about to nominate a liberal or even a moderate justice. The Senate being fully in control of his party assured confirmation. For the present, the Court will simply return to the same ideological divide that existed before the death of Justice Scalia, who was a committed conservative -as is Justice Gorsuch. The dynamics of the Supreme Court are much different than the dynamics of the executive and the legislative branches of our government. The court is collegial and thoughtful and the justices regularly confer with each other. It is well known, for example, that Justice Ginsburg and Justice Scalia were personal and social friends. He regularly shared his draft dissents with Justice Ginsburg in cases where she was in the majority. She believed that this helped her sharpen and strengthen her opinions. Perhaps, in part because of its collegial nature, members of the Court often evolve in their thinking and approach to issues as they serve on the Court. Hugo Black, who had belonged to the KKK early in his life, became one of the staunchest supporters of civil rights on the Court. Harry Blackmun, who was appointed by Richard Nixon and David Souter, who was appointed by George H.W. Bush, both evolved to become regular members of the so-called "Liberal Bloc" on the Court. Even staunch conservatives on the Court will in specific cases put national interest above their own personal inclinations. For example, Chief Justice Roberts provided the fifth vote on the Court to sustain the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act. While Justice Gorsuch would not have been my personal choice for the Court, he is clearly highly qualified in terms of legal education and experience. He is also collegial and a very decent person who works well with his colleagues. Only time will tell whether he will remain a committed conservative
14 - NEWPEOPLE
April 2017
like Justice Scalia or evolve like Justices Blackmun and Souter. In either event, he is not a threat to the Supreme Court as an institution. History teaches us that the Supreme Court, like all human institutions, is far from perfect. It has, during its history, rendered terrible decisions like the Dred Scott decision in the 19th century which treated African American slaves like chattels. The Korematsu decision written by Justice Black, who later joined in the great civil rights decision of Brown v. Board of Education, sustained the imprisonment of our Japanese brothers and sisters during World War Il, another example of a failure by the Court to protect basic human rights. Far more often, however, the Court has protected the rights of minorities and disadvantaged people -- in large measure because of its independence and its tradition of thoughtfully and collegially deciding matters even in cases where individual justices may initially be inclined to vote the other way. What is far more concerning is the process by which Justice Gorsuch came to the Supreme Court. The president who appointed him has himself issued orders barring immigrants and is seeking to expel thousands of individuals from the country. He has criticized judges who have issued injunctions to force constitutional rights. He has been blatantly anti -Muslim in his statements, and he has stirred racist feelings. Equally appalling has been the conduct of the Senate leadership, which has departed from the tradition of being the more deliberative legislative body that throughout its history has struggled to achieve compromises in difficult issues facing the country by, among other things, requiring a super-majority approval.
Beginning with Mitch McConnell's vow in 2009 to use the Senate to block the reelection of President Obama, he has succeeded in making the Senate a negative and dysfunctional body. The failure to even take a vote on President Obama's nomination of a highly qualified and very moderate nominee, Merrick Garland, is an unprecedented abuse of the power of the Senate and a failure of the Senate to perform its constitutional duty to provide its "advice and consent" to a Presidential nomination. Similarly, the use of the "nuclear option" to ram through the nomination of Judge Gorsuch should be of deep concern to all of us. At the end of the day, it appears to me that the Supreme Court remains the most stable and dependable branch of our government, notwithstanding the handling of the most recent appointment. The most important afterthought in all of this may be to realize that we cannot have a real change in the legislative branch until the elections in 2018 and that we have the current President until the election of 2020. In the meantime it becomes more important for each of us to reach out to our brothers and sisters who are the victims of the current climate of hate and show them our love, respect and support. Paul Titus is an attorney and member of the Thomas Merton Center.
