Spirit in Action
Activating Kansas - Laura Dungan & Aaron Fowler
[music] Let us sing this song for the healing of the world That we may hear as one With every voice, with every song We will move this world along And our lives will feel the echo of our healing [music] Welcome to Spirit in Action. My name is Mark Helpes Me. Each week, I'll be bringing you stories of people living lives Of fruitful service, of peace, community, compassion, Creative action, and progressive efforts. I'll be tracing the spiritual roots that support and nourish them in their service Hoping to inspire and encourage you to sink deep roots and produce sacred food in your own life. Let us sing this song for the dreaming of the world That we may dream as one With every voice, with every song We will move this world along Today for Spirit in Action, we'll be speaking with a musical duo, Aaron Fowler and Laura Dungan. As activists on the liberal end in Kansas, they do major and important work In their effort to uplift the common folk and care for the wider community. Laura was a founder of Sunflower Community Action And now works for the National Training and Information Center And Aaron worked for years with Hopestry Youth Development And now does music in a number of venues, including his Stories to Song Project Which you can find at singitout.org Every song they sing comes from a story from their work to improve the world. I interviewed Aaron Fowler and Laura Dungan, the beginning of July at Grinnell University in Iowa As part of the annual Quaker Gathering of Friends General Conference So we had an audience present to share in the spiritual musical witness that Aaron and Laura share Follow links from my northernspiritradio.org to find out more about them But right now, let's sit down with Laura Dungan and Aaron Fowler for Spirit in Action I'd like to start out by introducing folks to both of your backgrounds, Laura and Aaron You said you met in high school. Has it been a steady flame ever since? I want to get this on the air. Yes, yes. Yes. Yes. What is that? A steady flame? I've been married 30 years. Were you a musical combo back then? Who were? Laura actually introduced me to getting into music at the high school level I was seeing with another guy at that point who taught me how to play guitar And they made a rule that no girls could be in their band. The girls just messed up up. So, yeah, had done music ever since And then, obviously, brought Laura into the duo and became a trio And then the trio became a duo as Steve left and Laura stayed. A little crowded. Were you both musical from childhood on? I mean, I know guitar, mandolin, all these kind of things, singing, choir, what was your background for both of you? My father and mother were both musicians, so I grew up in a musical family Which actually my dad has a lot of connection In some unusual ways for what I'm doing now, but yeah, I was raised in a musical family. Piano was my first instrument and I started that when I was about four and then in third grade Because my dad's a violinist, I picked up violin and then I was cursed by having to read notes on a page Decided to pick up another instrument and intentionally not learn how to play it by reading So, that's this instrument here in the mandolin. And what about activism? Were you activists back in high school at Beckman later? It came on later, much later, really, for both of us. I mean, we were into the music scene in high school and even college for several years of college. Activism came later. Why? Why did activism come along? Was it just you didn't have enough to keep you off the street or what? For me, I actually was planning to go into music. My major was actually church music in college And I had an event in my life in high school where my music instructor sexually assaulted me That created an opening for then a man named Shell Trap who was an organizer Who was working in social change things and I was kind of in a place in my life where I didn't like watching people get messed over. So that was sort of my doorway into getting involved in that field And music always has been along the side of it, but it was not at the forefront Actually, I'm feeling that music is going to take a different kind of role in this last phase of my life And Aaron, how did you get interested in activism? Well, it really was through some of our work with the Friends of Jesus community Which Laura and I were both a part of an intentional Quaker community in Wichita My background is as an educator, I was teaching middle school music at that point And when we moved to the inner city of Wichita, I started working with the young people there It was in that context that watching them in the community, in the neighborhood, getting screwed over by police Or by school administrators or whatever that began to become active And creating a place for those young people to have a voice for themselves And to be able to create change in those places that were important to them Could you tell me how, for either or both of you, the religious background, Methodist to Quaker to Quaker How that went for you and how that dovetailed with your getting increasingly involved in activism Well, as Laura said, we were both raised in the United Methodist and came to Friends University I thought that was a cute name for a school when I heard Friends University That's kind of a nice name, I had no clue Because we were recruited for the music department, is why we went And eventually ended up at one of the Quaker churches