I was intrigued when I began reading about the concept of the "Practitioner-Bridge." Numerous times in the past I found myself at the intersection of various groups I'm involved with. This likely applies to you, if you have been involved in justice work.
Category: Active objection
Reflections
It is paradoxical that during this time when I've been working on concepts for a just future, this country has been increasingly expanding its toxic politics and military might both around the world, and within our domestic society. There is a pervasive sense that it is all falling apart.
Spirituality
I believe our Quaker spiritual practices are uniquely positioned as a format for spiritual seeking and guidance for everyone, or at least for those who are not Indigenous. Even for those who profess to not have a faith tradition (referred to as tacit knowledge).
The Alliance Catalog
My intention is to demonstrate that building relationships among native and non-native people requires a long time, and multiple interactions to develop. And to show the wide variety of ways these connections can be made.
A Confluence on the Prairie
As a member and an organizer of the Decolonial Repair Network (DRN), I will soon be speaking about the past ten years of my work with my friend Sikowis Nobiss, who established the Great Plains Action Society (GPAS). In preparation for that, I've been building a timeline of our work together
Walk Cheerfully Over the World
And this is the word of the Lord God to you all, and a charge to you all in the presence of the living God: be patterns, be examples in all countries, places, islands, nations, wherever you come, that your carriage and life may preach among all sorts of people, and to them; then you will come to walk cheerfully over the world, answering that of God in every one. --George Fox
Decolonized Peace Testimony
This is all rooted in the European colonization of this land. Thus, our Peace Testimony must be rooted in decolonization. That is why, for example, I plan to return to the Great Plains Action Society's Urban Resilience Hub in Iowa City. This decolonial work is my peace testimony today.
What does an active testimony for peace truly require today?
As our economic and political systems, and our environment collapse before our eyes, many are being forced, finally, to realize that we need a plan for survival. And that help will not be coming from the government.
Refuse to normalize what is grotesque
The Economic Draft is the modern mechanism of conscription that weaponizes survival needs to force individuals into complicity with systems of extraction and violence. Individuals are "conscripted" not by law, but by manufactured scarcity—the threat of starvation, homelessness, and the loss of healthcare.
Tending The In-Between
Despite the trauma from the deployment of ICE agents to Minneapolis, the response of the people there, and supporters globally, has given us a template for effective, nonviolent systemic non-cooperation to state violence. Something that will likely be needed to withdraw our consent from further occasions of state violence, perhaps in our own communities.