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George’s Blog
Every State Needs a Law against Torture
05 Jan 2010
Your State Needs This Law
1. A person is guilty of torture if he intentionally causes severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, to be inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in or incidental to lawful sanctions.
2. Torture includes solitary confinement in any correctional facility beyond seven days, except when there is the threat of imminent physical harm to the prisoner or others, but any such exception must be approved by a justice of the Superior Court after a hearing at which the prisoner is present.
3. Torture is a Class C crime.
4. A person who tortures another also commits a civil violation. The court shall adjudge a civil fine of not less than $25,000 for the first violation, none of which may be suspended, and a civil fine of not less than $50,000 for a 2nd or subsequent violation, none of which may be suspended. The court also may order a person adjudicated as having violated the laws against torture to pay the costs of the medical treatment and care for the person tortured.
For information contact George at: 415 464 7744 or george@katrinasdream.org
(No comments, yet.)Related catagories: Uncategorized
Episcopal Church Condemns the Doctrine of Discovery
23 Aug 2009
Resolved, the House of _______ concurring, That the 76th General Convention of the Episcopal Church call upon the Supreme Governor of the Church of England, Queen Elizabeth II, and the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev. Rowan Williams, to disavow and publicly repudiate the claimed validity of the doctrine of discovery against all peoples, specifically as it is set forth in the 1496 English Royal Charter granted to John Cabot and his sons; and be it further
Resolved, That each diocese within the Episcopal Church be encouraged to reflect upon injustices committed against indigenous people and to urge all Episcopalians to seek a greater understanding of the indigenous peoples, supporting their ongoing efforts to attain sovereignty and fundamental human rights.
EXPLANATION
The Christian Doctrine of Discovery is the dogma that Christian sovereigns and their representative explorers used to assert dominion and title over non-Christian lands with the full blessing and sanction of the Church. The Royal Charter, issued in 1496 to John Cabot and his sons by King Henry II, led to the colonizing dispossession of indigenous peoples from their lands in North America and to the dehumanization and subjugation of non-Christian peoples (which the monarchy termed “heathens” and “infidels”).
The charter specifically authorized John Cabot and his sons “to find, discover and investigate whatsoever islands, countries, regions or provinces of heathens and infidels, in whatsoever part of the world placed, which before this time were unknown to all Christians.” The Charter also reads in part, “John and his sons or their heirs and deputies may conquer, occupy and possess whatsoever such towns, castles, cities and islands by them thus discovered that they may be able to conquer, occupy and possess, as our vassals and governors lieutenants and deputies therein, acquiring for us the dominion, title and jurisdiction of the same towns, castles, cities, islands and mainlands so discovered.”
This resolution - put forth by the 188th Annual Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Maine - would put the Episcopal Church on record condemning the Doctrine of Discovery and supporting indigenous peoples in their call for the repudiation of the 1496 Royal Charter issued to John Cabot and his sons and other similar Royal Charters which sanctioned European invasion of the western hemisphere. The resolution also calls upon each diocese to reflect upon its relationship with the indigenous peoples within its area to understand the history of its relationship with them, to build a relationship with all such Peoples, and to support them in their political and legal struggles for their inherent sovereignty and fundamental human rights.
(No comments, yet.)Related catagories: INDIGENOUS WOMEN
Embracing the Silence of Death and Life
21 Aug 2009
Introduction
During the sixteen months that my wife was dying of colonic cancer I sort of fell into silent prayer. Well, I was also pushed.
I fell this way. The hospice nurse told me always to sleep when Katrina did. That way I would be rested and ready for action if we should have a bad night. As it happened we only had two bad nights. Thanks to the beautiful hospice care and the instructions we received on using the morphine, whenever she was asked what her pain level was “from one to ten,” Katrina would always answer, “Zero.” The morphine let her sleep maybe ten or fifteen hours a day. So I got entirely enough sleep and often lay awake beside her.
Fifty years earlier I had found the Jesus Prayer. (Or it found me.) Jesus Christ, child of God, have mercy on us sinners. Lying beside Katrina and looking at the out-of-focus ceiling the Jesus Prayer would come echoing into my mind. After some repetitions it would taper off into a pleasant silence. I would find myself with a slight smile – looking at the ceiling affectionately and peacefully.
I was pushed in this way. I had the good fortune to talk with Maggie Ross, the author of books on prayer and also how the church ought to shape up. We had a great deal in common. And yet she strongly criticized my attempts to pray certain prayers four times a day and repeat dozens and dozens of names asking G-d* to help them. For two hours she urged me to “Put away the words! Too many words. Go into the silence.” And so, except for public worship in church I have pretty much left all words behind.
* In reference to the ineffable mystery behind the word “God” some Jewish writers refer to G-d, replacing the letter “o” with a dash. This helps us avoid the bearded-old-man in the sky. We realize that the source and end of our life cannot be described in words or pictures.I will attempt to do three things:
There seem to be no fixed rules – over the centuries people have found different things work for different people. Each of us can find our way to G-d who is always within us. Jesus promised that Holy Spirit will lead us into all truth.
I will attempt to do three things:
1) Suggest ways to get into the silent place within us.
2) Describe things one can do in the silence.
3) Share some results people have found after being in silence. I imagine the results will be different for all of us.
1) Getting into the Silent Place
At first it helps to go into the silence at the same time each day and in the same place. Later on we may find it easy to enter our inner silence anywhere at any time. We don’t need silence outside. I imagine one can enter silence on a noisy street or in a boiler factory.
People have used just about any position: from sitting straight on the edge of a wooden chair to relaxing on one’s bed. Each of us will find what works.
Breathing is not only necessary; it is a way G-d is always within us. We can exhale – slowly and gently, as much as possible – and then, gently welcome the new breath deeper and deeper. It is the rhythm of life itself.
If you wish to begin by focusing on something – a word, a candle, an icon – be ready to leave it behind and move on into empty silence. G-d is not in a crucifix, holy picture, flower, or even any idea of G-d. All these things are created. Ideas are created by our minds. We are invited to focus on G-d who is not a created thing. G-d is no thing. So we embrace nothing. We desire nothing.
