Just! News! Number 225, January 8, 2012
JUST! NEWS!
Number 225 – January 8, 2012
JUST! NEWS! is a newsletter devoted to bringing news about justice and peace issues effecting the Montgomery County community, the greater Washington D.C. area, the nation and the world
Upcoming events appear after advocacy opportunities and general news listed at the beginning of this newsletter
“Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps faith for ever; who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets the prisoners free.” — Psalm 146:5-7
January 8th thru 11th – Witness Against Torture will have a continuous 92 hour demonstration at the White House including using a cage of the type which was used to incarcerate many people when they first arrived in Guantanamo. Your assistance in helping to get volunteers to take part in a 3 hour shift during this period would be most appreciated
January 11th, Witness Against Torture will stand with Amnesty USA and dozens of other groups and thousands of people at the White House on noon at Lafayette Park and then will move in groups to the Capitol, House of Representatives, Justice Department and Supreme Court to call for a closing of Guantanamo, immediate fair trials or release for the remaining detainees and an end to all indefinite detention anywhere. Go to http://2012.witnesstorture.org / for more information.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012, 6-8 PM – Occupy Faith will meet to discuss its plans and priorities for 2012 and organizing the “People’s Prayer Breakfast” to be held February 2, 2011. We are a coalition comprised of representatives, members and leaders of Mosques, Temples, Churches, Synagogues, Interfaith and Ecumenical bodies, and other faith-based institutions & organizations who have come together to stand with the Occupy Movement as it works towards the goals of economic justice & inclusion for everyone. We support and work with both Occupation encampments, McPherson Square and Freedom Plaza in Washington, DC. with the intention of creating an active faith-based support network for the Occupy movement in Washington, DC.We welcome your participation! For more information:Email Us: nspwashingtondc@gmail.com, or Phone: 410-262-8365 or Follow us on www.twitter.com/occupyfaithdc; Like us at www.facebook.com/faithin99. Our Blog: http://occupyfaithdc.wordpress.com/. Meeting will be held at New York Avenue Presbyterian Church, 1313 New York Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20005. Metro stops: Orange & Blue Lines – McPherson Square; RED, Orange & Blue Lines – Metro Center. To RSVP, e-mail nspwashingtondc@gmail.com. All are welcome to attend.
January 11th, 6:30 pm – Committee for Palestinian Rights (CPR) book club meeting is on “The Birth of Israel: Myths and Realities,” by Simha Flapan. The author explores and debunks seven myths concerning the birth of Israel which have become fairly well ingrained in most people’s understanding of this issue. The book was written in 1987, is 243 pages long, plus Notes, but is a fairly easy read. The Howard County library has only one copy, so it would have to be ordered from Amazon or a book store. Please consider coming even if you haven’t read the book; the discussions are interesting.
Meet at 6:30 at the Café at David’s Natural Market. Order a sandwich or salad, if you wish, by 2:30 p.m., to be held for you at 6:30 p.m. (410-730-2304).
Monday, January 16, 2012, 10:00am – Keep the Dream Alive Mass & Awards A Liturgy & Celebration – St. Aloysius Church, 900 Block of North Capital Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20001. Catholic Charities USA and Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington invite you to join us as we honor Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and contemporary heroes who keep his dream alive through their work to reduce poverty in America.
Monday, January 16th, 2012, 10am – The Leesburg MLK March committee would like to invite you to attend the 20th Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration -“The Dream Is Real – Make It Your Reality.”10:00 am – Line up for the march to the Leesburg courthouse; 10:30 am – March to the Douglas Community Center;11:00am-11:15am – Arrive at Douglas Community Center Reception; 11:30 am – Program begins in the Community Center; 1:30 pm – Program concludes. Light refreshments will be served between the March and the Program in the upstairs cafeteria.
Monday, January 16, 2011, 3 pm to 9 pm – Maryland Death Penalty Repeal Rally and Lobby Night – rally is at 3:00 pm Lawyers Mall, Annapolis and was initiated by students. All are invited. Lobby Night Check-in and Program, 5 pm – Featuring Kim Davis, sister of Troy Davis – St. Ann’s Parish Hall. Pick-up your lobby night packets. Warm-up and get something to eat. Call to schedule appointments with your legislators now! To find out about scheduled meetings or share or get assistance setting up yours, contact MD CASE at 301-779-5230 or info@mdcase.org. 7:30 pm - Gather in main hall of the State House . We will go as a group to sit in the galleries together when session opens about 8 pm. Look for “Repeal the Death Penalty” buttons! Find Annapolis parking info here.