Dorothy Day’s Continuing Legacy An Intimate Portrait of Dorothy Day by Her Granddaughter By Joyce Rothermel
Catherine (Kate) Hennessy has authored a new book about her grandmother entitled, Dorothy Day, The World Will Be Saved by Beauty. It provides a straightforward and easy to read chronology of the life of Dorothy Day and Tamar, her only child, Kate’s mother. Martin Sheen writes, “Kate Hennessy’s Dorothy Day lives in my heart, my mind, and my soul. With a granddaughter’s great love, compassionate understanding, and often painful truth, Dorothy Day, her family, and the history of the Catholic Worker movement are newly remembered for a new generation by a brilliant writer and family archivist. Frankly, it is a must-read.” I concur with Martin Sheen and commend the reading of this book to you. In a recent interview with Erin Wasinger, Kate notes, “I wanted to tell the story of my grandmother and my mother and I wanted to tell it in a way that even people who didn’t know about Dorothy Day could come to it.” Dorothy Day (1897-1980) was a convert to Catholicism, writer and social activist. James Parker writes, “She is a saint for difficult people.” In her youth, she moved from bohemian to motherhood to radical to Catholic activist devoting her life to the poor, however difficult to love. As co-founder of the Catholic Worker movement, she dedicated her-
self to service, writing, and activism. Her life unfolded in New York City amidst world events spanning from World War I to Vietnam. She was a prolific writer whose books are still in print and widely read, inspiring many with her example of the selfless life. Her life has been shared through her own writings as well as those of historians and theologians. Her autobiography, The Long Loneliness, motivated my own involvement in the founding and first ten years of the Jubilee Soup Kitchen in the Soho section of Pittsburgh. In the 1970’s, Dorothy Day came to Pittsburgh to receive the Thomas Merton Award. She died at age 83. St. Joseph House of Hospitality in the Hill District was founded here in Pittsburgh in 1937 by the Catholic Radical Alliance, following the principles of the Catholic Workers Movement, offering housing to homeless and low income men in Pittsburgh following the Great Depression. Kate now provides us with a more personal account, a valuable portrait of her grandmother’s radical and faith-filled activism. Hers is a reflective, frank, humorous and heartfelt portrayal, taking five years to unfold. She writes the book in memory of her mother, Tamar Teresa Batterham Hennessy. Dorothy Day has recently been named a Servant of God, the first stop toward canonization in the
Catholic Church. She was one of four great Americans recognized by Pope Francis when he spoke to Congress in 2015. Towards the end of her book, Kate notes that Dorothy didn’t cling to admiration from others. She would say: “Stop it. Look to yourselves. Do the work!” I encourage our younger generations to pick up Kate’s book. Let it inspire you. There’s still so much “work” to be done. For those who are older and have yet to encounter Dorothy Day, you have an interesting adventure ahead of you. Dorothy Day The World Will be Saved by Beauty is published by Scribner and is available in hardback for $27.99. Ask for it in your local library. If they do not have it, ask them to purchase it for their circulation. It would make a good graduation gift for family members and friends this spring or a birthday gift for someone who enjoys curling up with a very telling life story. Joyce Rothermel is a co-founder of the Jubilee Soup Kitchen in the Hill District.
