Friends Bulletin “Building the Western June 2002 Quaker Community Since 1929” Volume 73 Number 5 March, 2002 Volume 8, No. 3 Frieiids Service Homeless A jiubUcalion ofthe October 2001 $1 miaiaElSMiiWWlriiaijliaiaiJItjMB winner MentalHealth MediaAward fnrIWII and Homelessness on Poverty PiaiagiBi Who A Note to Those San Diego Struggle in Unhoused You have a right to be heard. Yourlives; yourstrugglesand your dreams are important to us. In this time ofgroup mourning, when we look at what it means to be an American and pull together we need to remind as a nation, everyone that some have been left behind. We have students and other writerswho will verballytakeyour stories and opinions. Help us help our tellow Americans by allowing them to re- rtwnnver that vision of neighborli- Left to right: Leon Ray, Rocky Neptun, Anne and Forrest Caro. Friends Bulletin From the Editor Friends Helping Friends Who Are Homeless U Theofficial publicationof ntil recently, our community of Whittier, CA didn’t have a shelter for homeless Pacific, NorthPacificand people because we didn’t want to get the reputation of being too friendly. (Our Intermountain Yearly Meetings motto “Whittier: a Friendly Community” applies only to those who can afford to live oftheReligiousSociety of Friends(Quakers) here.) Some Whittier residents are worried that if we appear friendlier than the commu- (Opinions expressed are those nities near us, homeless people might decide to come here, and that of course would be ofthe authors, bad for business and lower our property value. Therefore communities in our area are all not necessarily ofthe competing to be as unfriendly to homeless people as possible. Yearly Meetings.) After many years, and much organizing on the part of homeless advocates in our community, Whittier finally set up a shelter for some homeless folk, but only those will- Editor ing to commit to a program of counseling and job training. Only a tiny minority of those Anthony Manousos who are unhoused qualify. 5238Andaluda Court Whittier, CA 90601-2222 The churches in Whittier provide shelter for more than 50 homeless people who Phone: 562-699-5670 don’t qualify for this program. During the winter, these street people live in the base- FAX: 562-692-2472 ments of our churches. During the Christmas season I volunteer to be with the homeless E-mail: FriendsBul@aoLcom folk some nights and always enjoy their company. Street people are, generally speaking, — <<www.westemquaker.net>> a very kind and caring bunch much nicer than some people I know who own homes. IMYM Many of the unhoused havejobs, but don’t make enough to pay rent. CorrespondingEditor With the downturn in the economy, and “welfare reform,” more and more home- AlicyaMalik 2693WAvenidaAzahar less families have been appearing in our community. This Christmas we had two home- Tucson,AZ85745 less families staying at Whittier First Friends Church. Nine children in all, ranging in age NPYM CorrespondingEditors from a couple ofmonths to 12 years old. I was both heart-broken, and outraged. JeanTriol I wrote an emotional letter about their plight to our local newspaper which inspired PSoOmeBrosx,M36T759932 a couple of people to make contributions to help these families. I do what I can, but it PegMorton seems so little given the enormity ofthe problem. 510VanBurenStreet That’s why I am so impressed by the dedicated work of Anne and Forrest Curo, Eugene,OR97402 Rocky Neptun, and Terry Messman, whose stories are told in this issue. Each month PYM CorrespondingEditor they turn out high quality street newspapers that expose the plight of homelessness and MarybethWebster POBox2843 injustice in America, and at the same time help homeless people to earn thousands of GrassValley,CA95945 dollars by disseminating the truth. BoardofDirectors These publications embody the Quaker spirit at its best and deserve all the support RobertGriswold,Clerk that we can provide. Every dollar that we donate provides at least nine dollars for home- D1e7n4v5erC,heCrOry8S0t220 less people, and exposes the truth about homelessness and poverty in America. What a LannyJay,Treasurer deal! 18602OldMonteRioRd We Americans desperately need education about poverty and economic injustice Guemeville,CA95446 JeannieGraves,RecordingClerk which only those living on the street can provide. For the last six years, I have taken PMB 131 Box8049 groups of teens and adults to the streets of San Diego, CA to hand out bags of foods, NewportBeach,CA92658-8049 socks, etc. to homeless people. The purpose of the project is to help young people to PhyllisHoge 213DarmouthSE overcome stereotypes and to feel more deeply connected with those who are poor and NM Albuquerque, 87106 unhoused. This year the teens decided that they didn’t like the project’s name: “Helping lisPaODoBwoxn11197 Homeless People.” They decided it would be better to call the project “Friends Helping BainbridgeIsland,WA98110 Friends Who are Homeless.” JimKimbNalWl What a great breakthrough! Would that more Americans felt the same way, and 3050 LynwoodCircle Corvallis,OR97330 acted accordingly! JoAnnTaylor 2850MidvaleAve LosAngeles,CA90064 NormanPasche W 620 Columbia St WA Monroe, 98272-1211 • Friends Bulletin (USPS 859-220) is published monthly except February and August by the Friends Bulletin Corporation ofthe Religious Society of Friends at 5238 Andalucia Court, Whittier, CA 90601-2222. Telephone 562-699-5670. Periodicals postage paid at Whittier, CA 90601-2222. Printed by Southeast Graphics, 12508 E Penn St, Whittier, CA 90601. • Subscription Rates: $25 per year for individuals, $20 per year for group subscriptions through your local Friends meeting. $16 introductory rate. Check with editor