Category Archives: Faith and Social Justice

items from Not in Our Town Princeton (http://niotprinceton.org) and Princeton United Methodist Church (http://princetonumc.org)

Chaplains on the Medical Team

Faith and Social Justice, , , ,

 

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For most of us the bookends of our lives – birth and death – take place with the support of a medical team outside the home. Chaplain Tedford J. Taylor, director of pastoral care & training at RWJ University Hospital Hamilton, will speak at a breakfast on Sunday, January 11, on how chaplains and others can offer pastoral companionship and support during these critical times.

The delicious hot breakfast, served by the United Methodist Men at Princeton United Methodist Church,  begins at 8 AM, followed by the program at 8:30.  A $5 donation for the meal is requested. Everyone is welcome!

 

 

It’s a Good Story

Faith and Social Justice, , , ,

Cornerstone Community Kitchen,  a partnership between Princeton United Methodist Church and the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen, has been in the news. On January 3 the Times of Trenton printed a photo essay by Martin Griff.  The previous week, West Windsor-Plainsboro News featured some volunteers from West Windsor on the front page. The Princeton Packet and Town Topics have also provided excellent coverage.

When I thank editors who run this story, I often get the same answer: “It’s a good story…”

 

Some white people admit to having privilege, some don’t. For both, here is a list of white privilege stories, personal histories.

Amidst the demonstrations of  “black lives matter” and “hands up don’t shoot” some of us who belong to Not in Our Town Princeton believe we should be educating  ourselves, then others, one by one. Until attitudes change, nothing will change.

 

 

Social Justice Calendar

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It’s been a busy week, highlighted by events surrounding the exhibit Freedom Summer, starting with the lecture by civil rights organizer Bob Moses (at left and reported here)bob moses library 15627635898_42dccf5699_z
And more to come —
Garden Theatre hosts a free screening of the documentary on Freedom Summer on Sunday, November 23, 1 p.m. There may be some tickets left at Eventbrite, or just show up and hope.
The Freedom Summer exhibit continues at the Carl A. Fields Center from Tuesday, November 25 to Friday, December 5. 
NIOT hosts its monthly Continuing Conversations on Race at the Princeton Public Library on Monday, December 1, at 7 p.m. 
Lawrence Graham, an attorney who writes about race, class, and privilege, speaks at Princeton University on Tuesday, December 2. 
A screening of the documentary “15 to Life” will be at the library on Wednesday, December 3, co-sponsored by The Campaign to End the New Jim Crow, Princeton & Trenton chapter.
There is much to be thankful for, and much to improve…

Freedom Summer: November 16 @ 2

Around Town, Faith and Social Justice, , ,

three in freedom summer

Michael Schwerner, James Cheney, and Andrew Goodman,  young men murdered in 1964 during Freedom Summer, have just received the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

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A wonderful exhibit on Freedom Summer opens at the John Witherspoon Middle School in Princeton on Sunday, November 16, at 2 p.m. with a talk by civil rights activist Bob Moses.

Try to come and bring your teenage- children. To appreciate the rights we enjoy, we need to remember how they were earned.

Songs for the Congo: Sunday, Nov. 9

Around Town, Dance and the other arts, Faith and Social Justice, Healthcare, , , , , , , , ,

2014 a Karrin_Allyson_2LEnjoy a terrific jazz afternoon and support United Front Against Riverblindness. Together with another worthy charity for Congo, Woman Cradle of Abundance, UFAR presents its second annual benefit concert with 4-Time Grammy Nominee Karrin Allyson.

When: Sunday, November 9 at 3:00 PM
Reception with the artist will follow. Doors open at 2:30 PM.

Where: Solley Theatre, Arts Council of Princeton
Corner of Paul Robeson Place and Witherspoon St. in Princeton

Tickets are $70, $30 for students. Click here or call 609-924-2613.

UFAR, founded by Daniel Shungu of Lawrenceville, works to stamp out riverblindness in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where one-third of the 60 million people are at risk for getting it. It starts with a rash and leads to sight loss, forcing children to leave school to care for parents.

Woman, Cradle of Abundance, also known as FEBA, aims to change the dismal future for many women in the DRC, known as one of the world’s most dangerous places to be a woman. Founded in 1999 by an ecumenical group of Congolese women, it supports a sewing school where girls learn a marketable trade. It also provides medical care and support for women and children living with HIV / AIDS, counseling for survivors of rape and forced prostitution, and school fees for orphans. The US partner is raising funds to help the Congo project build a Women’s Center.

Karrin and BillHelp both causes by enjoing a jazz afternoon with Karrin (shown here with her partner Bill McLaughlin). She is described as “always globetrotting and delighting audiences all over the world with her unique and personal style — straight from the heart.”

