AFSC - Kansas City, Missouri
Working for Peace and Justice
Peace Building and Justice
Our work includes exposing the human and economic costs of the Iraq occupation and moving beyond opposing war, to promote a foreign and domestic policy based upon human security for all people and all nations.
New Kansas City Program Peace and Justice Work will look at the intersection of Health Care and Warfare.
Current health
care reform proposals are estimated to cost as
much as one trillion dollars over the next ten
years. Six years of the Iraq war will cost over
three trillion dollars!
We continue to educate the public
about the intersections of issues of health
care, poverty and militarism in a Martin Luther
King Holiday forum entitled, "What Would Dr. King Say about... 50
Million Americans Without Health Care; One in
Four Children on Food Stamps; and Ongoing Wars
in Iraq and Afghanistan?" The event will
take place on Monday, January 18, 3:30 to
5:00pm at Friendship Baptist Church, 3530
Chelsea Dr., KCMO. The forum is co-sponsored by
SCLC of GKC, the Black Health Care Coalition,
the Health Care Foundation of GKC and reStart.
Click
here for a flyer about the
event.
KC volunteers and staff also organized a forum entitled "Healthcare / Warfare: We Pay. Who Profits?" The event took place on Sunday, October 18 from 3:00 to 5:00pm, at Community Christian Church, 4601 Main, KCMO. The keynote talk at the forum was given by Dr. Victor Sidel, one of the founders of Physicians for Social Responsibility and International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War. In addition a panel of knowledgeable presenters provided insights from ethical, economic and political perspectives. For
more information
contact the Kansas City AFSC office at 816
931-5256. Click
here to see details of event or to download a
flyer. Click
here to for invitation to groups to co-sponsor
the forum.
Work to Focus
on Afghanistan
As President Obama
gets ready to announce his new strategy for
Afghanistan it is crucial that concerned
citizens speak up and let him know that more
troops will not bring more peace. AFSC KC has
been encouraging calls, faxes and emails to the
President: 202-456-1111 (Comment
Line 9am to 5pm Eastern) email at
http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact or fax
at 202-456-2461
We have also
organizedAfghanistan from
Main ,
KCMO.
Kansas City
is gearing up educational campaigns to help
community members recognize that the war in
Afghanistan is not the "good war" it is
portrayed to be. One approach is to draw
parallels to Cash for Clunkers promotion. Our
"Cash for Quagmires" campaign proclaims "They
want you to sign up now. Trade in the old Iraq
War for the new improved 'good' Afghanistan
War. But the pitch is too good to be
true."Click
here to see Cash for Quagmires Flyer." Click
here to see "Graveyard for Empires" Poem read
at 8th anniversary Afghan War
vigil.
KC AFSC recently
co-sponsored a screening of the documentary,
Rethink Afghanistan. The film is
powerful and informative and we encourage
interested persons and groups to contact us to
arrange a house party or screening for a group.
Contact us at 816 931-5256 or email afsckc@afsc.org
Work in Support of Iraqi
Refugees Continues In Kansas City
"Embracing Healing - Hope for
Iraqi Refugees"
AFSC
staff and volunteers are continuing their work
with Iraqi refugees helping them overcome the
hurdles of settling in a new land. We are now
engaged in a new effort to educate and recruit
others to help refugees settling here in Kansas
City and to advocate for U.S. policies that
will help the over 4 million Iraqi refugees
around the world. Toward this end we have
organized two "Embracing Healing - Hope for
Iraqi Refugees" luncheons. The events are meant
to bring together area clergy and lay leaders
and educate them about the refugee crisis and
ways they and their congregations can provide
support and advocacy. The luncheons took will
take place on October 20 and 27 at Shawnee
Mission UU Church, Overland Park, KS and Second
Presbyterian Church, KCMO. The gatherings were
catered by two Iraqi refugee friends and
feature chicken biryani, mushroom soup,
tabbouli and white pudding. KC area faith
leaders were asked to organize education,
advocacy and campaigns in support of local
Iraqi refugees. Click
here to learn about advocacy needed for Iraqi
refugees.
The lunches are
made possible through funding by Shawnee
Mission Unitarian Universalist Church and the
hospitality of Second Presbyterian
Church.Community Festival for Justice and Peace: If you want Peace, Work for Justice!