for a student or low-income subscription. First class postage $10 additional. Foreign postage varies. Individual copies: $3.00 each. • postmaster: Send address changes to Friends Bulletin, 5238 Andalucia Court, Whittier, CA 90601-2222. Printedon RecycledPaper WithNon-ToxicSoy/VegetableInk 2 June 2002 FRIENDS BULLETIN — An Interview with Rocky Neptun, Current Editor of R S T E E T H G T L I by Anthony Manousos, Editor ofFriends Bulletin What is Street Light, and how is it dif- Don’t you have any over- ferentfrom otherpublications! head costs besides print- ing! Rocky: Street Light is a newspaper for and about homeless people that was Rocky: Actually, no. The started five years agO by Forest and Church of the Nazarene pro- Anne Curo, Friends from San Diego, vides us with this office CA. There are many homeless/street space, which, as you see, is newspapers in the USA.* The San Fran- literally a closet that I share cisco Bay area has two street papers, with some choir robes. The Rocky closetedin his office with computer andchoirrobes. one of which is funded through the editor doesn’t receive a sal- Staffphoto. American Friends Service Committee. ary; in fact, some months, I Street Light is the only street paper in have had to pay for printing out ofmoney I lems as San Francisco in regards to gen- San Diego, CA, and it’s published by earn through a secondjob. trification and rising rents. The differ- Quakers. ence is that San Francisco has liberal, How can people help Street Light, be- compassionate people with political How does Street Light help homeless sides donating money? clout, but San Diego is such a conserva- people? tive, militarized city that it is very diffi- Rocky: We are different from a lot of Rocky: We need ongoing sponsors cult to keep this issue in the spotlight. We other groups because we don’t provide groups, organizations, and of course, have to struggle for every crumb for shelter, food, orjob counseling. Instead, Quaker meetings willing to support our homeless people. One good thing is that we help provide the homeless with a work on a regular basis. We also need both San Diego and La Jolla Friends are voice and a chance to earn some money. someone willing to help us solicit finan- committed to helping as much as possi- We print 10,000 copies each month, cial support here in San Diego, which is ble. which are given out free to homeless pretty hard since this is a very conserva- people through Friend to Friend, a men- tive town. We also need equipment from How did you come to get involved with tal health walk-in center sponsored by time to time, like a digital camera. But Street Light? San Diego’s Episcopal Community mostly we need people to take the situa- Services. Homeless people sell our tion ofthe homeless seriously. Rocky: Through Forrest and Anne newspaper for $1. Since it costs around [Curo], whom I got to know through $1,000 each month to print Street Light, Do homeless people ever write for San Diego Meeting. each dollar donated to our newspaper Street Light? enables a homeless person to earn $10. How long have you been involved with Instead of panhandling, the homeless Rocky: Yes, every issue contains at least Quakers? person is earning money and advocating one article and a couple of poems by on his on her own behalf. homeless and formerly homeless people. Rocky: I have been attending San Di- ego Meeting for the past eight years, *A partial listing can be found at http:// What can you tell us about the homeless and I joined three years ago. However, csf.colorado.edu/homeless/news.html, situation here in San Diego? I first found out about Quakers when I website of the North America Street was a youngster and the Vietnam War Newspaper Association. Rocky: We have some of the same prob- was going on. At that time, my friends Friends Buij.etin June 2002 3 were being drafted and some ofthem were badly thatI wentto apoliceman in Rialto , mother was so furious that it gave her coming home in bodybags. I thought that I CA, but he just laughed and said I was strength to stand up to him; that my little was the only one who was opposed to the being taught self-discipline and promptly brother realized that there was an alterna- war. Finally, I was directed to the Ameri- took me home. tive to violence and that my stepfather can Friends Service Committee (AFSC) nevertouched them again. office in Pasadena, CA and got draft coun- That must have been very traumatic. How seling. I ended up going to Friends World did this experience affect you as a teen- How did this experience with your step- College, where I got financial assistance ager? father affect your later life? based on the fact that I was poor and had Rocky: Just before I left home, I got into a worked with poor people in Appalachia fight with a kid who shoved me in the Rocky: Over the years I struggled through the Vista program. hard to understand and forgive this school yard. As my friends yelled at me to How did you become interested in home- avenge my being shoved, I started kicking man. I found out later that my step- father was also beaten by his father. lessadvocacy? the kid and shoved him to the ground. Sit- ting on his chest, I drew back to smash my I also learned that the circle of Rocky: Actually, I have been homeless fist into his face. Then I saw the fear and violence can only be ended by reach- mwyhseenlfItwwaisce1i6namnyd hliafed. tTohleeafivresthtoimmee waansd tleororkoirnignihnitso tbheeaumtiirfruolr.eyIersananidntiottwhaesbaltihk-e tiong—tihnossiedewoonfdeorufrusellvgeisftsanGdocdlignigviensg lfiavmeiloynsitthueatsitorne.etMsybesctaeupsfeathoefrawnasabaunsiavle- rhoomoem, apnadcktehdreaw buapg. oTfhactlotnhieghst,,aIndwernatn