G-d is not defined by a three letter word. G-d is beyond words. Beyond definition. Beyond theology or dogma. Just like us. We are also beyond words. Our so-called “personality” is a mosaic of colors – gaudy or grey – having little or no relationship to who we really are in our deepest truth.
Getting ready to go into the silent place is preparing to do nothing. Silence is not an activity. It has no agenda. More like relaxing into being, into breathing, into peace.
Paraphrasing Meister Eckhart, a teacher of prayer in the early 14th Century, “Your eyes looking at God are God’s eyes looking at you.”
2) In the Silence
We can accept whatever “interruption” may come into our mind, notice it peacefully, and let it pass like weather around a solid mountain that cannot be moved. Each of us is like Mount Zion “which shall never be moved.”
All sorts of worries may come: regrets, resentments, dangers – “How could I have hurt my husband/wife like that?” “How could she/he have hurt me?” “Did I turn off the stove?”
They come and they go talking of Michelangelo.
The Jesus Prayer – or simply repeating “Jesus” or a prayer word – brings us gently back into the silent land.
We are alive – G-d and you – G-d and I. So we don’t have to talk a about it, think about it, make words about it. All we do is breathe. All we do is be.
It is a time when creative inspirations can come to mind. If they are really gifts from G-d they will return when it is time for us to use them. We don’t need to write anything down. We are doing something more important now. We are at the center of ourselves – the center of Life – the center of Love – the center of G-d. It is so beautiful to be oneself with the one who created us, who rejoiced to see us born, and who saw that we are good.
3) After the silence
Some people find that their compassion increases for all life, for all creation, for enemies and friends, and even for oneself – that person who is part of G-d.
Priorities may become clearer – what is important to do now and what can best be done later.
One may begin to understand that G-d has everything in hand. “All shall be well. And all manner of things shall be well.” Julian of Norwich thought that was true. I wonder if this is also true: “All is well. And all manner of things is well.” And even: “All has been well. And all manner of things has been well.
One may be less anxious.
We may trust our judgment more. After all, G-d is within us. Do we have all the answers? No, we are just like the Bible, the Creeds, and the Pope – inspired and fallible. And yet – Emmanuel – G-d is with us.
It is a great joy to be oneself, alive, having gone into the silence of death and life itself.
When I was visiting St. Francis’ House in New London’s inner city, Emmett Jarrett and Anne Scheibner gave me a copy of Maggie Ross’s “The Fire in your Life” to help me pray. This led me to read Ross’s other books. When I offered Chilton Knudsen, the Episcopal Bishop of Maine, a copy of Ross’s “Pillars of Flame” she laughed and declined, saying she had a copy and had written on every page. However she gave me Ross’s email. Emails led to a two hour conversation about prayer which moved me to spend time with G-d in silence rather than with any words. Ross recommended “Into the Silent Land” by Martin Laird, whom Ross had helped on his pilgrimage. Laird’s book is the basis of these thoughts on silent prayer. Ross also recommended Beverly Lanzetta’s On the Other Side of Nothingness which suggests that the mystics of all faiths are the only hope for world peace. It is a great book, based partly on Meister Eckhardt.
Praised by Archbishop Rowan Williams, Ross’s Pillars of Flame has just been republished by Seabury Press with an introduction by Desmond Tutu. Ross sees that hierarchy, patriarchy and dogmatism are like the emperor – no clothes. I see hierarchy as a mental illness similar to the sickness of colonialism (as defined by psychologist and revolutionary Frantz Fanon in The Wretched of the Earth.) If I wrote a jacket blurb for Pillars, it might be something like this:
Maggie Ross reverses eighteen centuries of bad decisions by various vicars of Christ – east and west – mostly west – by reviving Syrian theologians to replace Platonic and Aristotelian linear nonsense with Semitic theology; by exposing hierarchy as incompatible with Jesus’ self emptying; and by offering solitude and silence as an antidote to western Christianity’s tradition of violence and oppression.
In our chaotic lives how can we find the peace Jesus offers us? Try a few minutes of the Jesus Prayer before drifting off to sleep, if wakeful during the night, and at occasional moments in the day. This might give you brief visits into the silent land. Finding this peace may be the most important things we can do for ourselves and for the people in our lives. It may be the hope of the whole world. And the reason Jesus came to earth.
If you cared to contact me, I’d enjoy sharing our experiences – in conversation or in silence.
george@katrinasdream.org
Related catagories: Silent Prayer
Email after the 2009 Episcopal Convention
26 Jul 2009
Dear Family and Friends,
Just a few minutes ago the House of Bishops concurred with a previous action by the House of Deputies and passed resolution C020 against torture “in any location in the world.”
The first to speak to the resolution was George Packard, Bishop for Chaplaincies, including the Armed forces of the United States. A decorated hero from Vietnam, Packard praised the resolution and urged Episcopalians to support all members of the armed forces whose lives may have been injured by Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo.
For Packard’s remarkable life story CLICK HERE
The second speaker was Catherine Roskam, Suffragan Bishop of New York. She seconded Packard’s remarks about international torture and pointed out that the second resolve supported the “cessation of torture in American jails, prisons, and immigration detention centers.” For a description of Roskam CLICK HERE
The Episcopal church calls upon “lawyers who are Episcopalian and dioceses . . . to procure or provide pro bono legal counsel to help defend any Episcopalian in military, police . . . who faces discharge or disciplinary action for refusing to order, engage or assist in torture….”
The Episcopal Church calls “upon the United States government, and all governments, individuals and organizations in any location in the world to comply with the Geneva Conventions and the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights . . . enacting policies to prevent the use of torture and extraordinary rendition both domestically and abroad.”
Finally, in response to the National Religious Campaign Against Torture the Episcopal Church calls “upon the President and Congress to devise and implement truth and reconciliation-based methods of accountability to make transparent to the American people governmental practices of torture and extraordinary rendition.”
Needless to say I am deeply grateful to a great many people here at the General Convention — too many to list at this time — whose decency and political wisdom caused this resolution to pass.
The text of the resolution is below my name. Probably a few words will be adjusted in the final “editing” of all resolutions.