Following the Heart By Stephanie M. Romero, EdD
In Italian, there is a saying that is hard to translate into English, “anche l'occhio vuole la sua parte.” Literally it translates to “The eye also wants its part.” It means that we love or crave visual beauty and aesthetics. In the course of writing my dissertation, I heard an Italian colleague suggest, “anche il cuore vuole la sua parte” -- that the heart also wants its part. This rang true for me. In fact, I had been searching for my heart’s longing in my work as an educator and scholar. This was a search to incorporate the heart of my long-time personal practice of meditation into my professional spheres. My quest led me to radically shift my path. Initially, this played out most tangibly in my dissertation but later turned into a career shift. In pursuit of this integration, I decided to write a self-reflective dissertation on the process of bringing mindfulness into my middle school classroom. Unexpectedly, through this process of researching and writing my dissertation, The A wakened Heart of the Mindful Teacher: A Contemplative Exploration, I became more aware of the pain all around me in educational settings. Teachers and administrators are often at the limits of their capacities and experience high degrees of stress. Many students bring emotional baggage to school with them, and the nature of high stakes testing and pressures to do well also create an air of tension in the schools. My awareness of the suffering around me in my school was heightened through this process. This is natural when we try to bring our mindfulness practice to our
work because “meditation is to know what is going on—in our bodies, our feelings, our minds, and in the world” (Sivaraksa, 1992). Instead of running away, my practices allowed me to stay present to the pain and suffering around me – there was no more avoiding reality. My mindfulness practices helped me to face the suffering around me and this gave birth to a desire to take action to alleviate the pain I saw. In fact, this is the very process of personal transformation and how the inner work of mindfulness practices and mediation can lead us to take action. Put another way, “Once there is seeing, there must be acting. Otherwise, what is the use of seeing?” (Hanh, 1991). As a classroom teacher in an institution that did not allow much space for the work of the heart that I felt called to do, I made the decision to leave and pursue a path that could work more directly to alleviate suffering through mindfulness practices. I wanted to be able to provide mindfulness and meditation instruction to youth and the adults that care for them. With the support of a group of colleagues and friends, I founded Awaken Pittsburgh, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit whose mission is to promote personal and community well-being through mind-
The Religious Society of Friends (better known as QUAKERS) A Peace & Social Justice Active Spiritual Community invites you to join us Sundays 10:30AM for waiting worship 4836 Ellsworth Ave Pittsburgh, PA 15213 Phone: (412) 683-2669 www.quaker.orgpghpamm/
fulness programs and compassionate actions. To support this mission, Awaken Pittsburgh has developed a curriculum series titled “Mindful Connections.” Each of these curricula have been designed and written from a place of personal practice. Mindful Connections are mindfulness-based social and emotional curricula for youth, educators, helping professionals, and workplaces. In addition, one of Awaken Pittsburgh’s program managers, Danae Clark, PhD, has developed a Mindful Connections for Addiction Recovery. Clark and another program manager, Carrie McCann, MSW, have also coauthored Mindful Connections for Conflict Resolution and Communication curricula. These curricula are based on research which has demonstrated that mindfulness practices can reduce stress and cravings as well as increase our sense of well-being and health. Mindfulness practices have also been shown to help build social and emotional skills in adults and children, which are essential for emotional intelligence. Most importantly, mindfulness is also a way to be more fully present in our interactions with others and to our own life. It is our hope that Awaken Pittsburgh can become a leader in transforming the Pittsburgh region through mindfulness programming. This new venture is allowing me to follow the path of my heart in educating the hearts of others. To learn more, please email awakenpittsburgh@gmail.com This author is founder and executive director of Awaken Pittsburgh. She is an educator with over twenty years of experience in teaching all levels. Finding that her meditation practice profoundly influenced her life, she wanted to bring mindfulness practices to others. Stephanie was trained in the Path of Freedom Mindfulness Curriculum, which she delivered in the Allegheny County Jail. Stephanie is also a member of the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Mindfulness and Consciousness Studies. April 2017
