Dunkirk-Fredonia Center for Peace and Justice - CPJ News/Opinion

CPJ to meet January 28

admin — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 21:49:23 -0500

The next CPJ meeting will be Wednesday January 28 at 7:30 pm at the Thrifty Reader Bookstore.

Growing with Music/Thrifty Reader Book Store (Barlow's Mill) is located at 369 West Main Street, Fredonia. (It is one mile from downtown Fredonia past Farrell's Chrysler Car Dealership. Traveling from Fredonia to Brocton, it is on the right side of West Main.) All are welcome.

SUNY Fredonia's 2008-2009 Convocation Theme "Human Rights: With Liberty and Justice for All?"

admin — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 13:10:33 -0400

Human rights, justice, and peace will be addressed in the series of events making up SUNY Fredonia's 2008-2009 Convocation program.

For details on this program, see http://www.fredonia.edu/convocation/.

"The Election - The Inspiring and the Ugly," column by Dan O'Rourke

admin — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 09:51:44 -0500

The following, "The Election - The Inspiring and the Ugly," by CPJ member and regular columnist in the Dunkirk Observer, Daniel O'Rourke, was published on Thursday November 27. Dan's previous columns can be found on this website under the CPJ News/Opinion link at the left of the screen. Click on "Daniel O'Rourke's columns."

I wasn’t going to write about the presidential election. The print media has already poured barrels of ink over it. To call it historic is now a cliché. On election night both McCain’s concession speech and Obama’s victory acknowledgment were eloquent, magnanimous and healing. Wiser columnists than I have written sagely about the election, but here are some thoughts on the election’s aftermath.

Jesse Jackson’s tears caught on TV in Chicago’s Grant Park as the networks flashed the news of the election of the first Black president moved me. Subsequent coverage of enthusiastic worldwide reactions from old Europe, to emerging Asia, to ancient Africa also made me proud to be an American.

The White House visit of the President Elect and his wife and the gracious welcome by President and Laura Bush were lessons in how a true democracy hands over power. It was a dramatic example to the world. The winners in many elections are fortunate if the loser doesn’t poison, assassinate or exile them. Think Viktor Yushchenko in the Ukraine, Benazir Bhuto in Pakistan, or Morgan Tsvanirai in Zimbabwe.

I listened in admiration to the President-Elect’s calm, intelligent answers on “Sixty Minutes” during Steve Kroft’s wide-ranging interview. President Bill Clinton could also speak intelligently in complete grammatical paragraphs, but unlike Clinton the president-to-be also exhibited calmness and discipline. Bill Clinton might have been a Rhodes Scholar, but he had the discipline of a tomcat. Obama has the discipline of a Zen monk -- without, of course, the celibacy.

Michelle Obama has emerged in this post election period as a strong, intelligent and loving wife. The interplay between her and her husband on “60 Minutes” was tender and endearing. She will speak up and he will listen. She will bring him back to earth if he tends to get too full of himself. She will point out his humanity and limitations. She will be no Nancy Reagan staring star-struck at her man, nor a Hillary Clinton competing fiercely with hers, but she will be a strong, influential and steadying influence.

Napoleon Bonaparte once told his French colleagues, "A leader is a "dealer in hope." That’s what Franklin Roosevelt gave this nation in the 1930s. That’s what Ronald Reagan gave us in the 1980s. And whatever our politics, we should anticipate that our young president can also galvanize this nation with hope. Today we sorely need that optimism.

Obama will need all the help he can get. In many ways he’s inheriting a broken country. We’re facing a global financial meltdown with two wars and an over-stretched military. Unemployment is up and housing starts down. The auto industry is on the verge of bankruptcy. The stock market gyrates dangerously like a drunk on a roller coaster. No matter for whom we voted, Obama is our President and we must unite
behind him.

Some have criticized Obama’s appointments as overly representative of those who once served President Clinton. The same folks who once labeled Obama too inexperienced are now knocking him for appointing experienced Washington hands, but he’s not appointing cronies. There are no old friends like Alberto Gonzales from Texas or Mack McLarty, a crony from Arkansas who was Bill Clinton’s first chief of staff. McLarty only lasted one year; he was a disaster. So was Gonzales. Sadly, as Attorney General he lasted much longer.

The intellectual quality of Obama’s appointments, moreover, underscores his self-confidence. He has not surrounded himself with “yes” men or women. He likes the clash of ideas. He will hear them out and make his own decisions. In that way his cabinet will be more like Franklin Roosevelt’s than Abraham Lincoln’s team of rivals.

On the shadow side, Obama’s election has given rise to a wave of racial hate. The Associate Press reported that William Ferris from the University of South Carolina explained that a Black president is “the most profound change in the field of race this country has experienced since the Civil War. It’s shaking the foundation on which the country has existed for centuries.” That foundation regrettably, especially but not only in the South, was slavery, bigotry and discrimination.

The AP reported that far from the South “in Standish, Maine a sign inside the Oak Hill General Store read: Osama Obama Shotgun Pool. Customers could sign up to bet a dollar on a date when Obama would be killed.”

A district official in Rexburg, Idaho said second and third grade students on a school bus chanted “assassinate Obama.” Bigots burned crosses in Obama supporters’ front yards in Hardwick, NJ and Apolacan Township, PA. What does this say about this country’s racism? It would be naïve to think this election has excised it from the national soul. As William Ferris remarked, “Racism is like cancer. It’s never totally wiped out, it’s in remission” -- and after this election it
has again metastasized.

Obama’s election has been a recruitment boon for the Ku Klux Klan. A newly energized KKK is using the Internet to recruit others who think they should eliminate the national humiliation of a Black family in the White House. According to authorities reported by the Associate Press, Obama has received more threats of violence than any other president-elect.