Visionaries have urged humanity to strive to create communities of compassion, love, justice and peace. In the words of Martin Luther King, Jr. "Peace is more than the absence of war, it is the presence of justice.” Thomas Jefferson advised, “The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only object of good government.” And Anwar Sadat observed, “There can be hope only for a society which acts as one big family, not as many separate ones.”The Festival's theme was “If you want Peace,
Work for Justice!” Over 40 organizations
participated in the Festival and 200
people attended.
Eight leaders from different segments of the
community shared their view of “what a
world of justice and peace looks like and
what do we need to do to create it." Speakers
included:
- Prof. Linwood Tauheed, (Economic perspective, professor of economics and black studies)
- Dr. Josh Freeman, (Chair Dpt. Family
Medicine, KU Med Center and Physicians for a
National Health Program)
- Alex Solorio, (Hispanic / Immigration
perspective, lawyer and immigrant rights
activist)
- Prof. Cathleen Burnett (Death penalty /
Criminal Justice perspective, professor / death
penalty abolition activist);
- Judy Morgan (Education perspective,
President of KC Federation of Teachers)
- Fr. Jerry Waris, (Long-time advocate for
ending hunger and poverty)
- Wick Thomas (Environmental perspective, Student activist)
- White
Privilege – Rev. Sam Mann;
- Everybody In / Nobody Out: Healthcare for All - Liz Stephens;
- KC Peace &
Justice Congress -Henry Stoever;
- LGBT Rights: Are full legal rights inevitable now? -Dan Winter, ACLU;
- Lessons for Afghanistan from the Iraq War – Ira Harritt;
- The Herrminnators- original in-your-face folk rock and blues with a social conscience;
- Nicolette Paige - eclectic folk/blues/reggae/soul singer-songwriter;
- Checkered Past- acoustic music that zings with poignant, playful and sweetly subversive harmonies; and
- Esoke– traditional dance and drumming from West Africa and the Caribbean;
- Peace Exhibits, Kids Peace Activities; Creation of a "Tree of Justice and Peace," And Much, Much More.
Remembering 6 Years of War
Kansas City events marking the sixth anniversary of the U.S. occupation of Iraq, were moving and powerful. The March 14th Peace Race for the Human Race Vigil and Rally showcased the need to end the war and build a peaceful world.
The Breaking Bread Together: A Dinner with
KC Area Iraq Refugees and Iraq War Veterans was
a powerful and moving event which brought
together two hundred people-- Iraqi
refugees,
One of the many volunteers Rosanne Stoneking expressed the following,
"I have a glow from seeing so many
smiles, the beautiful delicious food being
enjoyed by everyone, the conversations between
Iraqis and vets and ordinary Americans, the
dancing by the young people and the
children smiling..."
We encourage you to remind our elected officials:
- There are no military solutions to the Iraq occupation.
- It is time to responsibly and completely bring all of our troops and contractors home.
- We must provide needed support to those most harmed by this war - the Iraqi people and Iraq war veterans.
Candle Light Vigil Remembering the 6th Anniversary of the Start of the Iraq War
AFSC KC also marked 6 years of war in Iraq with a March 20 Candle Light Vigil Remembering the 6th Anniversary of the Start of the Iraq War. Forty area residents came to remember, hold signs, light candles, honor those whose lives have been lost in 6 years of war and simultaneously read the names of 4,260 U.S. troops killed in the war and occupation.
Let Martin Luther King's Vision of Justice
and Peace Guide our Nation
Thank you to the over 2800 concerned citizens signed-on to the letter to President Obama encouraging him to be guided by Dr. King's call for a "radical revolution of values" and "to harness man's genius for the purpose of making peace and prosperity a reality for all the nations of the world. Click here read the letter.
The War Within: an Exhibit
Revealing the Veteran Suicide Epidemic and the
Hidden Wounds of War
The exhibit and the Veterans' Day event
which introduced it is another stark visual
reminder of the costs of war. The wars in Iraq
and Afghanistan have taken a huge toll on
veterans' mental health. White combat boots on
a black background show the 48 suicides in
Kansas and Missouri linked to the wars. "The
suicides and psychiatric mortality of this war
could trump the combat deaths." Dr. Thomas
Insel, Director of the National Institute of
Mental Health.