Surely the dear G-d is with and within you always. Let us hold the torturers and the tortured in our hearts so they may know the love of the dear G-d in their hearts. They have suffered so much.
George
Resolution:
C020
Title:
Condemnation of Torture
Topic:
Human Rights
Committee:
09 - National and International Concerns
House of Initial Action:
Deputies
Proposer:
Diocese of Newark
Resolved, the House of Bishops concurring, That the 76th General Convention condemn the use of torture and the practice of extraordinary rendition by the United States and any government, individual or organization in any location in the world; and be it further
Resolved, that Episcopalians shall not engage in, order, or assist in the torture of any human being, and shall not counsel the use of torture for intelligence gathering or any other purpose; and be it further
Resolved, that lawyers who are Episcopalians and dioceses are urged to procure or provide pro bono legal counsel to help defend any Episcopalian in military, police, civilian governmental or contractor service who faces discharge or disciplinary action for refusing to order, engage or assist in torture, or for refusing to approve or to provide counsel justifying the use of torture for any purpose, or who faces discharge or disciplinary action for exposing such practices; and be it further
Resolved, That the General Convention call upon the United States government, and all governments, individuals and organizations in any location in the world to comply with Geneva Conventions and the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the administration of Justice, enacting policies to prevent the use of torture and extraordinary rendition both domestically and abroad; and be it further
Resolved, that the General Convention call upon the President and Congress to devise and implement truth and reconciliation-based methods of accountability to make transparent to the American people governmental practices of torture and extraordinary rendition.
(No comments, yet.)Related catagories: Uncategorized
Press Release: Malcolm Boyd’s New Poem
26 Jul 2009
Manset, Maine – June 25, 2009 – Katrina’s Dream published a new poem today by Malcolm Boyd about torture in American prisons. The poem connects torture in our American jails and \in Anaheim this July to pass a resolution asking Congress to outlaw torture in American jails and prisons. The resolution is on the internet at http://www.opinion.katrinasdream.org/?p=107
Boyd, 86, is poet/writer-in-residence at the Episcopal Cathedral Center of St. Paul in Los Angeles. After a career in Hollywood and television, Boyd was ordained an Episcopal priest. He founded a college coffee house in Colorado and opposed segregation in Louisiana in 1959. He joined 27 other Episcopal priests, Black and white, in a Louisiana Freedom Ride in 1961, and registered voters in Mississippi and Alabama in 1965, the year “Are You Running with Me, Jesus?” was published. A fortieth anniversary edition has been published with additional poems.
In 1966 national media reported on his gig reading prayers and his dialogue with audiences about God in the San Francisco nightclub, the hungry i. He performed with Dick Gregory, Vince Guaraldi and Charlie Byrd.
The New York Times wrote, “Malcolm Boyd is a latter-day Luther or a more worldly Wesley, trying to move religion out of ‘ghettoized’ churches into the streets where people are.” In 1968 Boyd was with Martin Luther King, Jr. in a nonviolent protest against the Vietnam War inside Arlington Cemetery, directly below the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. He was arrested in the Pentagon for being part of a Peace Mass protesting the Vietnam War.
Bobby Dellelo, 67, spent 40 years of his life in reform schools and prisons, five years in solitary, with three escapes. He works on the American Friends Service Committee Criminal Justice Program. He was featured in the March 30, 2009, New Yorker Article “Hellhole” about torture in solitary confinement.
Katrina’s Dream was founded in memory of the late Katrina Martha Swanson, one of the “Philadelphia Eleven” ordained priest irregularly in 1974. When the Equal Rights Amendment was voted down, Katrina always said the Pledge of Allegiance, “With Liberty and Justice for Some.” Katrina’s Dream is dedicated to the full inclusion of women in society and Liberty and Justice for All.
Among other justice issues, Katrina’s booth at the Episcopal Convention will support a resolution that “requests the Congress of the United States to prohibit torture including long-term solitary confinement and every cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of prisoners in all prisons, jails, and other places of confinement within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction, following the definition of torture in the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.” Bobby Dellelo will help staff the booth at the Episcopal convention and speak at the legislative hearing on the resolution which he helped write.
By Malcolm Boyd
General Convention 2009
We’ve mainstreamed torture, haven’t we, Jesus? Turned it into just another word in the clutter of everyday news. Not something to work up any sweat about. It seems to me our worst sin is to torture people who are already in our power as prisoners. Like people in our prisons. Like Bobby Dellelo.
The 33 years you spent with us here, Jesus, including when we nailed you, still hasn’t taught us what we need to know about love and justice, has it? Our prison system seems an agonizing and endless system of crucifixion. Why don’t we wake up, Jesus? Prison torture is torture of flesh and blood beings. It’s not unlike our torture of you when you dwelt among us.
Please convert us, Jesus, to work against prison torture. Change us into community organizers for peace, justice, nonviolence and your love. Thank you, Jesus.
Related catagories: Torture No Prisoners
First Email from the 2009 Episcopal Convention
26 Jul 2009
Dear Family and Friends,
The General Convention is a window into the Episcopal Church.
The exhibit hall is one example. We see the foolish expenditure of lavish booths — some with piles of silver and gold chalices costing thousands and thousands of dollars — displayed in architecturally marvelous booths. There are also booths of indigenous people around the world selling various items to support their very lives. There are a few progressive movers and shakers — troublers of Israel — who want justice to flow in every direction. And sales of Bishop’s Blend Coffee to help poor coffee farmers. Publishers sell mostly expensive books on prayer, bible study, and self improvement.
The debates have been thoughtful and generous — as far as I have seen. Bobby Dellelo has covered the House of Deputies. I am now in the House of Bishops as they debate the possibility of studying possible liturgies for blessing same gender couples.
I fear that the General Convention will — inadvertently — condone torture INSIDE American jails, prisons, and immigration detention centers. The unintended consequences of C020’s silence on torture in America is, in fact, condoning torture in America.
Here is the current resolution against torture — C020.