In Swahili the word “Barak” means blessing. All of us should hope that his administration will deliver that blessing. We should pray that the benevolent universe that has somehow brought him to us would guide him in his judgments and protect him from the racial hate and violence that still lurks in too many twisted minds.

Retired from the administration at SUNY Fredonia, Daniel O’Rourke lives in Cassadaga, NY. His column appears in the Observer, Dunkirk, NY on the second and fourth Thursday each month. A grandfather, Dan is a married Catholic priest. He has published "The Spirit at Your Back," a book of his previous columns. To read about the book or send comments on this column visit his website: danielcorourke.com

Letter to the Editor regarding treatment of female prisoners

admin — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 20:34:52 -0500

CPJ member Dan O'Rourke submitted the following letter to the Buffalo News, which was published in the March 4, 2008 issue:

Dear Editor,

Congratulations to the Buffalo News (2/25/08) and to Charity Vogel for her courage in spotlighting the horrors female inmates suffer in our prisons.

I hope the Buffalo News will continue to shed light on the treatment of the incarcerated. I once worked in prisons and know the difficult job correction officers have, but I also know that they, like all with controlling authority over others, are tempted to abuse that authority. Like some educators, clergy, psychologists and doctors, some guards delude themselves into believing they can misuse those in their care for their own purpose and pleasure. In a horrible perversion, they can debase and abuse those they are meant to protect and help.

Senator Hubert Humphrey once said that the quality of a society "is measured by how it treats those in the dawn of life, in the dusk of life, and most importantly in the shadow of life.” These women are in the shadows of life. What does their treatment say about the quality of our society?

Daniel O’Rourke
8002 Frisbee Road
Casadaga, NY 14718
595-2704

New email addresses and websites in the "Links" section of the CPJ website

admin — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 22:30:46 -0500

Please see the "Links" link at the left side of the screen to see some newly recommended resources.

Western New York Peace Center events

admin — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 21:40:59 -0500

The Western New York Peace Center in Buffalo announces the following events for the upcoming weeks:

- Every Weds. evening, 4:00 pm - War Resisters League holds a weekly anti-war and counter recruitment picket at the Armed Forces Recruitment Center Downtown Buffalo, in the square near the library – need support. (Mostly on Wednesdays, but the day is subject to change.) It is almost always at 4:00 pm. To confirm contact Louis at louis@pce.net or 716-881-3546

- Every Sat. - Buffalo War Resisters League meets at different locations on a rotating basis to protest the war. For more information contact Louis at louis@pce.net or 881-3546

- Every Sat. afternoon, 12:00-1:00 pm - Women in Black demonstrate against the War in Iraq, Elmwood & Bidwell, Buffalo.

Chiapas Dental Clinic Update from Dr. Tom Potts

admin — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 20:53:52 -0500

DFCPJ has supported the work of Dr. Tom Potts, a dentist who has volunteered for many years to help the poor in Chiapas, Mexico. In October 2006, he and Dr. Bill Jungles gave a presentation at a DFCPJ meeting about the dental clinic in Chiapas. The following was received from Dr. Potts on December 22, 2007:

Chiapas Dental Clinic Update

The Latin American Solidarity Committee (a task force of the Western New York Peace Center) has been operating a dental clinic in the highlands of Chiapas, Mexico for the last 20 years. In the beginning the clinic served primarily emergency needs, with the majority of services oriented toward the treatment of infections and extractions. Subsequently, we have enlarged our services and now deliver a full complement of restorative services (fillings).

This year about 75% of our services have been oriented toward saving teeth rather than extractions. This represents a major change in the nature of the services and an improvement in our ability to deliver a higher quality of health to this impoverished community. This year also was the first time that we have provided for root canal treatments, and this was only possible because of the X-ray machine installed in 2005 by one of your members (Bill Stock).

A Mexican dentist is at the clinic on Saturdays throughout the year, while I am there for five days a week usually for the months of November and February. However, this year we plan to start helping a clinic in El Sauce, Nicaragua in February, and for that reason I'll only be in Chiapas for a week.

The clinic in Nicaragua is currently only doing extractions, so we hope to accomplish some improvements in the equipment and services there as well. This work is only possible because of the generous donations to the Dental Clinic Project by many individuals and groups like the Dunkirk-Fredonia Peace and Justice Center. Thanks again for your generous help!

New leader of Western New York Peace Center featured in Buffalo News

admin — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 20:01:24 -0500

Elia Mihou, Executive Director of the Western New York Peace Center since August, was featured in the Tuesday November 20 issue of the Buffalo News. For the next few days, it can be read at no charge by going to http://buffalonews.com and clicking on the Archives link.

2007 Nicarauguan Appeal a success

admin — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 22:01:50 -0400

Three truckloads of materials and $500 were donated during the CPJ's July 2007 Nicarauguan Appeal. Each year, CPJ organizes a collection to help the impoverished people of the Central American country. This effort is led by Ann Marie Zon, a Catholic social worker who spends several months each year at a mission in Nicaragua. Thanks to all who donated!

CPJ donates $140 to Rural Ministry

admin — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 21:48:43 -0400

CPJ is donating $140 to Rural Ministry in honor of the organization's 40th anniversary.

Headquartered in Dunkirk, Rural Ministry has provided the basic needs of food, clothing, and shelter to the less fortunate and those in crisis situations. Some have lost jobs, some face personal crises, some have come to harvest crops but do not find work, some are subjects of abuse, neglect, government reductions, or deteriorating health. See http://www.ccrm.netsync.net/ for more information