Peace and Social Concerns Committee, 2/6/17

Present: Dan G, Beth A, Diane C, Roger C, Ka R, David G, Paddy L, Jane J, George M, Frank G, Annie P

We began with a time of silence.

1. The 11:40 scheduled for February 26 has been traded off and now will be on the topic of immigration and refugees, not our responsibility to run. Now we have an 11:40 scheduled for March 19.

2. Doctrine of Discovery movie March 3, 7-9pm: it is cosponsored by Traprock, AFSC, the Peace Pagoda, and us. Others may be asked for cosponsorship: Leverett Historical Society, Nolumbeka. Beth is working on publicity. Frank will offer his projector and handle the projection, though Beth will ask AFSC to do it if Frank cannot come.

3. Annie came to tell about a series of concerts for racial justice this spring, the first to be called a Justice for All Concert, 7pm on Saturday April 1 at the Amherst Congregational Church. It will include Lea Gilmore, the Amherst Area Gospel Choir, Annie and Peter, and perhaps others. She asks us to sponsor the concerts, joining with First Church, SURJ, AFSC, and perhaps others. It will be a fundraiser for an organization not yet specified. We agreed and we will recommend that the Meeting sponsor the concert. Annie will write a newsletter article about it and send it to Roger for forwarding to the newsletter by the 20th. Dan will present this to Ann for the monthly meeting.

4. Letter writing: Refugee matters are currently of great interest, and Ka has been heavily involved with groups working on it; she has a lot of relevant information. Ka offers to handle letter writing on 2/19.

5. Roger presented Quaker Voluntary Service (quakervoluntaryservice.org) as a Friends Concerns: Other Organization (FC:OO.) We agreed to forward QVS to MtToby for approval. Roger will contact the Clerk to put it on the agenda of the Meeting for Business.

6. Beth will bring us Quakers Para la Paz, next time, for a FC:OO. Will others on P&SC present other organizations?

7. A donor has given the Meeting $2000 and has asked P&SC for suggestions for allocating it. The donor, Rachel Carey-Harper of Barnstable Meeting, suggests giving “primarily to groups that protect, that provide something for those ignored or oppressed or threatened, places committee to service.” She also says, “I leave it totally up to you to decide how to use these funds to create the world to which God calls us at the tumultuous moment.” We believe the general area of sanctuary is a good one for this allocation. There is a lot of interest in the area of sanctuary but specifics are not clear yet. Homelessness is also an area of concern. We do not have a leading at this point and will wait for developments.

8. Frank spoke of The Interfaith Sanctuary and Solidarity Network of Western Massachusetts (a project of the Pioneer Valley Workers Center), an interfaith effort to work on behalf of undocumented people. At MtToby there were 15 or 20 Friends who joined in a conversation last Sunday about the issues. The local group is wondering what its relation to our committee might be – “seasoning” was suggested. We are unclear how we can make real contact with undocumented people so as to find out what they need. Frances Crowe and another Friend will speak here on February 19 about our history with sanctuary.

9. Ka represents us in the Pioneer Valley Interfaith Refugee Assistance Group. She spoke of local efforts on behalf of refugees, and she may bring a FC:OO proposal to us. There were suggestions about fundraising for two local organizations working on behalf of Syrian refugees. The political situation is so much in flux and confusing at the moment that it hard to see our way forward clearly.

10. David spoke of his vision of a unified voice that could be created for faith communities, to work against the level of negativity and hate in our culture. This led to a lively conversation but one which did not lead to any conclusion, though David was encouraged to contact ION with his idea and to tell us about the result.

We ended with a time of silence.