CURRENT VARIANT
/Resolution:/ *C020*
/Title:/ *Condemnation of Torture*
/Topic:/ *Human Rights*
/Committee:/ *09 - National and International Concerns*
/House of Initial Action:/ *Deputies*
/Proposer:/ *Diocese of Newark*
————————————————————————
/ Resolved,/ the House of Bishops concurring, That the 76th General
Convention condemn the use of torture and the practice of extraordinary
rendition by the United States and any government, individual or
organization in any location in the world; and be it further
/Resolved, that Episcopalians shall not engage in, order, or assist in
the torture of any human being, and shall not counsel the use of torture
for intelligence gathering or any other purpose; and be it further/
/Resolved, that lawyers who are Episcopalians and dioceses are urged to
procure or provide pro bono legal counsel to help defend any
Episcopalian in military, police, civilian governmental or contractor
service who faces discharge or disciplinary action for refusing to
order, engage or assist in torture, or for refusing to approve or to
provide counsel justifying the use of torture for any purpose, or who
faces discharge or disciplinary action for exposing such practices; and
be it further/
/Resolved/, That the General Convention call upon the United States
government, and all governments, individuals and organizations in any
location in the world to comply with Geneva Conventions and the United
Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the administration of
Justice, enacting policies to prevent its use /the use or torture and
/extraordinary rendition both domestically and abroad/; and be it further/
/Resolved, that the General Convention call upon the President and
Congress to devise and implement truth and reconciliation-based methods
of accountability to make transparent to the American people
governmental practices or torture and extraordinary rendition./
Members of the National and International Issues legislative committee told me that it does not refer to torture in our jails, prisons and immigration detention centers.
—————————————————————————–
So we have asked a few bishops and a few deputies to add the following phrase to C020:
including American jails, prisons and immigration detention centers
Sadly enough — if they only condemn FOREIGN torture they are offering silent acceptance of domestic torture. They will have failed to consider Sheldon Weinstein — attacked in his cell on April 20, 2009 in a Maine Prison. He was a sex offender. The guards left his cell door open. Guards are aware that sex offenders are often killed by other prisoners. He was kicked in the groin over and over again. He died four days later. Nothing new. Just what happens in prison.
One can see Maine guards Macing a naked prisoner in the face after he is strapped into a restraint chair. It’s on the web at: CLICK HERE
A BBC documentary shows torture in jails and prisons all over America: http://novakeo.com/?p=109
Some things have really helped our cause:
Last night Malcolm Boyd gave a DYNAMIC poetry reading backed by inspired jazz musicians — guitar, piano and drums. The reading was held in the Jazz Kitchen, a Disneyland bar. Boyd was flying high — soft gentle poems in loving phrases — loud strident rhythms of painful subjects. Boyd explained about torture INSIDE America — and recited the poem in the second attachment. He wrote this poem in response to a request from Katrina’s Dream — about torture in American prisons and about Bobby Dellelo. For a press release about Boyd – CLICK HERE
On Sunday Bobby Dellelo gave a moving personal talk as one of the Consultation speakers. Ed Rodman introduced him and led a question session afterwards. People listened to Bobby and asked good questions.
Now it is late at night. Time for sleep.
Blessings always,
George
(No comments, yet.)Related catagories: Church Politics; Torture No Prisoners
The Poem Challenges Torture
26 Jun 2009
Katrina’s Dream published a new poem today by Malcolm Boyd about torture in American prisons. The poem connects torture in our American jails and prisons with Jesus’ suffering. The publication is timed to encourage the Episcopal Convention in Anaheim this July to pass a resolution asking Congress to outlaw torture in American jails and prisons. It is on the internet at http://www.opinion.katrinasdream.org/?p=114
By Malcolm Boyd
Please convert us, Jesus, to work against prison torture. Change us into community organizers for peace, justice, nonviolence and your love. Thank you, Jesus.
Boyd, 86, is poet/writer-in-residence at the Episcopal Cathedral Center of St. Paul in Los Angeles. After a career in Hollywood and television, Boyd, was ordained an Episcopal priest. He founded a college coffee house in Colorado and opposed segregation in Louisiana in 1959. He joined 27 other Episcopal priests, Black and white, in a Louisiana Freedom Ride in 1961, and registered voters in Mississippi and Alabama in 1965, the year “Are You Running with Me, Jesus?” was published. A fortieth anniversary edition has been published with additional poems.
Bobby Dellelo, 67, spent 40 years of his life in reform schools and prisons, five years in solitary, with three escapes. He works on the American Friends Service Committee Criminal Justice Program. He was featured in the March 30, 2009, New Yorker Article “Hellhole” about torture in solitary confinement.
Contacts
Katrina’s Dream: George Swanson, 415 464 7744, george@katrinasdream.org
Malcolm Boyd: malcolmboyd@ladiocese.org
Boyd is on the web at
http://malcolmboyd.com/nineties.htm
Bobby Dellelo: 339 226 0475, bdellelo@yahoo.com
Dellelo is described in the New Yorker Article “Hellhole”
Click Here
Related catagories: Peace & Justice; Church Politics; Women & Justice; INDIGENOUS WOMEN; Torture No Prisoners
Malcolm Boyd’s Poem
25 Jun 2009
We’ve mainstreamed torture, haven’t we, Jesus? Turned it into just another word in the clutter of everyday news. Not something to work up any sweat about. It seems to me our worst sin is to torture people who are already in our power as prisoners. Like people in our prisons. Like Bobby Dellelo.
The 33 years you spent with us here, Jesus, including when we nailed you, still hasn’t taught us what we need to know about love and justice, has it? Our prison system seems an agonizing and endless system of crucifixion. Why don’t we wake up, Jesus? Prison torture is torture of flesh and blood beings. It’s not unlike our torture of you when you dwelt among us.
Please convert us, Jesus, to work against prison torture. Change us into community organizers for peace, justice, nonviolence and your love. Thank you, Jesus.
– Malcolm Boyd
Author of “Are You Running with Me, Jesus?”