January 16, 7 pm – Prince Georges County Peace and Justice Coalition says that in honor of Martin Luther King Day, the Reel & Meal at the New Deal will be showing the film “The House We Live In” which deals with ways that banks, lending agencies, and other institutions control how mortgages are provided to different groups, resulting in racial biases in housing. This is the third film of a three part series on Public Broadcasting System’s “Race: The Power of An Illusion” broadcast in 2003. Although Greenbelt is not mentioned, scenes from the early years of Greenbelt are shown in the film. Dianne Lyday and Nora Howell from Baltimore Racial Justice Action will lead the discussion following the film.
There is an optional vegan buffet for $13 at the New Deal Cafe starting at 6:30 followed by the film (free) at 7 p.m. Monday, January 16. Come and find out more about the public policy forms of racism. The discussion afterwards is sure to be interesting! For more information, please contact Donna Hoffmeister, 301 441 9377.
January 17, 2012 — Civil Resistance on the Steps of the Supreme Court — Washington, DC - On January 17, 1977, Gary Gilmore, a “volunteer” for execution, was killed by a firing squad in Utah, marking the first execution since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty. Thirty-five years later, the U.S. has exterminated nearly 1,300 more prisoners since Gilmore. On January 17, 2012, the death penalty abolition community will mark this shameful anniversary with non-violent civil disobedience, just as we have done every five years since 1997 (hyperlink has information on the last several actions). Traditionally, the act of resistance on January 17 has involved unfurling a large banner reading “STOP EXECUTIONS!” on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court, declaring our opposition to the death penalty. The act of protesting on the Court steps or plaza is in itself illegal, which makes us subject to arrest on minor charges. We use this small act of knowing disobedience to stand in solidarity with the thousands of men and women on death row and to demand that our government recognizes the sacredness of their lives.
If you would like more information or would like to be included in a future conference call about this action, please email scott@abolition.org or call 518-769-1867.
Tuesday, January 17th, 6 pm – The DC Peace Team invites you to join some of them in viewing the movie The Interrupters at the DC Central Library. This is a documentary that “tells the moving and surprising story of three “violence interrupters” in Chicago who with bravado, humility and even humor try to protect their communities from the violence they once employed.” Because of their own personal histories, they have “street cred” and intervene in conflicts before they explode into violence. The Interrupters has screened across the country, receiving acclaim at Sundance, SXSW, and the Philadelphia Cinefest, to name a few; and wherever it has shown, it has been a powerful conversation starter.
Immediately after The Interrupters screens, we will host a panel discussion and community dialogue about innovative ways that local citizens are organizing to address the issue of street violence in some of Washington, DC’s most hardest-hit neighborhoods. Confirmed panelists include:
- Thandor Miller—WE CAN Program and Children and Youth Investment Trust Corporation
- Autumn Saxton-Ross—Words, Beats, and Life and DC Department of Health
- Penelope Spain and the alumni of Mentoring Today
- Officer David Bailey—Metropolitan Police Department, Youth Services Division
For more information, go to http://www.dclibrary.org/mlkweek or contact Eli McCarthy of the DC Peace Team at eli_trinity@hotmail.com.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012, 7:30 p.m.- What is the truth about Islam and Muslims in America? (Everything you always wanted to know – but were afraid to ask). In recent months, anti-mosque protests, anti-Sharia legislation and related controversies have left many Americans confused about Islam and Muslims in America. Join a panel of experts for a civil dialogue that separates fact from fiction in the current debates about Islam in the U.S. Bring your questions — and learn about resources for addressing these important issues in your own community.
PANEL – Haroon Mogul, Columbia University, Institute for Social Policy and Understanding; Rabbi Marc Schneier, Foundation for Ethnic Understanding; Melissa Rogers, Center for Religion and Public Affairs, Wake Forest University; Asma Uddin, The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, Institute for Social Policy and Understanding – MODERATOR – Charles C. Haynes, Religious Freedom Education Project at the Newseum
Admission is free, but registration is required. To RSVP or for information, contact Ashlie Hampton at ahampton@freedomforum.org or 202/292-6288. Held at the Annenberg Theater, Newseum, 555 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W., Washington, D.C.