there, an EFI church that was there in Wichita And EFI means even Jellicle Friends International? Yeah, that's right, you were a part of it now They changed names since we did it They changed those letters In that context then we joined this community called Friends of Jesus And it was in that container that faith and action really got put together for me The thread for me was, Howard Macy was the Old Testament professor That was in my freshman year, and I read George Fox's journal And at his encouragement, that was not a part of the Old Testament study, but I'm reading that going Oh my gosh, I mean, the way the spirit was being tended to and obeyed Was something I was really ready to hear at that time So I went to the phone book and I'm like, well, we gotta go to a Quaker church I didn't know what to call it, so I'm thumbing through the pages in Northridge We'd heard students on campus talking about Northridge Friends Church And so that's where we first ended up going And then as God continued to work in our life around various, I guess you'd call them issue areas The first strike came when there was a group of us that felt led to cross the line out at McConnell Air Force Base When they were housing low to B1 bombers And I didn't realize that the Quakers at this church might not think that was a good idea So I'm back and people were raising eyebrows about getting arrested You first expected being eldered? Yeah, well, sort of, I guess Then I had a very close relationship after I graduated from Friends Was the head resident of the women's dorm and had a lot of interaction with students Struggling around sexuality issues So I really started moving in some different directions around that Than the Quakers I had around me So I kind of had my fill of Quakers, the ones that I was hanging out with Because they were certainly not supportive of what I was interpreting as God working with me So I was in my garden for about 11 years, 13 years And Chuck Fager came to Kansas to cover the Priscilla Dieter's debacle of the Evangelical community in Kansas And he stayed at our community while he was there for about 11 days And we'd saved up a whole bunch of money to go to Mexico with the kids And we had some friends that lived down there doing some interesting work Tripped all through and Chuck says, you know, you really ought to go to the gathering And we were like, the gathering, he's describing all this great music And I don't remember what all he said, but we said, we're going to the gathering So the gathering was my annual Quaker connection for eight years probably This place kept me alive and connected While we go back to our ministry, which was out in the community And felt like we were doing an interpretation of what Christ wanted us to do and be in the world And not stuffed up behind four walls and drinking coffee and saying everything's fine on Sunday morning But I think you're rooted locally now, you have a meeting, what changed, how did that get there? Well, as Laura said, I mean the gathering here was a huge part for sort of moving, well, the church that we were in Because our community came to an understanding of gay and lesbian folks God loved gay and lesbian folks and the church didn't like the fact that we had said that When we came to the gathering, that was the place, it was like, this is home So that led you to leave that church at that point? Yay, okay, and eventually then join a program meeting In which it's a Heartland Friends meeting, which is where my membership is at And I've been there probably six years now, and then the clerk of the meeting there, and Laura goes to a different meeting He drops me off on his way We're having kids at our meeting, and when our youngest son was in high school And very active with the youth group there at university friends Laura felt like she wanted to support Scott, and so I'd show up once or twice and sit in the back so I could talk to my son about meaningful things at church when he got home So, and she's stuck there, and so, yeah, so we attend two different meetings Our design program and Laura's a semi-programmed And then God played a big trick on me, and now I'm the presiding clerk of Great Plains Yearly meeting [laughter] Such a joker, that God is. Yeah, damn, it's a Bible study. We're having this week. Absolutely. Well, let's talk about your music and your work. How do they fit together? When do you want to start off? Well, my work now, having left Hope Street a couple years ago, is as a teaching artist, and I do a couple different things But one of the things I'd like to share today is I created a non-profit called Sing It Out And it works in rural and small communities in Kansas right now, anyway And it's connecting young people, middle school students, with elders in their community I'm actually doing this here at the gathering this year with the third, fourth, and fifth graders Where we interview an elder in the community that the young people do And then we turn around and we write a song based on their stories And so we have about, over the last ten years in Kansas, about 65 songs written about elders And what we do, and you'll be able to experience it this week, is that On Monday, today we interviewed the two classes, one class interviewed one elder, another class interviewed a second elder Tomorrow, Wednesday, and Thursday, we will work at bring the story into song And then on Friday, we will celebrate by having the elders on stage And we'll sing their song, and we'll do a little biography about what they