(No comments, yet.)Related catagories: Torture No Prisoners
A Resolution for General Convention on Indigenous Peoples
03 Jun 2009
Title: Repudiation of the Doctrine of Discovery
Resolved, the House of _____________ concurring, That the 76th General Convention direct The Most Rev. Dr. Katharine Jefferts Schori to write to the Supreme Governor of the Church of England, Queen Elizabeth II, urging her majesty to disavow and to repudiate publicly the claimed validity of the doctrine of discovery against all peoples, specifically as it is set forth in the 1496 Royal Charter granted to John Cabot and his sons by King Henry VII, and all other Royal Charters that have been relied thereon for the dispossession of lands and the subjugation of non-Christian peoples from their initial use to the present; and be it further
Resolved, that each diocese within the Episcopal Church be encouraged to reflect upon its, the Episcopal Church’s, and the Anglican Communion’s injustices committed against Indigenous People and encourage all Episcopalians within the Episcopal Church to seek a greater understanding of the Indigenous People within our borders to support them in their ongoing quest for survival and to respect their inherent sovereignty.
Explanation
European Christian religious leaders beginning with Pope Nicholas V articulated the concept of the doctrine of discovery to justify European monarchs and explorers acting on their behalf to take Indigenous land and possessions and enslave and kill the Indigenous people they encountered. King Henry VII granted a charter to John Cabot and his sons on March 5, 1496 sanctioning by whatever means necessary to take the land of the Indigenous People of North America. The charter authorized the Cabots “to find, discover and investigate whatsoever islands, countries, regions or provinces of heathens and infidels, in whatsoever part of the world placed, which before this time were unknown to all Christians.” The Charter also reads in part, “John and his sons or their heirs and deputies may conquer, occupy and possess whatsoever such towns, castles, cities and islands by them thus discovered that they may be able to conquer, occupy and possess, as our vassals and governors lieutenants and deputies therein, acquiring for us the dominion, title and jurisdiction of the same towns, castles, cities, islands and mainlands so discovered.” Numerous Indigenous People have called upon Queen Elizabeth II to repudiate the Cabot Charter and other similar Royal Charters. This resolution would put the Episcopal Church on record condemning the doctrine of discovery and supporting Indigenous People’s call for repudiation of the 1496 Royal Charter granted to John Cabot and his sons and other similar Royal Charters which sanctioned European invasion of the Western Hemisphere.
One Comment »Related catagories: Peace & Justice; Church Politics
KatrinasDream.org Booth at July 2009 Episcopal General Convention
03 Jun 2009
Our Agenda at General Convention
We will strive for justice and peace build respect for the Dignity of Every Human Being.
Baptismal Covenant—Prayer Book page 305
The booth will pursue the church’s mission: to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ and promote justice for women, prisoners, Indigenous Peoples, and students in Africa. The words in italics are from the first two questions about the church on page 855 in the Prayer Book.
We will promote justice for women by disseminating information from organizations such as the EgualRightsAmendmend.org. Click her for the ERA organization.
We will promote the newly formed network, Connecting Anglican Women in Theological Education (CAWTE) by handing out their brochures and bookmarks. CAWTE was recognized and endorsed at the recent Anglican Consultative Council meeting in Jamaica: Click Here for Article on CAWTE.
We will promote justice for prisoners and respect for their dignity as human beings by lobbying for our resolution asking Congress to outlaw torture in all American jails and prisons. Bobby Dellelo, a victim of fives years torture in solitary confinement will be at the booth to educate deputies and bishops about prison torture. He will also speak at the convention’s legislative hearing on the resolution. Bobby is quoted in a March 30, 2009 New Yorker article “Hellhole.” Click Here for the New Yorker Article.
We will promote a resolution would put the Episcopal Church on record condemning the doctrine of discovery and supporting Indigenous People’s call for repudiation of the 1496 Royal Charter granted to John Cabot and his sons and other similar Royal Charters which sanctioned European invasion of the Western Hemisphere.
We will promote justice for students in Africa by publicizing the work of Think Tank Thuto. Click here for Think Tank Thuto’s Web Site.
Last summer we asked the bishops at Lambeth to welcome women and children and men, straight and gay, equally in Jesus name. We will Ask General Convention to do the same. We will give away pins with Katrina’s picture and the words “God is Beyond Gender” that we gave to hundreds of bishops in Canterbury at the Lambeth conference last summer. We will also give away the story of Katrina’s lifelong pilgrimage into inclusiveness that we distributed at Lambeth.
Related catagories: ERA; Peace & Justice; Women & Justice; Torture No Prisoners
Is Rape Serious?
03 May 2009
Published: April 29, 2009
When a woman reports a rape, her body is a crime scene. She is typically asked to undress over a large sheet of white paper to collect hairs or fibers, and then her body is examined with an ultraviolet light, photographed and thoroughly swabbed for the rapist’s DNA.
It’s a grueling and invasive process that can last four to six hours and produces a “rape kit” — which, it turns out, often sits around for months or years, unopened and untested.
Stunningly often, the rape kit isn’t tested at all because it’s not deemed a priority. If it is tested, this happens at such a lackadaisical pace that it may be a year or more before there are results (if expedited, results are technically possible in a week).
So while we have breakthrough DNA technologies to find culprits and exculpate innocent suspects, we aren’t using them properly — and those who work in this field believe the reason is an underlying doubt about the seriousness of some rape cases. In short, this isn’t justice; it’s indifference.
Solomon Moore, a colleague of mine at The Times, last year wrote about a 43-year-old legal secretary who was raped repeatedly in her home in Los Angeles as her son slept in another room. The attacker forced the woman to clean herself in an attempt to destroy the evidence.
Tim Marcia, the detective on the case, thought this meant that the perpetrator was a habitual offender who would strike again. Mr. Marcia rushed the rape kit to the crime lab but was told to expect a delay of more than one year.
So Mr. Marcia personally drove the kit 350 miles to deliver it to the state lab in Sacramento. Even there, the backlog resulted in a four-month delay — but then it produced a “cold hit,” a match in a database of the DNA of previous offenders.
Yet in the months while the rape kit sat on a shelf, the suspect had allegedly struck twice more. Police said he broke into the homes of a pregnant woman and a 17-year-old girl, sexually assaulting each of them.
“The criminal justice system is still ill equipped to deal with rape and not that good at moving rape cases forward,” notes Sarah Tofte, who just wrote a devastating report for Human Rights Watch about the rape-kit backlog. The report found that in Los Angeles County, there were at last count 12,669 rape kits sitting in police storage facilities. More than 450 of these kits had sat around for more than 10 years, and in many cases, the statute of limitations had expired.