unesss.unMdyerssttraenndgitnhg,toldoavye,, amnydafcotrigviivsem- coholic who once threatened me with a on behalf of the poor and the weak, away, neverto return. gun, and told me he was going to blow my all stem from the liberating act of let- head off. I tried to defend my mother and Howdidthis affectyourfamily? ting go of the anger and hurt, tran- my kid brother from his violence, but it scending the need for revenge and was hopeless. One time he beat me up so Rocky: They tell me that after I left, my retribution. and Forrest Anne Curo: Founders of Street Light by Rocky Neptun San Diego (CA) Meeting F or almost five years, Anne and Forrest Curo have labored to ex- pose the vicious and cruel nature of — Forrest andAnne Curo Photo by Barnard Wolf homelessness here in San Diego. Their effort at the helm of Street Light has faces; human beings with hurts and ing a fresh, cool shift to the parched, been a courageous journey of activism dreams. By looking beyond the dirt hot afternoon. Like the wonders of and faith. and grime, ignoring the torn and soiled Creation itself, their activism is a form For most people, the plight of clothes, they saw that of God in each of energy, harnessed and welded by those abandoned on the streets is a and every one. few, that recognizes what a wonderful hidden tragedy never understood and Their involvement is as natural gift life is...and, in a spiritually sym- rarely seen, except from the window of and pure as the breeze that blows in biotic relationship, accepts the respon- a speeding vehicle. For the Curos, op- over the San Diego harbor on a mid- sibility of sharing and respect for the erating a used bookstore downtown, summer early evening, gently easing integrity of each human being which is these people began to have names and up the canyons toward La Mesa, bring- required by the Creator (regardless of 4 fune 2002 FRIENDS BULLETIN — the form, manner or person which The Curos have struggled to help ers and faithful religious groups pro- frames that vision). humanize the image of the homeless; to vide the soothing human touch which Forrest and Anne have a basic, allow them to tell their stories, giving eases one toward dignity and self- simple faith in every one of us. They human substance to the shunned and reliance, but as long as the economic believe that, if we are given the facts scorned, and to provide an avenue system remains a competitive, greed and told the stories and tragedies of where the unhoused could earn a few driven, mechanism of economic canni- — the poor and homeless, we will tran- bucks, creating a measure of self- balism where there is no margin for scend the petty fears of the ego esteem and dignity denied those who error because those who stumble are which desperately try to shield our shuffle through a soup line, who must crushed by the stampede of shoppers — conscious mind from the unknown constantly beg for a shower and a bed and weary, wage-driven slaves things death journey ahead by cluttering our and a measure of compassion. will not change. This paper remains emotions with an empty passion for Anne and Forrest are warm, committed to the vision created by the status and the meaningless desire for friendly people on a personal level, Curos, best articulated by a statement possessions. These fears expand this who share their time and love with made by Dr. Martin Luther King: idiotic notion of rugged American in- those in need, unlike many so-called “True compassion is more than fling- dividualism which attempts to make a activists with their whole persona and ing a few coins to a beggar; it comes to virtue out of selfishness and greed, effort tied to their particular group and see that an edifice which produces beg- forcing us to live forever looking in agenda; spending so much time organ- gars needs restructuring.” the reflective glass at the mall, The Curos’ tireless work on not quite sure of who we are “Ourperspective is that the Spirit ofGod in each of the Street Light these last few who we are supposed to be or, us makes everyperson worthy ofhelp. We hold that years has been at gr—eat sacrifice, even, who w—e hope others will God is always on the side ofthe unmoneyed and both pr—ofessionally in delayed think we are judging, compet- careers and economically. They unhoused. We continue that vision offairness and ing, choking on all those in- are low on funds and burned peace, as we salute members ofallfaiths and beliefs creasingly expensive shiny new down (not out) and yearn (like all things while our life blood is who seek to share the Earth’s wonderful resources great doers) for the retreat, that ” sucked dry by the cold, imper- — for the benefit ofall. place of quiet and reflection, to sonal forces of an economic sys- Mission statement ofStreet Light lie on the grassy knoll, staring tem where the rich and powerful Street Light is published by Self-Reliance House, a not-for- into the vast, still, night, ablaze always seem to win. profit corporation. Donations should be made out and sent with a million bright stars, where The hope and trust reflected to Street Light, 4019 Goldfinch, PM Box #255, San Diego, dreams are born and visions in their work is a living prayer CA 92103. Message number: 619-687-5109. made. that each of us will eventually E-mail: [email protected]. Anne and Forrest deserve the find the capacity, through God’s See announcement on p. 22. thanks of so many people who grace, to look deep within our have had their lives touched and inner chambers of truth and love strengthened by their work and and reach out, stepping over all thejunk izing and promoting their cause that presence, including myself. I have we treasure, and become liberated from