Acting in Faith

Newark, 5-1-2013

Immigration rally in Newark on May 1, 2013.

This morning, May 17, we received this message from Elissa Steglich—a staff member of AFSC’s Immigrant Rights Program—about a client who is being detained and set to be deported by ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement).

Self-help housing program, two boys

by Madeline Schaefer

Pamela with many of her children and their partners

Pamela (third from right) with many of her children and their partners

Note: Pamela Haines has written extensively on nonviolent parenting. In honor of Mother's Day, Madeline asked her to write a piece from her experience and she shared this—a very inclusive way of thinking of parenting and family. –Lucy 

by Pamela Haines

I started claiming children in the usual way—having my own. Then, when the boys were two and five, that claiming took a whole new turn.

Lucy with her brothers in Iowa

Lucy with her brothers in Iowa

Note: I sat down to write a reflection piece on the White Privilege Conference, which I attended with other AFSC staff and board members and a number of Quakers in April, and I ended up exploring how I learned racism instead. This piece is dedicated to my teachers: Niyonu Spann, Vanessa Julye, Pamela Haines, Pat Jennings, kamillah fairchild, Rosa Silveira, Nancy Duncan, Frances Hoover, and so many others. – Lucy

by Lucy Duncan

Boston Immigrants Rights March 2010

Boston Immigrants Rights March 2010

Note: This post, a reflection on the immigrant rights march in Boston in 2010, was originally published in 2011 in The Crier, the newsletter of the NEYM Racial, Social, and Economic Justice Committee.

Speak Truth to Power Cover

by Madeline Schaefer

On March 26, I watched Facebook turn red as friend after friend switched their profile picture to a red and pink equal sign, a graphic first posted by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) in support of gay marriage during the Supreme Court’s ruling over the fate of California’s Proposition 8.

Palestinian protest, women

Note: Tory Smith is an intern working for AFSC’s Wage Peace and Israel/Palestine programs. He is a Quaker. He presented this piece as part of a panel of faith-based activists at the Justice Conference hosted in Philadelphia in February.

Hearts in Boston by Brian D'Amico

Hearts in Boston by Brian D'Amico

by Lucy Duncan

“No more hurting people. Peace.”                                 -  Martin Richard, 8, killed at the Boston Marathon    bombings

The blast sends shock waves

Waves of fear, of anger, of confusion

Waves of caring, of love, of tenderness

Images of the explosions and of the bleeding cut to the heart

Who could do such a thing?

Paul Sheldon, Lockheed demonstration

Author Paul Sheldon during a Good Friday vigil outside of Lockheed Martin, one of the country's largest war profiteer and nuclear weapons manufacturer.

Note: Today, tax day, Paul Sheldon, a Quaker peace activist, posted on Facebook that he has for several years underpaid his federal income taxes as a witness against war. I invited him to send us the letter he includes when he files his taxes and he sent it to me to be published here. The amount he excludes from his tax check in modest, $25, but he always includes a letter and feels that this witness is a small, but meaningful step, in opposing war. He invites others to join him in this witness, as led. - Lucy

by Paul Sheldon