There are no good national figures, and one measure of the indifference is that no one even bothers to count the number of rape kits sitting around untested.
Why don’t police departments treat rape kits with urgency? One reason is probably expense — each kit can cost up to $1,500 to test — but there also seems to be a broad distaste for rape cases as murky, ambiguous and difficult to prosecute, particularly when they involve (as they often do) alcohol or acquaintance rape.
“They talk about the victims’ credibility in a way that they don’t talk about the credibility of victims of other crimes,” Ms. Tofte said.
Charlie Beck, a deputy police chief of Los Angeles, said that there was no excuse for the failure to test rape kits, but he noted that integrating a new technology into police work is complex and involves a learning curve. Since Human Rights Watch began its investigation, he said, the department had resolved to test rape kits routinely — and as a result, cold hits have doubled.
While the backlog and desultory handling of rape kits are nationwide problems, there is one shining exception: New York City has made a concerted effort over the last decade to test every kit that comes in. The result has been at least 2,000 cold hits in rape cases, and the arrest rate for reported cases of rape in New York City rose from 40 percent to 70 percent, according to Human Rights Watch.
Some Americans used to argue that it was impossible to rape an unwilling woman. Few people say that today, or say publicly that a woman “asked for it” if she wore a short skirt. But the refusal to test rape kits seems a throwback to the same antediluvian skepticism about rape as a traumatic crime.
“If you’ve got stacks of physical evidence of a crime, and you’re not doing everything you can with the evidence, then you must be making a decision that this isn’t a very serious crime,” notes Polly Poskin, executive director of the Illinois Coalition Against Sexual Assault.
It’s what we might expect in Afghanistan, not in the United States.
One Comment »Related catagories: Sexual Abuse; Injustice to Women
A Resolution for General Convention
20 Apr 2009
Title: Prohibit the Torture of Prisoners in the United States of America
Resolved, the House of _________ concurring, that the 76th General Convention requests the Congress of the United States to prohibit torture including long-term solitary confinement and every cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of prisoners in all prisons, jails, and other places of confinement within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction, following the definition of torture in Part 1, Article 1, Paragraph 1 of the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
Explanation:
“If you have done it to one of the least of these you have done it to me.” Testimony of guards and prisoners and photographs of prisoner abuse provide evidence of torture in our prisons. A federal law is necessary to stop torture because prisoners are commonly transferred from one state to another.
The United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment defines torture:
1. For the purposes of this Convention, the term “torture” means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in or incidental to lawful sanctions.
(No comments, yet.)Related catagories: Torture No Prisoners
Who Gets Tortured Most?
19 Apr 2009
We torture tens of thousands of prisoners in the USA.
They are largely BLACKS, HISPANICS, MENTALLY ILL, POORLY EDUCATED, just plain POOR, and if any of the above speak out and demand justice and fair treatment they are shipped far away from friends and allies as POLITICAL PRISONERS.
A BBC documentary on USA prison torture is at:
http://novakeo.com/?p=109
An Official Maine Department of Corrections video shows a Swat Team cutting the clothes off a prisoner, carrying him naked and screaming down a hall, strapping him in a restraint chair and Macing him in the fact. This is at:
http://www.bostonphoenix.com/boston/news_features/other_stories/documents/05104664.asp
The previous sites describe physical torture and murder. A recent article in the New Yorker shows mental torture of perhaps more than 50,000 people:
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/03/30/090330fa_fact_gawande
Lance Tapley’s talk to the National Lawyers Guild about torture in solitary confinement is on KatrinasDream.org at:
http://www.opinion.katrinasdream.org/?p=100
God, bless America and its prisoners.
Related catagories: Peace & Justice; Torture No Prisoners
Washing State Prison Reform?
23 Jan 2009
Summary
Report by The Washing State Institute for Public Policy
- reduce the future need for prison beds,
- save money for state and local taxpayers,
- contribute to lower crime rates.
We conducted a systematic review of all
research evidence we could locate to identify
what works, if anything, to reduce crime. We
found and analyzed 571 rigorous comparisongroup
evaluations of adult corrections, juvenile
corrections, and prevention programs, most of
which were conducted in the United States.
We then estimated the benefits and costs of
many of these evidence-based options.
Finally, we projected the degree to which
alternative “portfolios” of these programs
could affect future prison construction needs,
criminal justice costs, and crime rates in
Washington.
We find that some evidence-based programs
can reduce crime, but others cannot. Per dollar
of spending, several of the successful
programs produce favorable returns on
investment. Public policies incorporating these
options can yield positive outcomes for
Washington.
We project the long-run effects of three
example portfolios of evidence-based options:
a “current level” option as well as “moderate”
and “aggressive” implementation portfolios.
We find that if Washington successfully
implements a moderate-to-aggressive portfolio
of evidence-based options, a significant level of
future prison construction can be avoided,
taxpayers can save about two billion dollars,
and crime rates can be reduced.
‡ Suggested citation: Steve Aos, Marna Miller, and
Elizabeth Drake. (2006). Evidence-Based Public Policy
Options to Reduce Future Prison Construction, Criminal
Justice Costs, and Crime Rates. Olympia: Washington
State Institute for Public Policy.
Legislative Direction for the Study
The legislative language directing the Institute’s
study is shown verbatim in the accompanying
sidebar. In brief, the legislation requires the Institute
to study the net short-run and long-run fiscal savings
to state and local governments if evidence-based
intervention, prevention, and sentencing alternatives
are implemented in Washington State.
The Institute is directed to examine three broad
types of public policy options the legislature could
consider.
1. Intervention programs. For people already in
Washington’s juvenile and adult correctional
systems, the language directs the Institute to
estimate whether investments in evidencebased
programs could cost-effectively lower
recidivism rates and, as a result, the need for
additional prison beds.