NEWPEOPLE - 15
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Thursday
1
2
3
MayDay March For Immigrant & Worker’s Rights-3-7 pm Intersection of Hot Metal & South Water St (Southside)
2017 Primary Election Candidates Forum on Hunger & Poverty– 7-9– Brookline Teen Outreach. 520 Brookline Blvd
Roe Together Statehouse Advocacy Day– 10am—4pmThe Columbus Athenaeum 32 N 4th St, Columbus, Keith Herring Ohio 43215
We Choose Schools Not Walls 5:30– 7:30 pm- PFT 400 10 S 19th St at the River
7
Wednesday
Pgh's Ready for 100% Clean Energy:- 6-8 pm– 460 Melwood Ave
4
born on this day in 1958
We Choose Public Education: Candidates Town Hall Forum 68pm Pgh Science & Tech Academy, 107 Thackeray St
Friday
Saturday
5
6
Strange Beauty: Autoradiograp hy from Fukushima—69pm Thomas Merton Center Annex
A Forum on US Imperialism with Mike Prysner 11am—1pm Carnegie Library Hill District
Music, Labor, Resistance Roundtable— 6:30—8pm James St Gastropub and Speakeasy , 422 Foreland St
Stop Profiling Muslims Canvassing in Monroeville– 11am-12pm, Panera Bread 4172 William Penn Highway
9
10
11
12
13
2017 City-wide School Board Candidate Forum 6-8 pm– Hillman Auditorium, Kaufmann Center, 1825 Centre Ave
Edu Crew: The School-to-Prison Pipeline in Pittsburgh 6-8 pm , Repair the World Workshop 6022 Broad St
Forked: A New Standard For American Dining -6-7:30– City of Asylum 40 West North Ave
1892- The Situation of America 7-9 pm—Pump House 880 E Waterfront Dr Munhall PA
ListenUp! Pittsburgh Neighborhood Debate Classic – 7:00—9:30August Wilson Center, 890 Liberty Ave
1846– US declares war on Mexico
14
15
16
Mother’s Day
1966– 10,000 peopl e picket against Vietnam War at White House
17
18
Raucous Caucus II: Gerrymander My A** - 7-10 pm—Smokin’ Joes 2001 E Carson St
Let's End the Whole Nuclear Era– 7:30—9:30 pm – Friends Meeting House 4836 Ellsworth Ave
1831– First Women’s AntiSlavery Convention 1954– Supreme court bans public school segregation
21
22
Willa Cather in Pittsburgh– 35pm– Pump House 880 E Waterfront Dr. Munhall PA
19
“If you're not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the East of Liberty people who are movie doing the showing and oppressing.” ― Malcolm X Discussion Panel—6-9pm Born on this day 1925 – Hosanna House, 807 Wallace Ave
23
24
25
1934– Battle of Toledo in AutoLight strike– 6,000 picketers vs. 1,300 National Guard
An evening with April Ryan, presented by PublicSource— 7-9 pm— Carnegie Library of Pgh 4400 Forbes Ave
Reprise: Songs for American in the Post-Truth World– 7-9 pm – Point Breezeway 7113 Reynolds St
26
1985– Philadelphia police drop bomb on Black radical MOVE house
20 Root for Organic Fair– 12– 1pm Market Square Pgh March Against Monsanto 12pm Strip District The Big Wig Ball Queer Dance Party to Benefit LGBTQAI Youth 10pm—1am Pittsburgh Opera 2425 Liberty Ave
27
29
30
31
April 2017
Mondays: SW Healthcare 4 All PA /PUSH Meeting 3rd 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 Women’s International League for Peace & Freedom (WILP) 2nd Monday, 7:00 PM Thomas Merton Center, 5129 Penn Ave Amnesty International #39 2nd Wednesday, 7—9 pm First Unitarian Church, Morewood Ave. 15219
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: 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
Saturdays: Project to End Human Trafficking 2nd Sat., Carlow University, Antonian Room #502 Fight for Lifers West 1st & 3rd Saturday, 1 pm, East Liberty Presbyterian Church Anti-War and Anti-Drone Warfare Coalition 3rd Saturday at 11:00 am at TMC, 5129 Penn Ave., Garfield, PA 15224
The Thomas Merton Center’s
NewPerson Award Honoring
Carl Redwood 1
2 Yes, and- the conversation continues—610 pm—BOOM Concepts 5139 Penn Ave
16 - NEWPEOPLE
Sundays: Book’Em: Books to Prisoners Project First three Sundays of the month at TMC, 46pm Contact: bookempgh@gmail.com
SAVE THE DATE!
1968– Four protestors jailed for pouring blood on draft cards
28
Regular Meetings
Wednesdays:
8
PA Primary Elections
May 2017
3
Monday, June 26th 6-9 pm Letter Carrier’s Local 84 Union Hall 841 California Ave Northside