On Sunday morning, April 3rd, members of Haddonfield Friends Meeting gathered for a celebration focused on peace and healing. This came about with the confluence of two events at the end of last week: receiving a sapling from the historic Salem oak tree and finding several trees at the entry to our graveyard had been spray-painted with graffiti including two swastikas.
The sapling was planted just inside the graveyard, between the two injured trees.
The Salem oak tree, estimated to have been 600 years old when it died, provided shade for an early Quaker colonist John Fenwick and members of the Lenni Lenape community in what is now the community of Salem, NJ. Their 1675 treaty has been respected throughout the centuries and provided Friends with a message of hope that “Peace is possible.” The sapling was grown from acorns from this “mother” tree, and one of more than 30 that were delivered to Friends meetings across South Jersey last week. Similar planting ceremonies were held Sunday by Friends in nearby Medford and Atlantic City Area meetings, and will be followed by others in the coming weeks.
Earlier in the week, the New Jersey State Police and Division on Civil Rights noted bias incidents spiked again in 2021 for third year in a row, targeting the Jewish, Asian and LGBTQ communities in particular.
