There
is usually a silent peace vigil on Fridays, from 5 to 6 PM, sponsored by
Homewood Friends and Stony Run Meetings, outside the Homewood Friends
Meetinghouse, 3107 N. Charles St. The next scheduled vigil is on Dec. 4.
Black Lives Matter. Since this is the First Friday, there will be a potluck
dinner after the vigil, followed by a DVD screening of a film.
The
Hiroshima-Nagasaki Commemoration Committee, Baltimore Quaker Peace and Justice
Committee of Homewood and Stony Run Meetings and Chesapeake Physicians for
Social Responsibility are continuing the FILM & SOCIAL CONSCIOUSNESS DVD
SERIES. The DVDs will be shown at Homewood Friends Meetinghouse, 3107 N.
Charles St., Baltimore 21218, usually on the First Friday. At 7:15 PM, from
September through December, a DVD will be shown with a discussion to
follow. There is no charge, and refreshments will be available. The
series theme is CAN WE HAVE HOPE FOR THE FUTURE?
On
Fri., Dec. 4 see GENTRIFICATION K[NOT] (USA, 2013, 47 min.), a documentary by
Baltimore filmmaker Jude Lombardi. She is an activist, social worker,
sociologist, and former professor who will attend the screening. The film
explores the meaning of the term gentrification and how it functions as an
element of a system that displaces people from their communities during the
revitalization of an urban neighborhood. It all started in August 2012 at Station
North Arts Cafe (SNAC), when owner Kevin Brown and the filmmaker had a
conversation about the meaning of gentrification provoked by the closing down
of the Load of Fun building. The movie focuses on a particular neighborhood in
Baltimore. Artists, academics, ministers, politicians and everyday people
present their views about neighborhoods in flux and possibilities for change.
Call 410-366-1637 or email mobuszewski [at] verizon.net for further
information.
"New Haven Couple Has Spent Decades Advocating For
The Least Powerful"
by Melinda Tuhus, Hartford Courant, Dec 2, 2015 http://www.courant.com/new-haven-living/features/hc-nhl-catholic-workers-20151202-story.html
By line for attached photo: Mark Colville and his wife,
Luz Catarineau of the Amistad Catholic Worker https://amistadcw.wordpress.com/ ,
run the Amistad Catholic Worker House of Hospitality in heart of the Hill
section of New Haven
It's the season of giving for nearly all of us but there
are some in New Haven for whom sharing, caring and giving is a year-round
commitment, even an avocation.
Celebrating Victories
Mark and Luz Colville have been running the Amistad
Catholic Worker house of hospitality in New Haven's Hill neighborhood for 20
years.
They and other volunteers cook two meals a day, they give
out lots of free, healthy food and they take in some individuals in need to live
in the house with them.
They also follow the radical Christian tradition of
Catholic Worker co-founder Dorothy Day (lauded by Pope Francis in his recent
U.S.
visit) of advocating for the least powerful among us,
whether it's challenging the city to do more for the homeless, participating in
Black Lives Matter protests, or opposing war and spending for war.
Mark has been arrested more times than he can count.
So when Mark got a $15,000 settlement as part of a
class-action lawsuit against the New York Police Department for its treatment
of protesters at the 2004 Republican convention, they decided to throw a party.
"Even though we have a roof that's starting to leak
and needs to be replaced, we felt that for various reasons it was important to
seize this moment to celebrate — to celebrate victories, celebrate the
movement, celebrate the struggle that all of us are involved in. So we decided
to use a good chunk of this money to throw a party for the 20th anniversary of
the Amistad Catholic Worker," says Mark, who was raised in Madison.
Celebrating and advocating for their community — that's
what the Colvilles do.
One of their most memorable actions came more than 10
years ago, when their youngest child was a newborn, asleep in an upstairs
bedroom, and a bullet came through the window. There was a lot of drug activity
on their street, including right next door. Luz picks up the story.
"It was ECCO, Elm City Congregations Organized, and
it was all their members and lay organizations got their people out there, and
we had a candlelight vigil in our neighborhood calling out the drug dealers and
saying we would not stand for this violence in our neighborhood. The drug
dealers were out there, present, and they were all laughing at the beginning
because there was only a trickle of candles. Then all of a sudden you see this
flood of candles coming through, hundreds of candles coming around the corner.
It was just amazing. And Mark called the drug dealers out by name, saying this
will not happen in this neighborhood. We have kids that we're raising, other
neighbors are raising their kids. People need to feel safe, and it's time for
it to stop."
And it did.
So, on a beautiful summer day a few months ago, they
invited all their friends to a barbecue at Lighthouse Point Park. Around
dinnertime, another whole group of people arrived, in time to witness the
Colvilles renewing their vows after 25 years of marriage, to enjoy a catered
dinner and dancing to live bands in the Carousel building.
All told, hundreds of people came who have been touched
by their work and their witness, from city officials to fellow protesters to
some of the homeless from their neighborhood, who got a free ride from the
Amistad house. One of the party-goers commented that she couldn't think of
anyone else who could bring such a diverse crowd together in common cause.
Copyright © 2015, Hartford Courant
Donations can be sent
to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD
21218. Ph: 410-366-1637; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/
"The master class
has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles.
The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject
class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives."
Eugene Victor Debs
No comments:
Post a Comment