they forget the very essence of the hu- watched and marveled at their strength — the chains of isolation and fear as we man beings they struggle for who of- and commitment that comes from deep come to understand the brutal nature of ten become cold, uncompromising, cal- within; an awesome energy force that life on the streets (not just scruffy male culating fanatics. Unlike them, the Cu- speaks the power and love of spiritu- winos, but increasingly women and ros have always tried to teach us how ally based fighters. It may seem strange children) and the horror of poor fami- many of the struggles in the world to- to call a couple of Quakers “fighters,” — lies crushed by inhuman, corporate- day from homelessness to the deaths but like me, also a Quaker, they intui- owned, profit-driven, economic forces. on the border, from the frame-up of tively sense the difference between be- They remind us we risk becoming Mumia in Philadelphia to gentrification ing a pacifist and being passive. — spiritual cripples, our humanity a of downtown San Diego all stem Thanks, Forrest and Anne, for all stunted concept, if we hide from our from the same root causes. Forrest your years of compassion and hard ethical and religious responsibilities to calls it the “social wounds” we inflict work on behalf of the poor and home- “the least of these” among us. The op- on one another and chides all of us less in San Diego. Your lives are living posite of love is not hate, it is the inabil- when he says “many people are afraid testimony to the social power of faith; ity to love. Without compassion we are to look at the situation too closely, you keep alive the hope and possibility but another insect crawling its way which suggests that even they know it of the just and peaceful world God in- through the mud; pretending that life is doesn’t look good.” tended. a great big game of chance, with no real They, as well as your new editor purpose, so that our political theory can [Rocky Neptun] agree, that it is not justify our self-indulgence, indifference enough to apply band-aids to those Reprinted from Street Light, October and hoarding. gaping wounds. Dedicated social work- 2001. Used with permission. Friends Bulletin June 2002 5 to the complete closure of the street Spirit Hospital, a rare instance of an Oakland’s Homeless alternative newspaper making such a significant impact on Newspaper an institution ofthat size. “Speaks Truth to Power” More recently, a gifted homeless writer, Trent by Alina Trowbridge Hayward, wrote a gripping San Francisco, CA Office of and vivid portrayal for American Friends Service Committee Street Spirit of the life and A hard times of comedian project sponsored by the Ameri- Doug Ferrari, who had be- can Friends Service Committee come homeless in the Ten- (AFSC), Oakland’s homeless newspa- derloin district of San per, Street Spirit, was instrumental in Francisco after struggling closing the notorious East Bay Hospital with addiction and a psychiatric disabil- for indigent psychiatric patients in 1998. ity. The story was picked up by the San Street Spirit broke several major stories Francisco Chronicle and CNN, and re- earn income, provide a voice for home- to the mainstream press, including the sulted in Ferrari’s reunion with fellow less people and their advocates, and per- recovery and rediscovery of comedian comedian Michael Pritchard, and efforts haps most importantly, create an organ- Doug Ferrari in May 2000, which re- to restore Ferrari to the comedy circuit. izing tool for homeless activists. The sulted in Ferrari’s re-union with fellow When Hayward died on the streets in paper is often the only publication to comedians. June 2001, Ferrari credited him and the carry the news of civil rights campaigns, Terry Messman founded Street article with saving his life. important nonviolent demonstrations, Spirit seven years ago. His involvement This summer, while covering the and innovative homeless service pro- with the AFSC goes back to 1982 when campaign for a Just Cause for Eviction grams, and provides a wide audience for as a student in the Graduate Theology ordinance in Oakland, Street Spirit ex- organizing campaigns. Seminar of San Francisco, he did field posed a secret study sponsored by Oak- By selling Street Spirit, 125 home- work with David Hartsough’s Non- land Mayor Jerry Brown’s office explor- less vendors pay for rent, medication, Violent Movement Building progam. ing the elimination of low-rent hotels, and clothes for job interviews. Street Since graduation in 1985, Terry has tenants’ rights organizations, and non- Spirit vendors enjoy a good name been working as a homeless organizer profit homeless services from the down- among Oakland and Berkeley residents. for the AFSC. town area in an attempt to attract 10,000 One grocery store in Berkeley even Terry explains how Street Spirit new residents. The month before, an named a former Street Spirit vendor helped break a decades-long silence sur- article detailing the record of abuse and “employee of the month” in 1996. In rounding the abuse and neglect of poor eviction by landlord Richard Thomas addition, eighteen homeless people and homeless psychiatric patients at drew an immediate phone call and ac- have graduated from an intensive pro- East Bay Hospital in Richmond, CA: tion from one of the mayor’s housing gram in investigative journalism, “The investigations that patients’ aides. graphic design, and layout called rights groups did showed that it had the Street Spirit is the second chapter in “Raising Our Voices,” a collaboration largest misuse of restraints, the greatest the life ofthe Homeless Organizing Pro- of AFSC, Media Alliance, Street number of unexplained