Planned Parenthood – Engaging Peace

And the Beat Goes On: 100 Living Peace and Justice Leaders and Models, List 4, Part 3.

Posted on August 18, 2018 by kathiemm

Poster at Rededication ceremony, Peace Abbey, July 29, 2018. Reprinted by permission.

by Kathie Malley-Morrison & Anthony J. Marsella

This fourth list of Living Peace and Justice Leaders continues our efforts to honor the life and work of Reverend Martin Luther-King, Jr.

These are increasingly dangerous times. Peace and social justice activists like those cited in our four lists help us find ways to resist rising fascism, racism, militarization, corruption, greed, disregard for life, and utter contempt for a universal moral code like the Golden Rule.

These leaders and mentors, and thousands of others like them, need followers but, even more than that, they need comrades–not comrades-in-arms but comrades advancing arm-in-arm to work for causes that benefit all of humanity and indeed life on earth. Learn more about these leaders. Support their causes. Do not bow down to tyranny. Resist.

Nyarwaya: Eddy Kalisa Nyarwaya Jr. Executive Secretary of the Rwanda Institute for Conflict Transformation and Peace Building; President of the Alternatives to Violence Program
Orlov: Dmitry Orlov, predicts cultural, financial, commercial, and political collapse in US and elsewhere.
Pauli: Richard Pauli, climate activist
Pepper: William F. Pepper, attorney, investigator of assassinations, represented MLK’s family in a wrongful death lawsuit
Pitt: William Rivers Pitt,Teacher, writer, political activist
Prasad: Surya Nath Prasad, writer, Transcend Media Services, supporter of universal peace education
Prysner: Michael Prysner: S. army veteran, political activist
Priest: Dana Priest,investigative reporter, Washington Post, Top Secret America book
Pulley: Aislinn Pulley, Chicago Black Lives Matter, African American leader
Quam: Lois Quam, activist for health care and the environment.
Reimer: Kevin Reimer, peace psychology professor
Richards: Cecile Richards, President of Planned Parenthood
Richtman: Max Richtman, President/CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security & Medicare
Schindler: Stefan Schindler, Peace scholar, poetry for peace activist
Seed: John Seed, Saving the Rain Forests
Stevenson: Bryan Stevenson, Slavery Museum
Stone: Oliver Stone, film maker
Sulik: Gayle Sulik, Breast Cancer Founder
Sundarajan: Louise Sundarajan, Indigenous Psychologies
Tatour: Dareen Tatour, Palestinian citizen of Israel charged with inciting violence with her poetry.
Thapa: Lily Thapa, Single Women for Human Rights in Nepal
Theoharis: Liz Theoharis Co-Chair of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival
Todhunter: Colin Todhunter, writer, critic of international agribusinesses.
Toon: Brian Toon climate research
Torres-Rivera: Edil Torres Rivera, LatinoX Counseling for Social Justice activist
Townsend: David Townsend, J.D., Attorney, Mediator, Activist
Turbeville: Brandon Turbeville Writer for Activist Post, host of Truth on the Tracks, a weekly news roundup serving as a hub for activists, information, and solutions.
Tverberg: Gail Tverberg, Energy and Peak Oil Analyst
Vitchek: Andre Vitchek, revolutionary, internationalist, and globetrotter fighting Western imperialism
Vilkomerson: Rebecca Vilkomerson, Executive Director, Jewish Voice for Peace
Wagner: Richard Wagner, peace psychology pioneer.
Wallace: Timmon Milne Wallis, Director of Peaceworkers UK.
Ward: Eric K. Ward, long-time civil rights strategist
Wedler: Carey Wedler, Editor, Anti-Media
West: Doe West, Native American scholar, pastor, social justice activist, disability rights advocate.
White: James A. White Jr., Prisoner who started numerous educational programs for prisoners
Wolff: Richard D. Wolff, Author, Marxist economist
Yumbo: Elisvan Greffa Yumbo, Peruvian activist fighting for protection of Amazon waters from oil industry.
Young: Andrew Young civil rights activist, U.S. Representative, Pastor, diplomat, mayor, educator.
Zimoz: Sergey Zimov, climate change activist working to preserve life in the Artic

And remember to vote in November.

