NC Peace Action was founded in 1986 under the name of NC SANE/ FREEZE. NCPA was an affiliate of the national organization SANE/ FREEZE. SANE was founded in 1957 and is considered the original “parent” of Peace Action. When the national organization changed its name to Peace Action, NCPA also registered under a new name.
View the NC Peace Action Spring 2020 newsletter.
Thoughts on “Know Justice Know Peace”
“Know Justice, Know Peace” [The Peace Booth’s theme for 2020] is, for me, both inspirational and aspirational. to me, The statement implies possibility, even as we might be dispirited by the seeming futility of the idea, given the state of America and the world. It reminds me to aspire to peace and justice, in my life, and in the lives of others ~ I include animals, who deserve both peace and justice. The best humans seek to make it so.
Through the webbed and tangled years since I joined the Peace/Justice tribe, I have been fortunate enough to regularly. “Know Justice/Know Peace”. Like I do now, at the Peace Booth, among people who personify its lodestones of justice and peace.
— Mia Austin-Scoggins
America: The Farewell Tour” by Chris Hedges (Book Recommendation)
“America, says Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter Chris Hedges, is convulsed by an array of pathologies that have arisen out of profound hopelessness, a bitter despair, and a civil society that has ceased to function. The opioid crisis; the retreat into gambling to cope with economic distress; the pornification of culture; the rise of magical thinking; the celebration of sadism, hate, and plagues of suicides are the physical manifestations of a society that is being ravaged by corporate pillage and a failed democracy. As our society unravels, we also face global upheaval caused by catastrophic climate change. All these ills presage a frightening reconfiguration of the nation and the planet.” simonandschuster.com (Publisher)
I highly recommend this book. Hedges’ previous books include, “War Is the Force That Gives Us Meaning”, and “American Fascists”, both of which are important books in my library. Book is worthy of your time, and your outrage.
Peter, Paul, and Mary Have Inspired Me for a Lifetime
In 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King led the March on Washington, the touchstone of America’s Civil Rights Movement. Peter, Paul, and Mary sang Bob Dylan’s “Blowing in the Wind” and Pete Seeger’s “If I had a Hammer”. In the ensuing nearly 50 years, the trio, as a group, and separately, as artists and activists, sang and marched and advocated for peace and justice. They were involved in the 1965 Selma-Montgomery March, and were troubadours and activists. They spoke out on behalf of the persecuted people of El Salvador.
They led, by music and example, countless individuals to embrace peace, justice, and activism. One of those people was a 12-year-old Raleigh girl named Mia.
Peter, Paul, and Mary performed in Raleigh several times over the years. I never missed their concerts. To this day, they guide and inspire me. Mary died in 2009. Peter and Paul continue to perform, and to promote peace and justice.
Their magic and their message endure. Below are two clips from the March on Washington.
Another plan I have is World Peace through Formal Introductions. The idea is that everyone in the world would be required to meet everyone else in the world, formally, at least once. You’d have to look the person in the eye, shake hands, repeat their name, and try to remember one outstanding physical characteristic. My theory is, if you knew everyone in the world personally, you’d be less inclined to fight them in a war: “Who? The Malaysians? Are you kidding? I know those people!
Tell General Howard I know his heart. What he told me before, I have it in my heart. I am tired of fighting. Our Chiefs are killed; Looking Glass is dead, Ta Hool Hool Shute is dead. The old men are all dead. It is the young men who say yes or no. He who led on the young men is dead. It is cold, and we have no blankets; the little children are freezing to death. My people, some of them, have run away to the hills, and have no blankets, no food. No one knows where they are – perhaps freezing to death. I want to have time to look for my children, and see how many of them I can find. Maybe I shall find them among the dead. Hear me, my Chiefs! I am tired; my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever.
— Chief Joseph – Thunder Traveling to the Loftier Mountain Heights – 1877