deaths, incredi- ject of the AFSC. From 1985 to 1995, Sheet, and Poor Magazine. ble numbers of people who were over- AFSC’s Homeless Organizing Project The paper has reached a circulation medicated, and the least amount of ther- staffed the Oakland Union of the Home- of 30,000 readers since its first issue in apy being done. There had been a ten- less and organized marches, demonstra- March 1995. Street Spirit accepts no year history of attempts by the county tions, building take-overs and public advertising and is supported entirely and by patients’ rights groups to get park sleep-ins to dramatize the condi- through charitable contributions. AFSC East Bay to reform itself. I felt that the tion of homeless people. HPO has pro- pays for the editing, layout, and print- only way for AFSC to safeguard the tested abuses, and called attention to the ing ofStreet Spirit and for staff to keep rights and lives of people in East Bay need for low-income housing and serv- the paper and the vendor program go- was to close it down, so that all the ices. Oakland City Council member ing. All sales go directly to the vendors counties that sent people there were Wilson Riles, Jr, who had sat through a themselves. forced to find a more humane alterna- number of HOPE and Union of the Those who wish to contribute to or tive. It couldn’t be reformed.” Homeless speeches at the Council, support Street Spirit can contact Terry A year-long series on East Bay joined the protests and later became Messman, 65 Ninth Street, San Fran- CA Hospital in Street Spirit sparked protests AFSC’s regional director for Northern cisco, 94103. Phone: 415-565- from patients’ rights organizations and California, Nevada, and Utah. 0201. E-mail: [email protected]. Dona- investigations from county and state AFSC then turned to publishing tions should be made out to the AFSC mental health boards, and ultimately led Street Spirit to help homeless people and earmarked “Street Spirit.” 6 June 2002 FRIENDS BULLETIN ‘^Blankets, were meant for, or because other agen- cies are not providing aid to the people most in need. Bombs” Not In the case of Afghanistan, the AFSC is providing relief because the US is waging war against the country. Emergency aid is both a concrete re- sponse to suffering and a witness for by Alina Trowbridge peace. San Francisco (CA) Office of About one-quarter of the blankets WAmerican Friends Service Committee received cannot be used at all, and many more cannot be shipped. Some hy do people care more about are clean and usable, but just slightly poor people in other countries too worn to ship. Others are too light than they do about poor people here at or too heavy; those warm, durable old home? That question becomes more in- canvas sleeping bags are not useful in sistent when homeless people help load Afghanistan for the same reason that the vans carrying blankets and sleeping the donors replaced theirs with new, AESC bags to port for overseas relief, as they light-weight bags. also tries to have at the American Friends Service be respectful of the recipients. They do Committee (AFSC). not send blankets with patterns that The Service Committee is not seem inappropriate for an Islamic soci- oblivious to the irony. To help bridge ety: cartoon characters, corporate lo- the gap between the public’s impulse to gos, Swiss Army products bearing give charitable aid to the poor overseas Christian crosses, blankets colored red, while forgetting the homeless at home, white, and blue. Most of the clothes the AFSC donates van-loads of material cannot be shipped to Afghanistan at that can’t be sent overseas to local all. groups who serve low-income and When he can, Stephen McNeil Photo by Kendal Wooden-Au. homeless people. checks with people delivering dona- “We have long struggled with the They publish Street Light (where this arti- tions for permission to put materials dilemma that our work is essentially fu- cle originally appeared in February 2002) that cannot be sent to Afghanistan to eled by over-consumption of clothing,’’ and have staffed various projects in other uses. “Nine out of ten say yes,” says Stephen McNeil, AFSC’s local mate- homeless organizing over the last fifteen says Stephen. “Those who say no rial aids coordinator. “We are quite aware years. mostly have collected from neighbors of many of the labor and international as- The AFSC also collects cash and or churches on the basis that it was go- pects that clothing production entails. In- materials for the victims of war and cer- ing to Afghanistan.” The “yes” dona- deed, the textile mills have moved out of tain natural disasters, concentrating on tions are kept separate from the “no’s” Massachusetts and North Carolina •where work that isn’t being done by other until they can be sorted, giving the or- two of our centers have been for dec- groups, working with people who aren’t ganization an honest way of helping to ades,” leaving unemployment and more getting enough attention from other meet some of the need here at home. poverty behind. sources, and providing what other organi- Dolores Community Services, a In the fall of 2001, AFSC received zations don’t. homeless services provider in San thousands of blankets and sleeping bags “AFSC spends far more on domestic Erancisco, picked up three van-loads of for victims of the Afghanistan war from organizing work among the very poor and blankets and sleeping bags and good donors all over California and beyond, those on the margin of society than is quality clothing. Harbor House, a proj- and homeless people and residents near spent in literally dozens of nation-states ect aiding families in transition, re- the AFSC’s Southwast Regional Office who