Peace & Social Justice
Junior Friends Conference Hosted by Abington Quarter
“This is the best week of my life.” 4th Grade Student
For more than forty years, Abington Quarter has supported two summer youth programs for members and attenders of Friends Meetings within the Quarter: Junior Friends Conference (JFC) and Middle School Friends Conference (MSFC). The opportunity to join the Junior Friends Conference is open to all young people in PYM completing grades 2-6! The JFC program is a one-week residential conference. This year, it will be held Sunday, June 17- Friday, June 22, 2018 at The George School in Bucks County. The week will feature: arts, ecology, games, worship, swimming, talent sharing, team building, and campfires.
The JFC program offers participants the opportunity to live in a “Friendly” community that strives to live Quaker testimonies. It is called a “conference”and not a camp because while there is fellowship and fun, the focus is to provide an environment rich in Quaker values. The hope is for all children to benefit spiritually, emotionally and physically as a result of their experiences. A 5th Grade student reflected: “Thank you sooo much for helping me to come here, and I can’t explain how thankful I am to be in this wonderful community.”
Friends are asked to register no later than April 30, and questions can be directed to Karen Shanoski shanoski@comcast.net.
50 years after Dr. King’s death, local Quakers are on the move and in the news.
“Human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability; it comes through the tireless efforts of men willing to be co-workers with God, and without this hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation.” — Dr. Martin Luther King, Letter from Birmingham
![Dr. King with Norval Reece, 1967](https://www.pym.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/image002-300x244.jpg)
Washington, DC – Live stream Quaker Volunteer Service’s Director of Equity and Inclusion, Oscar Castro, and PYM’s General Secretary, Christie Duncan-Tessmer as they make their remarks on the mall at 10:30 today. They are being featured at the National Council of Church’s (NCC)—Act to End Racism—a day-long event. The gospel singer/actress Yolanda Adams, the Dakota tribal leader, Louie Blue Coat, and actor Danny Glover will be speaking, along with faith leaders, the health professional, Dr. Mary I. O’Connor and the civil rights activist, DeRay McKesson. This event is a kick-off for a longer-term, national, undertaking that will tap into NCC’s network of 100,000 churches to work to bring about an end to racism.
Philadelphia, PA – A Quaker from Newtown Meeting, Norval Reece, who worked and marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, will be featured on CBS between 5:00 and 6:00 PM. A video of that feature has been posted below. He will be talking about his activism with Dr. King, and about the jobs creation/economic justice planning they did several months before King was killed.
Worship in Solidarity with the March for Our Lives
Haddonfield Monthly Meeting welcomed some thirty people on Saturday, March 24, between 10-Noon, for a period of worship in solidarity with the 800+ March for Our Lives rallies across the globe Members of Haddonfield and Medford Meetings, as well as some nearby churches participated. Participants reported that some strong messages were shared during worship, and that it felt like a gathered meeting. Among the 30 participants were members of Haddonfield and Medford Meetings ( in New Jersey), and some nearby churches. Sponsored by the Meeting’s Peace and Social Concerns Committee, this opportunity for worship was created for those who were unable to participate in marches but wanted a way to support these efforts.
Young Adults at FCNL Spring Lobby Weekend
Day 1- Feeling the Faith behind Lobbying
We gather on Saturday, March 17 at the National Press Club in Washington D.C. Hundreds of Young Adults from 40 States convene to learn how to effectively lobby our government from a place of faith on the topic of immigration for Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) Spring Lobby Weekend. Today we go deep right away to answer the questions: “Why are we here?” and “What stories do we bring?” In small group discussions there is a shared shyness about opening up and telling our stories, but it starts, and our advocacy corps member gives guiding support for what stories are useful when talking to our representatives. When we gather back in our large group of around 400 people, we settle into silence and Friends begin to share their stories. Many of the people who stand up share that they themselves are DACA recipients, or have family members who are undocumented, and whose families have been affected by the criminalization of immigration in the United States. My witness to our lobby topic deepens in the worshipful sharing. In closing worship a Friend stands and quotes Assata Shakur, “It is our duty to fight for our freedom. It is our duty to win. We must love and support one another. We have nothing to lose but our chains.”
