Admission is free and open to the public.

When: Sept. 15, 7 p.m. Where: Unitarian Universalist Church of Oak Cliff 3839 W. Kiest Boulevard, Dallas TX 75233
…
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Texas Executive Director Terri Burke will address the State Board of Education’s recent abuse of its authority, including the efforts of some members to insert personal ideology into curriculum content. She will also discuss issues of importance to voters in the upcoming State Board elections in November; Q&A session to follow.

Burke will draw on information gathered in the ACLU of Texas report, “The Texas State Board of Education: A Case of Abuse of Power” issued last May.

This event is co-sponsored by the ACLU of Texas and the Unitarian Universalist Church of Oak Cliff. For further information or press inquiries contact Jan Brubaker at(214) 907-9812

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The Dallas Peace Center (www.dallaspeacecenter.org) is delighted to announce the first of its 2010 Summer Dinner Lectures, scheduled for June 10, when it will welcome Rev. Lucius Walker, the Executive Director of Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO) and founder of Pastors for Peace. The event will be held at FunAsia in Richardson – 2010 Beltline Rd., Richardson.

In 1988, while on an IFCO study delegation in Nicaragua, Walker was wounded in a contra attack. The day after the shooting he conceived Pastors for Peace, a project that organizes humanitarian aid caravans as a way of assisting victims of U.S. foreign policy. Since its inception, Pastors for Peace has delivered aid to El Salvador; Guatemala; Honduras; Nicaragua; Chiapas, Mexico; and Cuba. The Cuba ”Friendshipment” caravans require caravanistas to challenge the U.S. economic blockade; this has resulted in delays, harassment and hunger strikes in past years.

Under Walker’s leadership, IFCO, the only national ecumenical foundation committed exclusively to the support of community organizing, became the national center to administer scholarships for students to study medicine at the Latin American School of Medicine in Havana. Students from impoverished areas of the U.S. can receive full scholarships at the school when they pledge to return to their underserved communities after they graduate.

Walker is an ordained American Baptist minister and the recipient of the Gandhi Peace Award and the Thomas Merton Award.

The Summer Dinner Lecture Series is an annual event of the Dallas Peace Center that brings speakers to Dallas who present diverse ideas about peace and justice in a wide variety of areas.

Since watching, “The World According to Monsanto”, “Sustainable Table”, and “Peaceable Kingdom”, I have become vegetarian. I have been made aware of factory farms—cows, pigs and chickens living in close, dark, unsanitary quarters, shot full of antibiotics, being fed GMO-corn to fatten them up quickly which, in turn, has fattened us up. More importantly, I have learned how to eat healthier by eating organic; to be more environmentally conscious by buying locally; and to make my voice heard through emails, calls and letters when my government does something that I don’t like.

“An Inconvenient Truth” and “11th Hour” awakened me to how my choices were destroying our planet. My family now recycles, composts, uses organic fertilizer and organic household cleaners. We have changed our electric supplier to one which uses wind and solar sources. We have traded our gas guzzlers for a diminutive Yaris and a Hybrid Prius that averages 45 miles per gallon.

“At The Death House Door” nudged me to join the “Coalition for Texans Against the Death Penalty” which keeps its members apprised when letters to the Governor and Board of Pardons and Paroles for Clemency or requests for Stays of Execution might help. I believe we were instrumental in the Supreme Court’s decision to review the death penalty case against Hank Skinner.

Other films included “China Blue” which taught me about the deplorable conditions of Chinese blue jean sweatshops. We now search for fair-trade, union-made, or cooperative-made clothing. “The Two Towns of Jasper,” “Reel Bad Arabs,” and “The Canary Effect” opened my eyes even wider to racial and social injustice. I made calls to my Senators, Congresswoman and other Democrats to help get the Healthcare legislation passed so all Americans have an equal opportunity to be healthy. “Rethink Afghanistan” helped me reshape my thoughts about U.S. involvement in that country and become a true advocate for peace

There were other films I saw and there will be other films to come that will continue to change who I am. I like the person I am becoming more than the person I was. To change the world we must first change ourselves. I will gladly continue going to the First Tuesday Film Festival at the Oak Cliff Unitarian Universalist Church of Oak Cliff and I urge you to do the same. You might just like the new you.

Standing on the side of love means acceptance. Each day we are all confronted with issues that we do not support or agree with but we must have the ability to accept others as they are and allow all their freedom to their opinion and beliefs. On a deeper side, standing on the side of love means standing up for the HARD issues. It means fighting for freedoms that this country is supposed to stand for, not freedom for some but ALL. It means loving your neighbor and accepting them without judgement. It means reaching down and lifting up someone who needs a boost. It means equal HUMAN rights. It means advocating for parental involvement, not forced parental abandement (deporting). It means advocating for gay marriage, not fighting to protect your own marriage…nothing can diminish your marriage but you. It means continuing to fight to end slavery and not leaving that to the work of Martin Luther King Jr and turning our head to our foreign neighbors. It means, unconditional love!

When my Mom quizzed me recently on my fairly new Unitarian Universalist faith, I told her about the emphasis on compassion and the inherent worth and dignity of every human being. She insisted that the Catholic Church teaches the same thing. Well maybe they do espouse the same thing because they teach, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” But when it comes right down to it, I find many Catholics on the side against immigrant’ rights, against gays’ and lesbians’ rights and against women’s rights.

The meaning of “Standing on the Side of Love” is changing constantly for me—it is expanding. I am beginning to realize that no one can be left out—not even the cows, pigs and chickens. The people of Haiti deserve the same inalienable rights as we Americans. Everyone belongs to our family. There is no “other.”

It upsets me when I see emails that suggest that we as Americans deserve what we were born into and our neighbors from Mexico don’t. After I became the mother of a biracial child, I began to notice that many Caucasians feel they are better than African Americans by virtue of the color of their skin. I have never thought of myself as prejudiced, but my daughter has really opened my eyes. I know now in my heart that no one is on any higher plane than anyone else—not because of money, status, or power. We are all God’s children and he loves us all equally. He didn’t love Jesus any more than he loves me! I hope to grow to live that love more every day. I hope to grow in compassion as my heart opens more and more to all my brothers and sisters—even those who are misguided.

Watch/Read:

http://www.texastribune.org/stories/2010/jan/29/case-open/

http://www.texastribune.org/stories/2010/jan/28/dead-man-balking/

Please help by sending appeal letters.  I believe this man is innocent!