are suffering the effects of wars or quested 225 blankets. Because they have volunteered their time and hard natural disasters,” according to Stephen serve families, AESC was also able to work, alongside Taiwanese-American McNeil. donate stuffed animals, children’s Buddhists, Quakers, peace activists, and AFSC is not primarily a relieforgani- clothes, and winter jackets for men, other volunteers to load trucks headed for zation. It is a peace-and-justice organiza- women, and children. The AFSC do- the East coast, where contributions from tion that also has a humanitarian compo- nated blankets and sleeping bags to the all over the country were packed into nent. AFSC members usually collect re- Father Francis Homeless Project, an standard cargo containers for the journey lief money and material because they are Episcopalian project providing direct overseas. already working in a region affected by a services to homeless people on the AFSC works with poor and low in- war or disaster and can be sure ofdeliver- streets that builds relationships with come people both at home and overseas. ing the materials safely to the people they homeless people over time and often Friends Bulletin June 2002 7 supplies specific items on the spot out Uncovering of their van. AFSC has also given out blankets to homeless residents in the “Seeds of War” immediate area of their offices. The AFSC’s farmworker program, in the AFSC Proyecto Campesino in Visalia, CA, also suggested major donations to Cen- Blanket tral Valley agencies serving farmwork- ers and packing house employees Campaign stranded in the US by increased border security since September Nor- mally, many of these workers return home to Mexico and Central America in December and return to work in the by David Albert Blankets made at a refugee camp in Pakistan—PhotobyJoe Franko spring. Now, they are riding out the Olympia (WA) Meeting winter in substandard, under-heated F housing. AFSC connected with a relig- ollowing September 11^, our trucks to warehouses across the country, ious domestic relief group called Friends Meeting received a request from which they were then distributed to LOVE to provide 168 boxes of blan- from the American Friends Service local stores. Friends (like myself) drove kets, sleeping bags, baby blankets, new Committee (AFSC). AFSC is the service our 3,000 pounds of steel and aluminum sweaters, and other clothes to unem- arm of American Quakers, and has pro- made in Japan (with components manu- ployed agricultural workers in the vided relief and reconstruction assis- factured in Korea, China, and Indonesia) Visalia area. tance around the globe for eight dec- to the local mall, purchased our blanket, But why are US residents benefit- ades, for which it received the Nobel and sent it (along with the others gath- ing from the extras for overseas relief, Peace Prize in 1947. The request, simi- ered by our Meeting) via UPS trucks instead of the other way around? lar to ones that are received and re- (built in Mexico) consuming gasoline “People give more because of the sponded to regularly by Friends when- and oil products refined in Saudi Arabia, images they see and the stories they ever human catastrophes are in the mak- to the proper location, where they were hear in the media and the newspaper,” ing, was that each Meeting take up a loaded on to airplanes (likely Airbuses, — says Stephen. “We saw it when we did collection of b—lankets new or in excel- made in France) burning thousands of relief for Korea. Only the Korean com- lent condition and ship them to several gallons ofjet fuel (and spewing exhausts munity gave until Wilson Riles, Jr. and different locations around the US, where into the atmosphere). The jets then David Malinowski (two AFSC staff) they would be loaded into containers landed in Pakistan where the blankets went on TV. Then we started getting and flown to help keep thousands of were unloaded and shipped to the refu- donations from others, people who had Afghan refugees warm through the long gee camps. (To have done this lesson fought in Korea, people who saw fam- winter. In two months, 75,000 blankets, well, I should have gotten out the world ine pictures and heard about the situa- worth $1.3 million dollars, were col- map, the push pins, and some string. I tion at the same time they saw Wilson lected and shipped. AFSC was appropri- didn’t, so beat me with a wet noodle!) and David.” ately self-congratulatory. Needless to According to AFSC (they were try- Many people only give at year-end say, we sent a blanket. ing to raise cash as well), there were 15 and holidays, and the need, of course, is There was only one problem. As I containers, and the cost of shipping each ongoing. This year, much of the giving went to two local department stories to container from Philadelphia to Pakistan was diverted into 9/1 1 reliefefforts. look for an appropriate blanket, I no- (forget all the other transportation costs) The AFSC has found that not all of ticed where all of them were manufac- was equivalent to that of educating 80 the donors agree with their anti-war posi- tured: Turkey, Macau, Sri Lanka, Bang- Afghan children for a whole year. In tion, but people do understand that most ladesh, China, Pakistan. PAKISTAN! other words, the blanket program directly Now Afghanis are not their enemy. It’s harder I felt obligated to explain this to cost 1,200 Afghani children their educa- to help them understand why some of the kids. In former times. Friends proba- tion. — their own neighbors live on the street. bly would have made their own quilts, I know this makes your head hurt “Most Americans feel that homeless knitted shawls and sweaters and warm (or at least