Day 2- The Lobby Ask:
On Day 2, Immigration & Domestic Policy Lobbyist at FCNL, Hannah Graf Evans, introduces us to the lobby ask, or in other words, what exactly we are asking our government to do. This is the wording given by FCNL: “We urge Congress to protect Dreamers by enacting a pathway to citizenship without breaking families apart or ramping up extreme border enforcement. Passing protections for Dreamers is just a first step. True immigration reform will require much more to align policy with our shared values of welcome, compassion, and diversity.” You can find the full lobby ask here.
At the keynote today, Greisa Martinez Rosas from United We Dream shared her story and why she fights for people who are undocumented. She also shared with us a Mexican proverb, “They tried to bury us, but they did not know we were seeds.” You can watch the full speech on FCNL’s Facebook Page.
Day 3- Lobby Training.
After a Congressional Staff Panel, we gather in state-groups to plan our lobby visit. I meet with PA but there are other PYM YAF’s who are representing New Jersey. We have an afternoon appointment in Senator Casey’s (PA) office so there is a sense that the pressure is on. One of the most helpful pieces of Spring Lobby Weekend was the Lobby Visit Roadmap they shared with us (FCNL’s strategy for an effective meeting). It includes introductions, thank yous, the ask, and having three people share their stories, followed by repeating the ask, more thank yous and a post visit follow-up email. In our Pennsylvania delegation we identified the people who would be sharing stories today, which included a DACA recipient who is a student at Penn State, a friend from rural PA with a Christ-based faith approach to the ask, and ME! (Before working at PYM I did a lot of work with undocumented communities and I’m grateful I was able bring this experience here.)
In the afternoon we follow the lobby visit roadmap and have a semi-successful meeting with a staffer of Senator Casey. Successful in the fact that Sen. Casey supports our ask. However, discouraging because the staffer believes the Democrats have no power even to get this on the floor right now. As I reflect on the meeting on the front steps of Russell Senate Office Building, Casey walks right up the stairs next to me!
Day 4- Lobbying and a snow storm
Unfortunately on the final day of Spring Lobby Weekend a snow storm picks up and I head off early as to not get snowed in. However the PA delegation kept lobbying and met with staffers of Senator Toomey!
written by Meg Rose
Young Adult Engagement Coordinator
PYM Youth March for Our Lives
On Saturday, March 24, at Spring Continuing Sessions, Youth from across PYM participated in the March for Our Lives at the Capitol in Harrisburg, PA.
The morning program was spent in preparation: wondering about how we let our lives speak as Friends, talking about what it is like to attend a march/rally, and processing different perspectives on the issue of gun control. Youth returned to the space where meeting for business was being held and gave a report of their concerns, including where they align with the March for Our Lives platform, and what they hope will change. One of the YM recording clerks later claimed the big piece of paper they had written on, explaining, “For the minutes!” They are now part of the history of PYM.
Also before lunch, the PYM body attending Sessions was asked if they had words to share with the youth, sustenance to send them off to the march in the afternoon. We acknowledged that for some Youth, this was their first time attending a march or rally like this. There was a lot of experience bearing witness among Friends in that room! Out of the silence, Friends called out,
“Be strong!”
“You are loved!”
“Stand in your truth!”
“God is with you!”
“Speak truth for justice!”
And many other messages.
We arrived at the Capitol and joined in the March around a city block and then assembled with the group on the Capitol steps. We carried the PYM banner and homemade signs. We chanted with other marchers. We created chants! One was “We want silence, not gun violence!” We stayed together, and took care of one another in our group, which was joined by about a dozen other Friends.
Back at Harrisburg Meeting during the debrief of the experience, the young Friends shared feelings of hope and calls to action. One MSF participant said, “Before, talking about this, I felt like we were in a bubble. But we’re part of something bigger.” They reminded us that there’s more to do, and suggested ways PYM and their local meetings can support them to network, stay in touch, and share information with each other.
They were student activists on Saturday. Not our future, but our now.
The Art of Persuasion – Trans comic Ramona Sharples and Editorial Cartoonist Signe Wilkinson discuss their craft.