shared with us I like saying in Kansas, we've done this, and I have about 65 songs And it's just a powerful opportunity to watch young people and elders come together and share their lives together And for me, that's just a powerful place where spirit can reside And, you know, stories of young people when they go out, and they've never met this elder in their community You know, say, "That was pretty cool!" And I'm like, "Wow, a seventh grader that says "That was pretty cool to be with an elder, so that's the work that I'm doing now" And it's pretty powerful to watch that Is your effort at creating peace between the generations, or what are you trying to do by this work? I think, for me, it's just creating the venue Creating that space for young and old to get together Because I don't do anything special when I'm there, it's creating that space And then, once that space is created, it's just amazing what happens in that space So, yeah, it leaves the world a better place Absolutely And it strengthens our real communities In places where young people are ready to get out And they end up staying because there's a reason to stay in that community Because they hear story after story after story about their town Would you like to share some of those songs or some of that music? Yeah, that'd be great, that'd be great This is a song written in 2003 One of the first years that I did this In a small rural community called Glasgow, Kansas So whenever I go to Glasgow, I always just tip people say "Where are you going next week?" and I say "I'm going to Glasgow" Kansas This is a story inspired by Bill Demars Who was a first-golf war veteran This is my town Down in the valley With its rolling hills and pastures of plenty Each time I come home from lands afar She always looks great, my Solomon Valley Prairie fields and rolling hills Feels right now with the harvest Cosey houses that lie in the countryside This is my town in the Solomon Valley This is my town Down in the valley With its rolling hills and pastures of plenty Each time I come home from lands afar She always looks great, my Solomon Valley Smoke rising from the houses In the winter with its cold Snow covers, earth like a quilted blanket This is my town in the Solomon Valley This is my town Down in the valley With its rolling hills and pastures of plenty Each time I come home from lands afar She always looks great, my Solomon Valley She always looks great, my Solomon Valley With its rolling hills and pastures of plenty Each time I come home from lands afar She always looks great, my Solomon Valley She always looks great, my Solomon Valley She always looks great, my Solomon Valley She always looks great, my Solomon Valley She always looks great, my Solomon Valley So those seventh graders that wrote that How much writing did they do versus how much writing you did? Tell the truth 60-40, 50-50 They write a lot of it I do the music and I typically do the chorus That ties the story together Because what we talk about in the stories to songs Which is the project is called stories to songs And you can find out about it at singitout.org Is that they tell the story Or they retell the story that the elder has told And what my job as the artist is to try to figure out What is that theme that holds their story together? So I do the music in the course and then they write the story I'd like to hear some more So this is my favorite one, actually Because it was written about the principle of the school It's called Hardwood And Mr. Lynch, Tom Lynch was a teacher in the school He grew up in that community and became a teacher Was the principal and was also the basketball coach And so he's telling his story to the kids All the kids know him as the basketball coach And so I became pretty evident that this song Was going to be about basketball I didn't really know how He was Tom Lynch's song Hardwood (music) Up in the morning, had past six Turned on the old gym lights The plays coming in and they're lacing up their shoes Everything is alright They always play hard and do their best They give it all of their might Never give up, never give in Never give up the fight Hardwood Life is hardwood Hardwood Life is hardwood The kids are walking into their third-hour class They're all standing on their feet Mr. Lynch is up front, he opens up a book Ask them to take a seat Always demands the best from them Pump them under the heat The classwork homework, he's always asking Do you have the complete Hardwood Life is hardwood Hardwood Life is hardwood Now it's 3.15 in the afternoon And it's time to sweat again Discipline and steady work But whistles say it's begin You're working their tails through the bone They're all taking it on the chair But they never give up, they never give in He says the winner doesn't always win Hardwood Life is hardwood Hardwood Life is hardwood Now he knows how hard this life can be He wants them all to succeed School, sports, but especially life He says don't ever conceive Stay on the course and fight the fight Don't ever receive Don't stop, don't quit, don't give in Make it your lifelong creed Hardwood Life is hardwood Life is hardwood Life is hardwood [applause] Do one more of these stories to songs? Yeah, but I have to ask you The same thing, yes, yes. You're going to all these schools And you're getting these kids fired up about this stuff Don't they have any qualms about having a convicted criminal? I mean, you've got arrested protesting here Oh, no, no, that was my wife That's my car Oh, you're That's why you're here