it does mine!) but there’s people should be able to help them- hats and gloves and mittens, and sent more. Pakistan is infamous for child la- selves,” says Stephen. ‘They don’t under- abroad these products of their own bor. In 1996, the esteemed journalist stand that homeless people are refugees, hands as labors of love. Now, we go to Sydney Schanberg (author of The Killing too, in a way. They’re internally dis- the local department store. Blankets des- Fields) published an expose in Life placed people. They’re not choosing to tined for Afghanistan were fabricated in Magazine entitled “Six Cents an Hour.” live the way they’re living. They’re Pakistan, shipped on huge, oil-guzzling He went to Pakistan and posed as a soc- choosing to survive the only way they cargo ships, unloaded in American cer ball exporter. He was offered chil- know how to survive.” ports, transported in diesel-powered dren for $150-$180 who would labor for 8 June 2002 FRIENDS BULLETIN him as virtual slaves. Children as young Friendly News and Views as six, Schanberg wrote, are “sold and resold like furniture, branded, beaten, Waging Peace Through Music blinded as punishment for wanting to go A home, rendered speechless by the liyah Shanti, age 13, of Olympia trauma of their enslavement.” Photos (WA) Friends Meeting composed displayed children working in dank a choral setting of James Nayler’s sheds, for six cents an hour or less, deathbed testimony “There is a Spirit” stitching soccer balls with the familiar that received “Emerging Composer Nike swoosh and logos of other transna- Honors” (for composers under age 26) tional athletic equipment companies. It from the international Waging Peace is not unlikely that some of the blankets Through Singing competition, spon- shipped twice halfway around the world sored by the University of Oregon, the to keep Afghani refugees warm were Oregon Bach Festival, and the Carlton made by the brothers and sisters ofthese Savage Endowment for International same children. Relations and Peace. There were more Quakers are a somewhat peculiar than 700 entries, from over 40 lot, and we have among our peculiarities countries. as pacifists not only an injunction to “abjure all outward wars and strife” but, “Living Peace” MGOF to paraphrase the words of the 18* cen- HaroldJordan at byJean Triol. tury Quaker abolitionist John Woolman, Montana Gathering of tivity to consequences. We are social- “to seek out the seeds of war in our pos- Friends (MGOF) ized in violence. This includes many of sessions.” This has become a more February 22-25, 2002 the sports we watch and play. This daunting task as the globe-has, through makes violence seem normal. Repres- C the wonders of modern technology, be- oncerned about our youth, last fall sive (coercive) actions force youngsters MGOF come a much smaller place. Friend or members called for a to accept the norm and not question, •not, the requirements of living in the search for individuals who might help squelching dissent. contemporary world would seem to re- young people seeking counsel and/or The presence of the US military in quire a degree of global understanding information regarding draft status and schools has been growing with the help by our children that is unprecedented. conscientious objection issues. Harold of recent legislation. The stated (or un- It’s quite ajob we havelD Jordan of the AFSC National Youth and stated) goal is to make the military so- Militarism Project in Philadelphia was cially relevant, a self-perpetuating strat- Coals to Newcastle? the perfect person. We are delighted that egy, especially in peacetime. New laws Response to David albert he was willing to travel to Montana and make it easier for recruiters to get into serve as plenary speaker at winter schools. Schools must allow military MGOF. Hearing and speaking with visits or lose state funding. Peace by Stephen McNeil Howard, we found him to be an extraor- groups do not get equal time. They may Strawberry Creek (CA) Meeting EMAP & dinary person. He was sensitive to the still get in, but only if invited, perhaps and AFSC’s (Emergency concerns of both adults and Young *by knowing someone in the school ad- Material Assistance Program) Friends, helping people to understand ministration. They have no rights by D the confusing issues of conscience and law. ave Alpert makes several valid war. He was helpful to our community, Registration for the Draft points in his response to the call suggesting ways to address peace issues There is presently no fear of repri- for material assistance by AFSC. We in in difficult times and to ask the Seattle sal if a young man of 18 does not regis- AFSC the five collection centers area American Friends Service Commit- ter for the draft. However, this could (Richmond, IN; High Point, NC; Phila- tee for help with educational materials. change. Bills are proposed that driver’s delphia, PA; Ca—mbridge, MA; and San Plenary Session license applications generate draft regis- CA Francisco, see website at http:// Harold Jordan spoke about consci- tration for males between 18 and 26, www.afsc.org/ematasst.htm) have long entious objection and the draft. He said and so that a male college student would felt a bur—den dealing with the overcon- that in his work with conscience objec- not be able to get student loans if he is sum—ption especially in women’s cloth- tors, he always seeks to discover their not registered. After the age of 26, reg- — ing that our society generates. The experience what has touched their istration would no longer be necessary. issues around clothi—ng are myriad and guts. Each CO’s personal experience Conscientious Objection many fine gro—ups including some (and