What’s in a cartoon and why does it move people? How personal is graphic novel writing? Where do inspired editorial cartoons come from? What makes humor stick?
Ramona Sharples and Signe Wilkinson drew on personal and professional truths at Friends in Fellowship, on Thursday March 8th, as they explained the origins of their very different cartoons to a group of some 25 Friends, and shared their reasons for using art to share their truths.
Signe said that she first began cartooning while covering politics for local media. Her habit of doodling in the margins of notepads led to early cartoons that were then published. She also had the good fortune to be mentored by the humorist David Barry. He helped deepen her knowledge of editorial work and supported her development as a political cartoonist. Even today most of her work remains rooted in the building blocks of democracy. While there can be raw and unfiltered criticism, she says “for some reason I don’t take it personally, I just feel like they are talking about the cartoon – they are not talking about my immortal soul.”
There are 180 editorial cartoonists in the US and ten are women, two of whom are Quaker, so Signe represents a very small cohort of cartooning professionals. It can be a rough and tumble world where people feel entitled to let you know exactly how they feel, and therefore some talented artists end up retreating with their work, looking for a more private space. Ramona says, “you do have to take a position when you draw… and (like Signe) I get nasty mail, but it feels very personal for me.” Unlike Signe, who uses art to comment on politics, Ramona uses it to communicate truths about her own life as a transgender woman.
“I was thinking about (emotion and art) recently as I was going through all my comics, and there is a rhythm that is very slow and quiet. It’s not very actiony comics that I’m drawing … because … a lot of the feelings that I am describing are melancholy, and that plays a role in the way that my comics are presented. As a counter example, there are a lot of wonderful comic artists who use extremely different techniques to build emotion. There is a book called ‘Understanding Comics’ by Scott McCloud, where he does a great job showing examples of this – showing all these different styles and what they do to your perception of the emotion of the scene. I’ve see some comics that are just black and white with very scratchy ink, rough lines, with a frenetic, kind of chaotic texture, but the story that’s being told is very quiet … internal, and emotional, and that contrast really works as well.”
The program, at Arch Street Meeting House came to an end at 8:30 PM. For more detail on what was presented, the Q&A, and Ramona’s recommendations of other Trans cartoonists– listen to our recording.
Listen to this Lecture
FCNL Advocacy team meets with Toomey Staff – by Carolyn Houghton
Friends Committee on National Legislation has been actively developing “Advocacy Teams” across the United States. They offer training regarding best practices to employ when visiting with members of Congress or their staff. And each year FCNL focuses on a single issue; this year it is improving US relations with North Korea. [Read more…] about FCNL Advocacy team meets with Toomey Staff – by Carolyn Houghton
PYM Staff Join National Walk Out Day
Quakers in our region have a long history of concern about gun violence. Individual monthly meetings and the yearly meeting have approved minutes and spoken with lawmakers about it. A campaign that grew out of PYM peace work successfully closed a Philadelphia gun shop with a tremendous reputation and record for straw purchases. At this time when the youth of our nation are taking leadership on addressing gun violence we have opportunities for joining them and for learning and action.
Today, the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting staff who were moved to do so joined youth across the country in a national walk out. At 10 AM, PYM staff stood with students from Friends Select School and others in front of City Hall. The students read aloud the names of those who were killed at the Parkland, FL high school shooting and called on our leaders to take action. More information about the walk out is on the web here.
You can follow live updates on walk outs happening all over the country on the New York Times website.
Quaker Seeds and Native American Corn
Seventy-five F(f)riends gathered for worship at Schuylkill Meeting—a beautiful and active Friends meeting near Phoenixville—followed by a Friends in Fellowship event at Eden Valley Farm on Sunday, February 25th. As the Spirit moved among them in worship, and the warmth of John and Penny Hunt’s welcome sunk in, Friends who had come from as far away as Third Haven Meeting, MD, and Harrisburg Meeting, PA, enjoyed the chance to connect around farming, biodiversity, the extensive seed collection of Roughwood Seeds, and Native American corn collected by 21 year-old Stephen Smith, who is part Cherokee. [Read more…] about Quaker Seeds and Native American Corn