to get in here Yeah? [laughter] Maybe it's a bad thing And maybe that's a bad thing Yeah, if you've been to jail for justice Oh, yeah, no, I have the amphibians My guests who run on, right? Nice, nice You know, it's one of those tests of manhood Yeah, still could do it, yeah Do they have to pass you under some kind of microscope To see whether you're okay to come into school? You know, I have no idea I mean, I'm a touring artist on the Kansas Arts Commission Touring artist roster, so I guess maybe they think that they're going to the Arts Commissioner Got my brown back, got rid of that That's for a later conversation, I think [laughter] But this is relevant, I want to ask about that Yeah, because you're in Kansas, you know? I think in some ways, some of your thoughts, theology, beliefs, where you live out the life of Jesus Put you at odds with some of the school system I mean, don't you have to go ahead and teach creationism as part of your music? I mean, I mean, there ain't no monkeys in Kansas as McCutchen says Does that ever, is there any friction? Is this, do you put elements into your music or interaction with them that might be considered seditious? Well, my wife would say so, because one of the programs I do is Pete Ziegler would have got through tune And we always end with this land in jail and with all of the subversive verses that they never learn and our message really is that this land is your land and in Wichita, 60% are a good 50 in the schools anyway, are immigrant kids and African-American kids and kids that oftentimes get the short, the short end of the stick and so We talk about poverty by talking about hobo culture and jumping trains and anyway Maybe it is subversive and It is They're just not, do you want to be subversive? Absolutely In Kansas, you can't have the one at the end of the day Yeah, is it that bad? I mean, I don't have a sense. It's very, very strong Republican, a governor, a new governor Got rid of the Kansas Arts Commission You're the only state in the nation And our Secretary of State? No Yeah, our Secretary of State is the gentleman who ghost-wrote the Arizona Immigrant Traconian Bill and is traveling the country helping other states write their copycat bills So this co-bok is the name? There's a lot of stuff that's not good but there is a small contingent of progressive folks that are continuing to work We had a rally in February I think as a part of the move-on.org 50 state piece and we had With the Wisconsin, over a thousand folks in Topeka that rallied around that in two days So that was a great little pull together I think the progressive strand in Kansas is a lot larger than we're aware of It's just unaware to recognize That's one of the issues I have with I say, us liberals is we don't organize because we don't want to be joiners We don't want to be compromising ourselves getting in an organization Do you run into that? Or maybe that's not what the issue is We're not solely back in Kansas We're kind of the level I, simple talk Things do tend to drive us more possibly I don't find progressives or liberals in the center of the United States quite so relaxed And I don't know if that's sort of a because there's such a strong, evangelical thread there That there is a side picket Which side are you on? So I think progressivism might have a little different feeling there, I don't know If it feels different than when I go other places Give us one more song here and then maybe we'll let Laura takes on her stage for a bit here Evelyn Williamson was in 2005 was one of our elders that was interviewed and she was also, you'll hear in the story the cook at the school But she was really known even more than being the cook at the school She had 17 children and that always sort of amazes kids After 10 kids and so this is Evelyn Williamson's story and I think it's one of those songs that really goes beyond Evelyn Williamson She's living our town all of her life and childhood without any strife They need chores throughout her life 1940 she became a wife and the chores of a mother I've never done I've been mourning me for a son with laundry to wash and I was to feed She tends to the children who are lonely 17 children it started with Mary to the bus stop oh no one could carry helping each other always carry not a day goes by when a mother's not weary and the chores of a mother I've never done She's I've been mourning me for the son with laundry to wash and I was to feed She tends to the children who are lonely all of her children were raised on the farm without all the lights and the big city charters attended the animal with strong arms She'd pray each day that they'd come to know her because the chores of a mother I've never done She's I've been mourning me for the son with laundry to wash and I was to feed She tends to the children who are lonely There at the school she would cook for the kids pots and pans there were dishes and lids now she's retiring so they're putting out bids still she cooks for her own grown-up kids because the chores of a mother are never done They're all up in the morning and for the son with laundry to wash and I was to feed She tends to the children who are lonely Well the chores of a mother are never done They're all up in the morning before the son with laundry to wash and I was to feed She tends to the children who are lonely The chores of a mother I've never done [applause] That's quite a feminist ballad I was like to couple it with another song You do? I mean I'm kind of wondering the kids, you're talking