A pandemic pivot from funding war and weapons to caring for humanity and Earth—that was the aim of “Human Care, Not Warfare" on Memorial Day, May 25 in Kansas City, Mo. PeaceWorks-KC Board members and leaders from several other groups spoke out and CARE-a-vanned two days before the nation’s death toll from COVID-19 reached 100,000.
Ponderings during a pandemic
Here’s my favorite pandemic quote to date: “We’ve all been sent to our room to think about what we’ve done.” I don’t know who said that first, but I’d love to give them credit for a quip that has had me thinking ever since. Just how have we acted badly? Well, let’s see.
Warheads to Windmills—want to discuss it?
All are invited to join a reading and action group to implement Warheads to Windmills. We’ll discuss the book and consider taking actions to actually do the deed: turn warheads into windmills.
Expand Medicaid in Kansas
I travelled with others from the Poor People's Campaign and PeaceWorks-KC on Jan.14 to advocate expanded Medicaid in Kansas. In July, a study of mortality rates in non-expansion states estimated that 288 Kansans have died prematurely every year since 2014 specifically due to our failure to adopt expansion. Totally unacceptable and senseless!
Justice via KC Tenants
On Thanksgiving Day of 2012, a fire in my apartment forced me to move out. … Eventually I found an apartment complex and was shown a display unit. I signed a lease. But the actual apartment unit I was to move into was infested with mold. … I became homeless. A friend gave me a place to stay; otherwise, I would have been living on the street. … I did not have something like KC Tenants to help me.
Poor People’s Hearing highlights poverty in Missouri
The national movement called the Poor People’s Campaign held a Poor People’s Hearing in Kansas City, Mo., Oct. 10. An overflow audience heard the heartbreaking stories of an undocumented person, a Native American, a farmer, a low-wage worker, and a veteran. After each of their stories, the audience chanted, “Someone is hurting my brothers and sisters, and we are not going to take it anymore!”
Labor on: the need for unions and the Poor People’s Campaign
The work of peace in action demands justice for laborers the world over. The dominating cultural ethic in economic practice is exploitation for the benefit of an ownership class; the resistance, hard-fought, has resided in labor organizing into the collective power of unions. These protective organizations for workers remain precarious, now, perhaps, more than ever.
Rally to protest family separation at U.S. borders
"We have to stand and fight this, because if we don’t at the end of the day, it’s not about them, it’s about us." This was a statement by Kansas City Missouri's Mayor Sly James at the "Rally to protest family separation at U.S. borders" June 24, 2018.
McDonald’s worker reflects on power—together!
Bryan Scarcella, a leader in Stand Up KC, is seeking a $15 an hour minimum wage and a union for low-paid workers. "My low pay," he said March 11 at the PeaceWorks Annual Meeting, "means not having access to health care. It means I haven't turned on the heat in my apartment for years." Both Stand Up KC and PeaceWorks are part of the Poor People's Campaign.
Behind inauguration headlines, a clash of classes
As a billionaire class ascends to the presidency and cabinet (in January 2017), Jim Hannah reflects on class warfare in the United States. Hannah turns to Howard Zinn for hope: "When we organize with one another, when we get involved, when we stand up and speak out together, we can create a power no government can suppress."