values/passions) helps to shape the CO status must be established by AFSC programs work around sweat- discussion (and discernment) process. letters, not by membership in the Soci- shop issues, labor rights, debt cancella- Violence is a learned behavior: ety of Friends or any other religion or ("AFSCBlankets,” continuedonpage 20) Mass media glorifies war without sensi- (“Friendly News,” continuedonpage 21) Friends Bulletin ]um 2002 9 — — Faith and Practice Everyday Living and the Life of the Spirit by Steven Deutsch, Eugene (OR) Monthly Meeting Adaptedfrom a presentation to School Some define religion as “that which of the Spirit, Mountain View Friends humans do with their solitude.” ^ I be- Meeting (Denver, CO), April 27, 2001 lieve that is insufficient and incorrect. F Religion is faith and practice in commu- riends, as Seekers, typically start nity, being of as well as in the world, with an Inward Journey, where we both in solitude and in relationship with explore the personal linkage between others. our spiritual foundation and our daily I grew up with a great deal of nur- living. At the individual level we build ture and spiritual support, but not pat on the mystical tradition of Friends. In answers. Almost 50 years ago, here is Steven Deutsch with hisgrandson Max. the joining with others, we find commu- what my father wrote to my draft board nity, and from that we come to the pro- in support of my claim for conscien- to Washington, DC to lobby with the phetic role as we explore change to tious objection: “We have always felt NAACP against federal funds for segre- make a world more Holy and expressive that the mere fact of going to church or gated schools, and we vigiled against of the Spirit Within. This means that we praying did not by itself make a person Soviet repression in Hungary. It came to move from our individual quest to join- religious. To us, consideration, coop- be clear that I found the Spirit not only ing with others in a corporate linking of eration, friendliness, kindliness, and as I turned inward, but as I worshipped faith and practice. As Friends we build love, the ideals of human behavior, and with others, and as we built a sense of that community in our Meeting. the living of one’s beliefs are much community. That process, begun in my The Personal Search for more important.” To re-read this after childhood, was strongly nurtured in my Faith and Practice so many years is uplifting, since it youth and young adulthood, and it re- speaks so well to the process of seeking mains a vital source in my life today. I begin by asking the question: which I reflect upon as I enter the ma- Making Connections with Others “What makes a religious person?” By ture stage ofmy life as recent retiree. The Corporate Expression of starting here we will tap into the essence Meeting World War II conscien- Faith in Practice of who we are in our central core and tious objectors, participating in Ameri- how we are as persons living a life. For can Friends Service Committee youth Ed Snyder, as he retired from dec- many of us, the quest to answer this has projects, and seeing how Friends ap- ades serving with Friends Committee on covered a lifetime. For others, they were proached the world and sought to con- National Legislation, said, “...as in the given answers as children, taken from nect with that of God in each person, early days of Quakerism, it is often the some text. But if that is Holy Scripture, were formative for me. The diverse, negative actions of governments which will it be sufficient? I recall being chal- multiracial Quaker-begun cooperative have impelled Friends to respond.”^ I lenged at a Friends General Conference educational and recreational community concur with this observation, and note in the early 1960s in Michigan, with the in Michigan our family was involved in that sometimes this has posed chal- idea that we know the context of the life and the related youth organization in lenges for Quakers who wish to live af- of Jesus, we have His Biblical teach- Chicago were so important for me. I firmations and build rather than critique. ings, we know something of the contex- became clear of my own Christian paci- It is perhaps what Jesus spoke about tual outlines of our world today, and the fism, understanding that it was not pas- “rendering unto Caesar” but withholding great the—ological question is to fill in the sive, but active peace-making. George that (truth) which transcends (or contra- last box namely, how to apply Jesus’ Fox spoke to my condition as a teen- dicts) government. lessons today. ager. The fact of abundance in our envi- As we reflect on Jesus’ message, it is Off to college during the so-called ronment, with terrible scarcity for those good to be mindful of what theologian “quiet 50s” I found a milieu that was among us, within this country and in the Marcus Borg has written: “Jesus taught anything but calm. The Oberlin (OH) world, makes for a condition of perma- — and embodied an unmediated relationship Meeting was a deeply spiritual place nent discomfort as well it might. We to the sacred” and that “God is compas- and the campus and society full of fer- have come to better understand that it sionate about justice.”' In his view, it is a vor. I felt the power of AFSC’s report. need not be so, and the structure which modem distortion to only emphasize be- Speak Truth to Power, in 1955 as some exists is by choice, political decision- lief, and that what is called for in a Chris- of us on Midwestern campuses started making or power. Speaking truth to tian life is faith embodied inpractice. the Student Peace Union. We traveled power urges us to alter the circum- 10 June 2002 FRIENDS BULLETIN