about small town, right? Feminism might be a kind of a stretch for them or not in Kansas But strong women are not a stretch for them All they have to do is look to their mothers and their grandmothers and they know who's in charge Well Laura, you have been organizing communities to make a big difference in the web You're a little one? A little once, yeah? How long have you been doing this? What's the organization called? Tell us a little bit about that I've been in the field of community organizing for 20 years and I founded an organization in Kansas and was the director there for 18 years and we did everything from potholes street signs to subprime lending we were going after those guys long before it became a crisis and we were able to get a 7.1 million settlement with Conseca Finance and that was back in early 2000s Immigration, that was probably the most exciting part of the work for me what was happening in Kansas and huge influx of workers and then three years ago I made a transition and worked for the same national entity that Sunflower Community Action was affiliated with and I came in as their training director and then had a shift this last year over into their consulting area to develop that program so we have a team of consultants that work with local organizations around grassroots fundraising, board development, staff training, director training and kind of stuff that's what I'm doing now Give me some idea of the local color of what this is you talk about potholes or immigrants those are just names on paper to many of us who are not dealing with the issues but I think you must see up front differences being made can you talk about people or what are you just organizing the organizers do you see the end product these days? Yeah, it is though in terms of the body of the work it's like working the next and running out so that organizations are strong to create the space for local leadership it really is all built around the empowerment and creating the space for people in their communities to learn how to lead and that means throwing people in the deep end a lot of times they're in the middle of crisis and figuring out how to get them out of crisis mode and into collective action mode one of my favorite stories at Sunflower is Ms. Perry lived next door to a house that was abandoned and from basement to attic it was stuffed with just junk, garbage, trash, items you opened the door so when the dude that owned it couldn't get any more in the house he started stacking it outside the house and the garage and it was just this huge mound and Ms. Perry called the city the health department the police department the news I mean everything she could do as an individual so when we went in we got all the neighbors together and invited the health department to come out to the meeting they agreed to come they didn't show the neighbors went to the health department in mass I think there's about 20 of them the next day and waited until the head of the department came out anyway needless to say it took over a year to get that trashy finally down because the city manager put up all kinds of roadblocks to allowing it to come down believe it or not private property you know there's certain things that private owners have and you just don't want to intrude upon those places so you have to get things declared a state of emergency so that took a little time to get state of emergency but we all went to the city manager's house together and in a week the state of emergency got it was a state of emergency yeah will you care about our own desires? what were you doing? it just went out and knocked on the door the group went to the door and Ms. Perry was in the leadership team and she got to knock on the door and got to talk to his wife it's really I love the opportunity to move we sit and wring our hands about problems and slow action and once we made that move to move the neighborhood into his neighborhood which it was all African American that got things moving very quickly so part of the issue is he doesn't want to have to deal I guess I don't want to oversimplify him but the Afro-American contingent their voice wasn't as strong I don't know how racism does or doesn't exist in your town yeah I think it's pretty the way racism plays out in urban centers is very common in Wichita to other parts of the country so yeah we don't have to worry about that that's their problem yep yep so you travel around training other folks now you're not just limited to Wichita anymore now I offer some Wichita and then I'm on the road every month usually last month I was nice I didn't go anywhere do you have to stay home? yeah well but the month before I was gone 20 or 30 days so there's a balance here well that's unusual I thought that the choice of women are never done you don't get to do it quite as much music I think as your husband does right so you perform with Aaron sometimes? I get to do that we actually have done a little more recently which I am very grateful for and we're hoping to do more of that so I think you'd like to share some music today too? yeah yeah yeah Kansas has some particular genealogy for me some family roots that connected to what I've decided is my call and I'd like to do this first song by Greg Artser and I'll make the connection with the song when we get done music music when the great war was over came back again to the land of the child the land of the new day the wide open spaces swallowed hard the great, prairie grassland the ground earth we're on in the great