Moral Monday Rally

Around Town, Faith and Social Justice, ,

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moral monday rally

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Doing Their Part in Coach Class

Faith and Social Justice, Healthcare, Uncategorized, , , , , ,

A renowned but humble malaria fighter is today’s lead story in the science section of the New York Times.  Unlike many of his NGO peers, Rear Adm. R. Timothy Ziemer flies coach  instead of business and takes meetings with village chiefs as well as with the high-muckety-muck do-gooders.

2014 elsie and danielHis story echoes that of a friend from my church, Daniel Shungu,  founder of the United Front Against Riverblindness.    He dedicated his later years to fight riverblindness and works in a self-effacing but efficient fashion. He left yesterday (in coach, sloughing off concerns for his safety re the Ebola epidemic) for a meeting in Geneva and then for village visits in the Democratic Republic of Congo. He’ll be back in time for Karrin Allyson’s  November 9  “Chansons pour le Congo,” jazz concert fundraiser for UFAR and Women, Cradle of Abundance. (The latter charity is shepherded in this country by Prof. Elsie McKee, shown here with Shungu.)

Also yesterday I heard Don Stryker, facilities director at Princeton Friends School, share news of his daughter, Ella Watson-Stryker. She is in Liberia, on her third trip to West Africa to help with the Ebola epidemic and writes in the Guardian about why she keeps coming back.

 I came back for my colleagues who are tired, heartbroken and angry and need someone to take their place when they are too exhausted to continue. I came back because of the children dying alone in boxes, and for the elders who, having survived war, now watch their communities being consumed by a virus that has no cure. I came back for the patients who survive. And most of all I came back for our Guinean, Sierra Leonean, and Liberian staff who are fighting the long fight with a level of courage and compassion that exceeds anything I have ever seen. If they can keep going for months on end, then I can come back to help them.

Meanwhile a Liberian native, Judy Stryker (no relation), spoke to the United Methodist Women at Princeton United Methodist Church about the charity WOMASSI, and the women are rallying to help her collect health care supplies (rubber gloves, sanitizer, etc) that she personally mails to Liberia.

We each have a part, especially those who fly in coach class.

 

Moral Monday Rally: Kristoff Weighs In

Faith and Social Justice

bfiggefox's avatarNot In Our Town Princeton

Nicholas Kristoff (New York Times) quotes Bryan Stevenson:  “We have a system that treats you better if you’re rich and guilty than if you’re poor and innocent.”That’s  what the Campaign to End the New Jim Crow’s Moral Monday Rally is all about.  It is  Monday, October 27, noon to 2 p.m. on the steps of the New Jersey State House in Trenton. Parking is available at the state house or the Trenton Wyndham Hotel (follow the signs from Route 1 to the hotel). Purpose:

END the criminalization of our youth
REMOVE barriers to re-entry
REDUCE the prison population, END torture and abuse
INVEST in the social safety net (schools, housing, jobs)

Kristoff says (do you see yourself here?) The “greatest problem is not with flat-out white racists, but rather with the far larger number of Americans who believe intellectually in racial equality but are quietly oblivious to injustice…

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From Little Rock — to the Moral Monday Rally

Dance and the other arts, Faith and Social Justice, , , , ,

little rock

Passage Theatre in Trenton is doing a play on Little Rock, the famous school segregation case that cracked the Jim Crow rules. The play has been extended through November 2, with performances Thursday through Sunday.  Originally it closed the day before the Moral Monday Rally, sponsored by The Campaign to End the New Jim Crow – Trenton and Princeton. The campaign aims to reform mass incarceration practices that now mimic the old Jim Crow laws.

The play was  previewed by Ted Otten in the Times of Trenton and reviewed by Simon Saltzman in U.S. 1 Newspaper, quoting him:

An integrated cast of nine gifted performers not only portray the students but many both black and white characters as the play progresses over the tumultuous period from September, 1957, to graduation day in May of 1958…

Touching personal narratives segue into searing and scalding confrontations. What is remarkable is how little use there is for dramatic contrivance. There is no need considering the horrific realities that these students confronted and have been recorded.

It runs through November 2 at Passage Theatre’s Mill Hill Playhouse and I’m really hoping to get down there. SAFE is the word for parking across the street from the jewelbox theater, no worries on that score. Saltzman warns that it’s nearly three hours long, maybe the 3 p.m. matinees on 10/25 or 10/26 will work best.

As for the rally, it is Monday, October 27, noon to 2 p.m. on the steps of the New Jersey State House in Trenton. Parking is available at the state house or the Trenton Wyndham Hotel (follow the signs from Route 1 to the hotel). Say the organizers (and I)

END the criminalization of our youth
REMOVE barriers to re-entry
REDUCE the prison population, END torture and abuse
INVEST in the social safety net (schools, housing, jobs)

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