Wednesday, January 25th, 7:30 pm – Panel Discussion on the upcoming Montgomery County Budget – which will be lead by Chuck Short, Special Assistant to the County Executive, Ike Leggett. Sponsored by the Archdiocese of Washington Montgomery County Justice and Advocacy Council and held at St. Jane de Chantal, 9601 Old Georgetown Road Bethesda, Maryland 20814.
To have more background on the budget for this panel discussion, you are encouraged to attend one of the FY2013 Budget Forums Scheduled; Resident Input Invited, which will be held at the following times and locations. All of the forums are scheduled to begin at 7 p.m., on the following dates:
- January 9, Bethesda-Chevy Chase Regional Services Center, 4805 Edgemoor La.,
- January 12, Silver Spring Civic Building, One Veterans Place;
- January 17, Mid-County Community Recreation Center, 2004 Queensguard Rd., Silver Spring;
- January 23, BlackRock Center for the Arts, 12901 Town Commons Dr., Germantown; and
- January 31, Eastern Montgomery Regional Services Center, 3300 Briggs Chaney Rd., Silver Spring.
Tuesday January 31 2012, 7-8:30pm, Washington Peace Center Volunteer Orientation – Interested in learning more about the Washington Peace Center and how you can be involved? Come join for our Volunteer Bash! You will learn about our work at the Peace Center, what we have planned for the fall and how you can help. If you’re planning to join us, please RSVP here. Held at St. Stephen’s Church, 1525 Newton St. NW.
Friday, February 3, 2012 @ 7:30 p.m – Creating a Just and Nonviolent World: A Muslim Perspective – Speaker: Ibrahim Ramey. Ibrahim Ramey is an international Muslim activist with over 25 years of work in the areas of peacemaking, nuclear disarmament, and human rights. He has held leadership and staff positions at several national and international organizations, including the Fellowship of Reconciliation (1995-2006), and the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation. Ibrahim also serves as a board member of the Temple of Understanding and the Muslim Women’s Institute, both located in New York City. Dorothy Day Catholic Worker, 503 Rock Creek Church Rd. NW, Washington, DC, 20010. For more info contact Art @ 202-360-6416 or artlaffin@hotmail.com.
Saturday, February 4, 2012, 10am-4pm – Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation presents Mystery of Suffering Quiet Day – the mysterious presence of God is in all things, often especially hidden in suffering. The fear and pain of loss and change can lure us away from the contemplative stance of living into the mystery of suffering. Sometimes the fear and pain are so deep that all we can do is come with our questions and our fragile desire.
Join them for this time of opening to the presence and transformative power of the Spirit in the sacred space of a dedicated community. The hope is that we will be strengthened to embrace the suffering in our lives and in the world with compassion and healing grace.
Held at Dayspring Farm House, 11301 Neelsville Church Road, Germantown, MD 20876. Led by Ann Dean, who is Director of Shalem’s Leading Contemplative Prayer Groups & Retreats Program and Director of the Personal Spiritual Deepening Program Leadership Initiative. Ann is a spiritual director and nationally-known leader of retreats and conferences and Anne Grizzle, who is a spiritual director, family therapist, retreat leader, and author of three books, including Reminders of God. She also serves on Shalem’s faculty for the Personal Spiritual Deepening Program. “Jesus did not come to explain away suffering or to remove it. He came to fill it with his presence.” — Paul Claudel. This day will have a gentle rhythm of prayer, guided meditations, silence, and optional sharing. $50 (please bring a bag lunch). To register online, please click here.
March 9 – 11 2012, Consistent Life 25th Anniversary Conference – Celebrating a quarter century of working for Peace, Justice and Life! A weekend to rejuvenate and invigorate your commitment to the Consistent Life Ethic – registration materials coming soon. For more information, contact Bill Samuel at president@consistent-life.org.
Thursday to Saturday, March 15-17, 2012, New Ways Ministries presents a Symposium on Catholicism and Homosexuality – From Water to Wine: Lesbian/Gay Catholics and Relationships*. Held at the Renaissance Baltimore Harbor Place Hotel in Baltimore, Maryland.
Major speakers include: Bishop Geoffrey Robinson, Luke Timothy Johnson, Patricia Beattie Jung, Richard Rodriguez, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend.