2. Prevention programs. The legislative
language also instructs the Institute to estimate
whether investments in evidence-based and
cost-beneficial prevention programs could help
reduce the need for future prison beds. Since
most prevention programs are for young
children, effective evidence-based prevention
resources can be expected to affect adult prison
use in the longer run. Prevention programs hold
the potential, of course, to offer other near-term
and long-term advantages, such as improved
educational outcomes. In this report, we include
some representative prevention programs but, in
order to complete this report on budget, we were
not able to update our earlier study of prevention
programs.2 Subsequent versions can include
additional prevention programs.
3. Sentencing options. The legislation directs the
Institute to examine possible changes that could
be made to Washington’s sentencing laws,
including sentencing alternatives and the use of
risk factors in sentencing. These options are to
be analyzed in conjunction with the Washington
State Sentencing Guidelines Commission.
After analyzing the economics of each of these
policy options, the task for the study is to project the
total fiscal and prison bed impacts of alternative
implementation scenarios. The goal of these policy
choices is to allow the legislature to consider
different combinations of options that have the ability
to keep crime rates under control while also lowering
the long-run fiscal costs of Washington’s state and
local criminal justice system. In financial terms, this
means identifying “portfolios” of policy choices that
replace lower rate-of-return investments with
strategies that produce higher rates of return on the
taxpayer’s dollar.
Source and Complete Report: CLICK HERE
(No comments, yet.)Related catagories: Peace & Justice; Torture No Prisoners
NAACP leader challenges Maine prison policies
11 Dec 2008
Like a movie hero, the NAACP’s new, young national president, Benjamin Jealous, swept into the 900-inmate Maine State Prison in Warren on Monday, quelling protests among the prisoners and, at least temporarily, rescuing the organization’s prison chapter from being snuffed out by state corrections officials.
This is the story as told by inmate Michael Parker, the chapter’s leader. He said Jealous and representatives of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s Portland branch were the prison group’s “saviors” in negotiations with state Corrections commissioner Martin Magnusson and prison officials.
But prison budget cutbacks — Magnusson admitted they were a behind-the-scenes cause of the contention — may get worse, and their consequences could again stir up inmates, who treasure their few social and service activities, which they saw being squelched.
One of the most active prisoner groups, with about 70 inmate members, the NAACP had protested the prison’s recent tightening of control over prisoner organizations. Officials had demanded approval of groups’ officers, strict limitations on fundraising — including on total dues, thereby capping enrollment — and a maximum of one meeting a month per group.
“Since July we’ve only been able to meet twice,” Parker said in a prison interview. The new policies, he added, would have destroyed the organization.
The NAACP was also concerned that the new restrictions would kill the “re-entry” program it has proposed to help prisoners get ready for life in the outside world as their sentences end. The prison provides little re-entry guidance. And the NAACP feared its program of providing educational videos to inmates would die.
The policies also upset other inmate groups. The 25-year-old Long Timer’s Group had complained in a letter to the Phoenix that the restrictions had ended its program of photographing prisoners with family members in the visitors’ room.
More broadly, a Long Timer’s Group representative, Charles Whitehouse, protested “degeneration in every crucial area of prison life: food, activities, programs, visits, mail, and overall staff attitude toward rehabilitation.”
Emerging from the closed-door negotiations, Magnusson and Jealous said in a news conference they had agreed the controversial policies would be re-examined, with a January 15 deadline for results from the next round of negotiations. Magnusson said he had never intended to cap enrollment in prisoner organizations.
He and Jealous also announced that the NAACP prison voter-registration drive held earlier this year would become annual, and that Magnusson would ensure prison staff would not treat Parker unfairly because of his activism. Parker has previously complained he has been “harassed” by guards. Magnusson admitted “inappropriate action” had been taken against the 32-year-old Parker, who is serving 20 years for robbery and assault.
“This facility is small enough to solve problems,” observed Jealous, who has been involved in prison issues around the country. Nationally, African Americans are imprisoned at a much higher rate than whites.
Magnusson said he had instituted the rules to treat each prison group equally, though he conceded that “budget problems” — not enough staff to “cover” prisoner group meetings — were one reason for promulgating them.
But now Magnusson’s tight prison budget may get tighter, as state government braces for another round of cuts by Governor John Baldacci and the Legislature to deal with a recession-induced gap between tax revenues and expenses over the next few fiscal years. The gap is expected to run into many hundreds of millions of dollars.
“There’s no question we’re going to have reductions,” Magnusson said, noting he’s already straining to pay overtime — necessitated by guard shortages — and has cut back on guard training.
Jealous, 35, an activist since the age of 14, took charge in September of the country’s oldest civil rights group, headquartered in Baltimore. He previously had directed Amnesty International’s US human-rights program. A Columbia University graduate, he was a Rhodes Scholar at England’s Oxford University.
Early in the day, Jealous had spoken to students at Portland’s Deering High School, his father’s alma mater. He had also addressed close to 100 inmates at an NAACP meeting at the prison.
In the evening, Jealous charged up several hundred people as the keynote speaker of a colorful, emotional, joyous, and sometimes somber celebration of International Human Rights Day at the University of Southern Maine. The NAACP and Amnesty International also sponsored the event. A multiethnic children’s chorus sang, and a Jewish rabbi, a Muslim imam, and a Hindu recited prayers remembering the Mumbai terrorist victims. Human Rights Day is actually December 10, the 60th anniversary of the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Introducing Jealous at the USM event, Rachel Talbot Ross, the Portland NAACP president, turned to Governor Baldacci, who had spoken briefly, and told him commandingly: “We got some work to do, governor, at the prison!” The audience applauded.
Baldacci, who has kept a hands-off attitude toward the prison’s problems, also clapped, but weakly.
Source: Click HERE.
(No comments, yet.)Related catagories: Peace & Justice; Torture No Prisoners
Mass Torture in America
17 Nov 2008
And how to stop it
70th Anniversary Convention in Washington, D.C.
on October 31, 2007.
On Halloween, I have a true ghost story to tell: the story of 50,000 ghosts in America, the largely invisible inmates of our solitary-confinement “supermax” prisons.
