Members of Kim’s local, multinational, group who are involved in the campaign have roots in Rwanda, Trinidad, Tibet, Togo, Tanzania, Congo, Tibet, Palestine and Iran, and many are well acquainted with the results of war and violence, and are eager to contribute to peace.
Kim Summers-Bates and Tom Crain. Photo: Wils Murphy
Kim notes, “Our most recent activist is Tom Crain, a retired Naval officer, who served in five tours of duty as a conventional nuclear weapons specialist.” Tom says he had “a military career filled with destruction, pain, misery and suffering,” and wants to “take that negativity (from the military training), and turn it toward something positive—positive for the whole world—not just for our own society—by offering better options than fear, war and terror, and a Department of Peace can do that. (One of the ways) it can do that is to educate children toward peaceful solutions, to teach them how to think, not how to fight. Negatives can become positives—we can make it happen!”
Terry Mason, State Coordinator for the Los Angeles, Valley and Santa Barbara areas, said, “the ‘Peace of the Pie’ action has become one of the best relationship-building tools we have. The representatives’ offices look forward to our visit each year. When we call to schedule the appointment, we ask the staff what kind of pie they want, and usually schedule the delivery for just before noon, so the staff can enjoy it after lunch. These staff members become our staunch supporters, and continue to work on our behalf to keep our voice heard in the representative's offices.”
The bill has three co-sponsors in the Los Angeles area: Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA), Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), and Rep. Diane Watson (D-CA). Mason said, “Of course, they all received pies, but so did many other congressional offices where the organization has active volunteers … Democracy doesn't work on auto-pilot. Being an active citizen can be as easy as pie!"
Christine Elliot & John McNeil at Sen. Feinstein's office. Photo: Brian Gibbs
Christine Elliot, founder of Americans for Department of Peace (AFDOP) and board member of The Peace Alliance, and her San Diego group delivered pies to local offices, including to Senators Boxer (D-CA) and Feinstein (D-CA); Congresspersons Susan Davis (D-CA), Bob Filner (D-CA), and Darrell Issa (R-CA); and to Congressional candidate Nick Leibham.
Pie delivery to Sen. Barbara Boxer's office. Photo Credit: Dan Hammer
Why Promote Peace for Mother’s Day?
In 1870, Julia Ward Howe [6]—poet, abolitionist, women’s rights advocate and editor, best known as the author of the Battle Hymn of the Republic—started a crusade to institute a Mother's Day as a Day for Peace. An American Lysistrata, her Proclamation begins: "Arise, then, women of this day! … Say firmly: ‘We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies. Our husbands shall not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause …”
Julia Ward Howe (1819-1910)
Howe called for women to “solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means whereby the great human family can live in peace … In the name of womanhood and of humanity, I earnestly ask that a general congress of women, without limit of nationality, may be appointed and held at some place deemed most convenient, and at the earliest period consistent with its objects, to promote the alliance of the different nationalities, the amicable settlement of international questions, the great and general interests of peace."[7]
The Peace Alliance has initiated a grassroots revolution for a Department of Peace, a movement that is as creative, inventive, and passionate, as the founders of this country.
And it’s as American as mom and apple pie.
For more information on HR 808 and the campaign: www.thepeacealliance.org