Bishop Geoffrey Robinson will also facilitate a pre-symposium retreat day. Workshop topics: marriage equality, transgender issues, African American issues, youth and young adults, lesbian nuns and gay priests/religious, Latino/a issues, and coalition building. For Catholic ministers, laity, educators, LGBT persons and their family, friends, and advocates. For more information: info@NewWaysMinistry.org or(301) 277-5674 or http://www.newwaysministry.org/symp2012.html.
Fund Our Communities campaign – is a new grass roots movement to get support from local organizations and communities to work together with their local and state elected officials to pressure our Congress persons and Senators to join with Congressmen Barney Frank and Ron Paul, who have endorsed a 25% cut to the federal military budget. We then want Congress to bring these savings home to state and county governments to meet the local needs which are under tremendous budget pressures. For more information about this movement in Maryland, please go to www.OurFunds.org.
Arctic Drilling – Earthjustice and Credo Action urge you to take action immediately to let you voice be known to the Dept. of the Interior (by the end of Monday, January 9th, if possible) in regard to expanded drilling in the Arctic Circle. Earthjustice says Take Action Today! Credo Action says Tell the Department of the Interior: Don’t drill in the Arctic Ocean. Submit a comment now.
Action Alert from Amensty International – MERCY SOUGHT AS DELAWARE EXECUTION NEARS – Robert Gattis is scheduled to be executed in the US state of Delaware on 20 January for a murder committed in 1990. Aged 27 at the time of the crime, he is now 49 after spending almost 20 years on death row. He is seeking commutation of his death sentence.
Shirley Slay, aged 27, was shot dead in her apartment at around midnight on 9/10 May 1990. Robert Gattis, with whom she had had a six-year relationship, turned himself into the police the following day and was charged with the murder. At the 1992 trial, the jurors convicted him of first-degree murder and decided by 10 votes to two that he should be executed. The judge sentenced Robert Gattis to death on 29 October 1992, ruling that “after balancing all of the circumstances, both aggravating and mitigating, mercy is not warranted in this case.”
Two decades later, a clemency petition to the state Board of Pardons seeks commutation of the death sentence to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. It argues that the jury and the trial judge had heard little of Robert Gattis’s “horrific past,” namely that he had suffered “extreme and sustained sexual, physical abuse throughout his childhood – abuse, experts have concluded, that was ‘catastrophic’ to his development”. A forensic psychologist who has reviewed Robert Gattis’s background of abuse, neglect, abandonment, poverty and deprivation, and his history of self-harm and suicide attempts, has assessed him as suffering from, among other things, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Major Depressive Order, linked to his severe childhood abuse.
This information was only revealed after 2006, after Robert Gattis’s ordinary appeals had been exhausted. In 2009, his lawyers filed a motion in federal court seeking an order authorizing consideration of a second habeas corpus petition based on the new information. The lawyer who had represented Robert Gattis for over a decade in state and federal appeals said that he was “frankly shocked” to learn of the level of abuse. He admitted his failure to “thoroughly investigate, uncover and present the information”, and that his close professional and personal ties to one of the trial lawyers had “in all probability affected the level of scrutiny I brought to bear on his performance in representing Mr Gattis.” The Court of Appeals denied the motion, ruling that the information could have been discovered earlier through “due diligence.”
According to the clemency petition, Robert Gattis has “consistently expressed remorse” for the crime and shown a “sustained commitment to rehabilitation”, including through his positive influence on younger inmates and his relationship with his two sons. An expert on male victims of abuse has said that “His current adjustment provides a glimpse of the person Robert could have been, if only appropriate interventions had been available to him when he was young.” Four former prison officers who knew Robert Gattis are supporting clemency. Governor Jack Markell can grant a temporary reprieve, but cannot commute the death sentence without such a recommendation from the Board of Pardons. The Board is holding a hearing on 9 January, and is expected to make its decision soon after.
To take action online, click here:
http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/siteapps/advocacy/ActionItem.aspx?c=6oJCLQPAJiJUG&b=6645049&aid=517034 . Amnesty International also asks you to consider writing a personal letter on this situation. See their website for more information regarding this more effective communication.
REFLECTION: “What is the ‘impossible’? It is liberation. To liberate people from the demons of fear, of loneliness, of hatred and of egoism that shackle them. To liberate people so that they also can love, heal, and liberate others. But in order to do that, you must go in poverty and experience the life of God flowing within your own flesh.” – Jean Vanier
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