state of Kansas on the western land land we work with the farmer or as a dusty ranchman it was never too hands-free dream of your life the girl of your fancy said that she'd be your wife I'm a seed of the perry wanted by the snow who's their region for the sky song of the little one carried on the wind and your voice is a day long on mine song you were married it springs filled with storms with ease to live county and her purpose far time for the planting on sugar creek shore you'd start life together and forget the great war but just a few short weeks later came another great flood the creek overflowed with timber and mud with no boat to cross over swim across now stayed in that cornfield ready to plow and I'm a seed of the perry wanted by the snow who's their region for the sky song you were married carried on the wind and your voice is a day long on mine well it was until midnight then from the town there are boats and drag mines found where you'd gone down in a peaceful green valley and the gentle spring breeze they made you to rest under a cottonwood tree now sixty long years have gone by since you died and the grandson you never knew stands by your side of this great green valley beneath the cottonwood tree bearing your voice on the gentle spring breeze I'm a seed of the perry wanted by the snow who's their region for the sky song you were a little hard carried on the wind and your voice is a day long on mine I'm a seed of the perry wanted by the snow who's their region for the sky song you were a little hard carried on the wind and your voice is a day long on mine and your voice is a day long on mine I'm your voice is a day long on mine The time frame is not correct but Lynn County was where I discovered a relative of mine about ten years ago great Aunt Ida Dungan B. Louf she was born there about thirty years after Lynn Brown and the massacre that happened in that county right along the Missouri Kansas border so Kansas became state a hundred fifty years ago and Lynn County was the site of a lot of turmoil I understand that John Brown actually led a successful underground railroad excursion from Kansas that went up and ended in Iowa but I'm not do you know where we are connected but I'd like to share this next song and I'll see maybe a little bit more about Aunt Ida let me just mention that last song Greg Archer is the man who wrote it he and his partner Terry are together they're called Magpie and if you come to Nortonspiritradio.org you'll hear my interviews with both of them over the past year you can always just come to the site and listen to all of our programs they're a great duo and I've been doing this a long time so they're wonderful wonderful if you just tuned in you're listening to spirit in action my guests today are Laura Duncan and Aaron Fowler they do a lot of work and they do music together when the world is lucky they're great music leaders and sharers and Laura you were talking a bit about more of your connection with music you're connected with Kansas you have some more I think to share tell me what it is well let's just do it through this song how about round two years my mind how will the night a poodle leading a distant poodle ground pan first me she cried one in her hand a room of water for this young woman saying come on up I got a lifeline come on up to this train come on up I got a lifeline come on up to this train my she said in me was hairy at her men and she drew for the underground railroad hundreds of miles we traveled on we're gathering slaves from town to town seeking every last I'm setting balls free that once were bound somehow my heart was growing weaker hell by the ways I'd sing a game you said firmly to this lady said she lifted me up and she took my hand she didn't come on up I got a lifeline come on up to this train my home I got a lifeline come on up to this train she said in me was hairy at her men and she drew for the underground railroad seeing come on up to this train my home I got a lifeline come on up to this train my home I go home come on up to this train my home I got a lifeline come on up to this train my home I got a lifeline come on to this train my home I got a lifeline come on up to this train [applause] I love you. I'm not where the area made it to Kansas but the struggle that we had in that state during that time and my great aunt Ida, being born there she lived the most active part of her life around the turn of the 1900s she ran a 40 room boarding house and I didn't find out about it until about 10 years ago I was curious because I had a relative say she ran for governor for state of Kansas I was like, I didn't want to my relatives did that and she actually ran three different times on the socialist ticket, Kansas and so that curiosity led me to some more family stories and this one was the one that made me kind of come up off the couch was she got together her husband and three of their black friends went to the Miller Theatre which was one of the most prestigious theaters in which they taught that time and they just walked past the person taking tickets, bought the tickets and they just walked in and sat down of course you weren't supposed to do that police finally came and she happened to be sitting on the aisle seat and the officer took her arm and she had a really severe case of palsy the way the story goes and she held it out and said something like you wouldn't hurt a poor old woman would you and he just walked off you couldn't deal with this old lady with palsy so when I found out about her