What is their life like? It is torture. It is isolation, sometimes for years — 23 hours a day in a tiny cell, with the other hour in a small cage outdoors. It’s sensory deprivation — usually, no radio or TV and few books. If you are disobedient, you may suffer beatings and Mace in the face when Swat teams “extract” you to put you in a restraint chair. Feces, urine, and blood coat the cellblock walls, floors, and ceilings — splattered there by the many insane and enraged men. Guards “checking” on prisoners deprive them of sleep, and so does the usual pandemonium; like ghosts, some prisoners howl in constant agony. Inadequate food is shoved through an unsanitary slot in the door. The prisoners get poor medical and dental care; in Maine, many Supermax inmates are not allowed toothbrushes. Mental health care is a cruel joke. Medical professionals are complicit in the torture; they try to keep prisoners capable of enduring more suffering. Guards sexually humiliate prisoners and taunt suicidal ones. Rare “no contact” visits with family take place through a window and a tinny speaker. Prisoners typically are allowed one telephone call a week. There is arbitrary censorship of mail and little or no access to education and other possibilities for rehabilitation. Read the rest of this entry »
Related catagories: Torture No Prisoners
Torture’s Political Invisibility
19 Aug 2008
August 19, 2008
That U.S. military personnel — and their superiors — supported the torture of enemy combatants elicits disturbingly little outrage among most voters. Human beings seldom torture those they regard as like themselves. Humans need and crave community, but throughout history narrow definitions of community and exaggerated claims on its behalf have occasioned grave injustices.
(No comments, yet.)Related catagories: Peace & Justice; Racism
Real George
23 Apr 2008
The Real Saint
Tradition has is that George was born in about 280 AD in Turkey (Cappadocia). A Roman Army Officer, some suggest that he had Christian parents, others that he converted to Christianity after sheltering a Christian.
Christians were a small, but growing minority in the Empire. They faced periods of intense persecution. They often saw themselves as aliens in a foreign land. Things came to a head for George, quite literally, when Diocletian unleashed his terrible persecution of the Christians in 303 AD. He is said to have divested himself of his rank and worldly possessions and journeyed to Nicomedia to plead with Diocletian. He didn’t raise an army, but confessed to his faith and challenged the Emperor’s authority without force of arms. It was an action that he paid for with torture and decapitation.
It is suggested that the witness of his suffering convinced Empress Alexandra and Athanasius, a pagan priest, to become Christians as well, and so they joined George in martyrdom. His body was returned to Lydda for burial, where Christians soon came to honour him as a martyr.
Eusebius of Caesarea, writing c. 322, tells of a soldier of noble birth who was put to death under Diocletian at Nicomedia on 23 April 303, but makes no mention of his name, his country or his place of burial. The historicity, or otherwise, of this story may never be known.
A new painting of St George by Scott Norwood Witts is to be unveiled at the Roman Catholic Cathedral of St George, Southwark London on April 23rd, 2008, St George’s Day.
“St George and Dead Soldier” was stimulated by the deployment of British forces overseas and the historical misrepresentation of St George. The patron saint of soldiers and England is shown battle weary, identifying another fatality of war - exploding the contrived mythical identity developed during The Crusades, to reveal a man in mourning. As a high ranking soldier of the Roman Empire converting to Christianity was extremely dangerous, yet his faith inspired him to put down his weapons and personally confront the Emperor Diocletian over his persecution of Christians. The life-sized, but intimate portrait shows the ‘dragon slayer’ as a saint of peace and one who chose debate over violence.
The painting may be seen by clicking HERE.
(No comments, yet.)Related catagories: Peace & Justice
We drive. They get sick.
22 Apr 2008
Tar Sands:
Environmental justice, treaty rights and Indigenous Peoples
Clayton Thomas-Müller,
March/April 2008,
Canadian Dimension magazine
Tar Sands: Environment justice, treaty rights and Indigenous Peoples
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The application of treaty rights as a legal strategy implemented by the First Nations themselves must be the key focus in efforts to challenge Big Oil in Alberta. Resources and effort must be placed into building the knowledge and capacity amongst First Nations and Métis leadership, including grassroots, elders and youth, to engage in both an indigenous-led corporate-finance campaign and in decision-making processes on environment, energy, climate and economic policies related to halting the tar-sands expansion. Canadian policy makers need to understand that there is an inextricable link between indigenous rights and energy and climate impacts.
One Comment »Related catagories: Life & Death; Peace & Justice; Money; Racism
An Antidote to Violence and Oppression
18 Feb 2008
“Bread and Silence” with Maggie Ross
A solemnly professed solitary directly responsible to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Maggie Ross will lead days of contemplation and worship in Hulls Cove and in Portland in Maine:
Saturday, March 1
10-3 at the Church of Our Father, Hulls Cove, Mt. Desert Island.
Saturday, March 8
10-3 at St. Luke’s Cathedral, Portland.
Bread and Silence is an extended meditation on the Eucharist that emphasizes the priesthood of our baptism. The process takes from three to five hours, depending on the number of participants. This is an opportunity to go deeply into the heart of Christianity; the rite draws on the most ancient Christian traditions. There is nothing else like it available in the church, and many people have found it to be a life-changing experience. Clergy and religious are asked to please wear ordinary clothes so as not to distract from the focus of this event.
Attendance is strictly limited to 45 persons. Everyone is welcome (up to a total of 45.) To reserve a place − please register in advance by email to George Swanson at george@katrinasdream.org. In your email please mention which day you wish to attend − March 1 or March 8. The cost is $35. Checks may be made out to Katrina’s Fund and mailed to George Swanson at 349 Seawall Road, Manset, ME 04679. Scholarships are available.
Seabury Press just republished Ross’s Pillars of Flame: Power, Priesthood, and Spiritual Maturity. The Archbishop of Canterbury says the book “unsparingly sets the Gospel in judgment over the popular Christian idolatries of our time.”
The National Catholic Reporter comments, “The questions the author raises come from scriptural and patristic thought.”
In the foreword, Nobel Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu says, “Maggie Ross argues cogently and persuasively that we should provide the world with the paradigm of the self-emptying leadership of Christ – not self-serving, not self-aggrandizing, but poured out in selfless service of others.”
Seabury Press says “…we sense what a truly Christian Church would be.”
(No comments, yet.)Related catagories: Silent Prayer
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