I was there, Saturday January 21, 2017

Posted on January 31, 2017January 31, 2017 by kathiemm

u, Sarah’s mom (left) and sister (right) at the March for Women in NYC. Mom’s sign reads “Our rights are not up for grabs…neither are we!”

by Sarah Mensch

I always knew I’d be a protestor. I grew up in a household where Stephen Colbert and Keith Olbermann were always on TV, where Thanksgiving dinners were spent discussing politics. One of my first clear memories is of my dad swearing at the TV in 2000 as Bush collected more and more electoral votes. Political heat was no stranger in our home.

Here I am at the Boston rally, holding my sign.

I’ve always imagined protesting as “sticking up for the little guy,” so to speak; I thought I’d be fighting for LGBT+ rights, or immigrants and refugees’ rights. But when Trump was elected, things got personal.

Within minutes, Trump grabbed at the throats of “sanctuary cities,” of Planned Parenthood, and the Affordable Care Act. My mind turned to my mother and to my sister, who suffers from a chronic illness called POTS. It turned to my friends and me, who rely on the ACA’s policy allowing us to stay on our families’ health insurance plans until we turn 26. It turned to my grandfather, a refugee from Poland who survived the Holocaust because of our incredible melting pot. And I knew I had to fight.

Going to the Boston Women’s March was incredible. Even the walk to the Boston Common was exciting. People were blocking the streets, pushing old friends in wheelchairs or carrying little ones atop their shoulders. Their signs were funny, sentimental, or calls to action. And I had never seen so many people before; later, I learned that I was one among 175,000 marchers in Boston alone.

My view at the Boston rally before the March,

I think the speech Senator Warren gave at the March best summarizes the event: “…we believe that sexism, racism, homophobia, and bigotry have no place in this country,” she said. “Black lives matter; diversity makes our country stronger. We believe that equal means equal and that’s true in the workplace, it’s true in marriage, it’s true every place.”

While I expected this to be an angry march, something a little closer to a riot or a protest, all I saw was people loving each other.

Strangers were high fiving other strangers whose posters held messages that resonated with them. People moved out of the way easily, quickly, and without complaint to let handicapped marchers through. It became very clear to me that this was a celebration. We were here because we were proud of ourselves and of each other in our diversity.

Sarah Mensch, Research Assistant, Graphic Designer, is a psychology major at Boston University. She is thrilled to be working on a Directed Study focusing on the effect of the media on gun violence under the supervision of Dr. Malley Morrison. When Sarah graduates, she aims to go on to graduate school to earn an MSW and become a therapist. In her spare time, Sarah enjoys pursuing her minor in Deaf Studies, photography, and exploring Boston

Another one of Sarah’s favorite photos from the March:

My friends and I with our signs. I was so proud to stand with these women.

For every man who wants to buy a gun: What’s fair is fair

Posted on December 10, 2015December 15, 2015 by kathiemm

Here is a post making the rounds on Facebook and getting reprinted in sources like the Daily KOS (e.g., Boston Pete, Saturday Oct 03, 2015, without attribution. I agree with countless others that it is too good not to share. Your comments are welcome.

“How about we treat every young man who wants to buy a gun like every woman who wants to get an abortion — mandatory 48-hr waiting period, parental permission, a note from his doctor proving he understands what he’s about to do, a video he has to watch about the effects of gun violence, an ultrasound wand up the ass (just because). Let’s close down all but one gun shop in every state and make him travel hundreds of miles, take time off work, and stay overnight in a strange town to get a gun. Make him walk through a gauntlet of people holding photos of loved ones who were shot to death, people who call him a murderer and beg him not to buy a gun.
It makes more sense to do this with young men and guns than with women and health care, right? I mean, no woman getting an abortion has killed a room full of people in seconds, right?”

Kathie Malley-Morrison, Professor of Psychology