I was just pretty amazed that I had some kind of crazy connection with somebody that was choosing to do some things a little bit differently in my context and in my family it's a little different than my family which sort of fast forwards to the work that we're doing now one of the things that she said her son told me who just died actually, it was a member of Berkeley meeting, she was not Quaker three of her children became Quakers so that was fun to find out too but her youngest son Robert Blue if he was a member of Berkeley monthly meeting said that she didn't regret anything she did they filed a lawsuit after their little activism it will act in the theater but people were still seated up in the balcony unless people were very forcefully insisting upon their rights to sit on the floor so she was pretty excited if her king jr rolled around and then she died right about at the beginning of when things started to take off that people unless they demand and claim their own fight, their own victories they won't internalize that and they won't claim it they won't own it so she really felt that the empowerment of people is pretty important you know a little bit of history maybe you can refresh me on Kansas was one of those swing states is it going to be a slave state or non-slave state and my understanding was that part of the thing with John Brown there were people from Missouri coming over to try and drive out the people who were trying to keep Kansas from being a slave state is that right? Yeah it was crazy stuff roughing in the free stateers and in the end what happened? We were on the right side of that collision well keep free Kansas keep free Kansas exactly I think we had time for one more song is that one you want to share? what do you think Laura? This is a Pat Humphreys tune she was here at the gathering she was here at the gathering so go to nartinspirateradio.org there you go just two weeks ago two weeks ago I interviewed Pat and in another week or two I'll be speaking with both her and Sandy so they'll be a spirit and action program well they probably did this song and maybe on theirs and if they did you can edit this out I want to hear your version from Montgomery and Selma to the streets of Birmingham the people sent a message to the leaders of this land we have fought and we have suffered and we know they're all from right we are family we are neighbors we are black and brown and white here I go about freedom that my truth can't be not the preacher not the congress not the millionaire but me I will organize for justice I will raise my voices on and our children will be free we leave the world and carry on from San Pennsylvania from London it made on death oh the voice who had the courage to expose evil show from the courtroom to the barroom in the television square how agreed we are far and hungry people everywhere here I go about freedom that my truth can't be not the preacher not the congress not the millionaire but me I will organize for justice I will raise my voices on and our children will be free we leave the world and carry on here I go oh I'm standing on my own I remember those before me and I know I'm not alone I will organize for justice I will raise my voice in the song and our children will be free we leave the world and carry on from the streets and through your city across the ocean and beyond the people of our nations create a common body with our conscience as our weapon we are witness to the ball we are simple, we are brilliant we are white we are out here I go about freedom that my truth can't be not the preacher not the congress not the millionaire but me I will organize for justice I will raise my voices on and our children will be free we leave the world and carry on here I go I'm standing on my own I remember those before me and I know I'm not what I will organize for justice I will raise my voice in the song and our children will be free we leave the world and carry on here I go we are standing on our own we remember those before us and we know I'm not a lot we will organize for justice we will raise our voice in the song and our children will be free we leave the world and carry on (music) (applause) Incredible song and incredible singers here today. Thank you so much for sharing here today and go forth and do more good work our prayers are with you as you work to make a real change in the world in Kansas a place that really can use your energy I'm so thankful that you're there and that you were here today. Thank you. Thank you. (applause) You are sitting in on a visit with Laura Dungan and Aaron Fowler activists and musicians in early July at the Friends General Conference Gathering at Grinnell University. Follow links from Northern Spirit Radio to learn more about any of the above and we'll see you next week for Spirit in Action. The theme music for this program is Turning of the World performed by Sarah Thompson This Spirit in Action program is an effort of Northern Spirit Radio. You can listen to our programs and find links and information about us and our guests on our website northernspiritradio.org Thank you for listening. I am your host Mark Helpsmeet and I welcome your comments and stories of those leading lives of spiritual fruit. May you find deep roots to support you and grow steadily toward the light. This is Spirit in Action. (music) With every voice with every song we will move this world along with every voice with every song we will move this world along and our lives will feel the echo ♪ Tomorrow evening ♪