Spirit in Action

Eyes Wide Open

A visit to the Eyes Wide Open display - The human cost of the War in Iraq. Interviews with 3 visitors and organizers of the display.

Duration:: 1h 14m
Broadcast on:: 18 Sep 2005
Audio Format:: mp3

I have no hands but yours to tempt my sheep No handkerchief but yours to dry the eyes of those who weep I have no arms but yours with which to hold The ones grown weary from the struggle and weak from growing old I have no hands but yours with which to see To let my children know that I am out and out is everything I have no way to feed the hungry souls No clothes to give and make, the ragged and the morn So be my heart, my hand, my tongue Through you I will be done Fingers have I none to help untime The tangled knocks and twisted chains that strangle fearful minds Welcome to Spirit in Action, my name is Mark Helpsmeat Each week I'll be bringing you stories of people living lives a 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 Above all, I'll seek out light, love and helping hands Being shared between our many neighbors on this planet, hoping to inspire and encourage you to sink deep roots and produce sacred fruit in your own life I have no way to open people's eyes, except that you will show them how to trust the inner mind Today I'm taking you for a visit to the eyes wide open display, a graphic exhibit of the human cost of the war in Iraq It includes striking images of thousands of military boots filled with personal notes, pictures and momentals A pair for each American soldier killed as part of that war Alongside is an assemblage of shoes of Iraqis of all age, babies to great great grandparents Representatives of the tens of thousands who've died in this conflict It's a graphic, heart-rending monument to those who suffered and died, some in military service, most as civilians In a war I declared to be successfully concluded two years ago The display is being shown through the efforts of the American Friends Service Committee A Quaker Peace and Justice Organization established in 1917 and recipient of the 1947 Nobel Peace Prize You can check the itinerary for the display as it moves around the country by checking the eyes wide open link on the American Friends Service Committee webpage www.afsc.org It will be coming to the College of St. Catherine St. Paul campus on September 29th through October 1st of 2005 A convenient location for folks from the Chippewa Valley I'll be talking with three visitors to the eyes wide open display Janine Bruton is new to social action after spending 20 years as an at-home mom Elizabeth Robling has been living a life of service in various regions of the Caribbean, most recently the Dominican Republic The final interview is with Francine Cheeks, an employee of the American Friends Service Committee for the past 12 years She'll share her experience of the AFSC and a bit of the spiritual path that led her from her roots in the African Methodist Episcopal Church to replace him on Quakers First, let's go to the eyes wide open display on July 8th in Blacksburg, Virginia We have all the soldiers gone, long time passing We have all the soldiers gone, a long long time ago We have all the soldiers gone, gone to graveyards, everyone When will they ever learn, when will they ever learn Where have all the graveyards gone, long time passing Where have all the graveyards gone, long time ago Where have all the graveyards gone, gone to flowers, everyone When will they ever learn, when will they ever learn I'm here at the campus of Virginia Tech, which is in Blacksburg, Virginia They're just dismantling after a few days running the eyes wide open display There's a number of people here who've seen the display, it's very striking evidence of all the real human suffering that has happened in Iraq over the last couple years I'm going to ask a couple people here who've seen and also helped work with the display to say a few words Could you say your name? Yes, it's Janine Brewton And where are you from Janine? I'm from Chattanooga, Tennessee You came here, saw the display, did you see it on the first day or was it just today you came in? No, this is the third day I've been here Can you describe to me what the display looked like to you, what it was? It was an ocean of black boots and a sea of civilian shoes from babies' booties to grandmother's slippers representing the Iraqi citizens who've been killed in this war You must have some connection to this story, what's your connection, what do you know or see when you see these boots? Well, the personal connection is that the Quaker's peace testimony is the most difficult for me Until now, but having been here It may be the easiest I've written a poem in response to my being here And if I could, I'd like to read it Please do It's called "You are still invited to the wedding" July 6, 2005 1,748 July 7, 2005 1,751 Three more pairs of black military boots added to the sacred ground The rose, like gravestones, marked the fallen Rose, set with military precision in lines of perfection on the horizontal The vertical, the diagonal, at attention Sergeant First Class Richard Gottfried, 42, Missouri Sergeant Dennis A. Carroll, 33, Nebraska Corporal Henry Lavon Brown, 22, Mississippi SSG David Day, Minnesota Lance Corporal Nazario Serrano, 20, Texas Name removed at request of family Private First Class Anthony S. Miller, 19, Texas Specialist Rodriguez A. Yeoman's, 22, South Carolina SSG Victor M. Cortez III, 29, Pennsylvania He wanted to have his own Christian band, Better Days He wanted to be a father There will be no the fourth We buried his dreams with him six days before Christmas F.F.C. Robbie McNary, 42, Montana Sergeant Humberto Timokio, Timokia, 25, New Jersey Private First Class Rachel K. Bosveld, 19, Wisconsin Flowers left on the graves by families and friends And those strangers moved to add a commemoration And stuffed animals And high school graduation photographs And peace buttons and yellow ribbons And farewell letters and presidential letters of condolence Lovers kisses and indeterminable numbers of tears And an invitation to a brother's celebration You are still invited to the wedding July 8, 2005, 1752 Thank you, Janine When you said the peace to us had been most difficult For you, what did you mean? Just thinking back over history How can one not go to war against the Nazis Or another regime that is destroying the peoples How can they not be stopped with whatever force is required to do that And so I struggle with that But having spent a couple of hours each day for the last three days And having spent the last week at the French General Conference I just have a deep sense that there are other ways, better ways It may take longer It will take longer With those better ways, but it really feels like the only way I believe this is your first time at the French General Conference gathering How long have you been associated with your meeting? What is this in your spiritual journey? Well, I've told this little story a couple of times, I'll just tell it again It's what comes to mind I grew up in the Episcopal Church When I was 15, my best friend's older sister came home from college And she took me and Sally off to a Quaker meeting Out in the farmlands of Newcastle, Delaware And it was a very old meeting house And I think those in worship were as old as the meeting house But it struck a very deep chord with me And it's one that I just have never let go of And though I've followed various other spiritual paths I keep coming back to the Quakers Sometimes they're hiatus of six, eight, ten years Sometimes I'm a regular attender for five years straight With hardly missing a Sunday But at this crossroads in my life, looking at the second half of my life This is a piece that just has to be in the second part of my life So I'm now attending at the Chattanooga Friends meeting And I'm just newly returned to Quakers in the last three months After a seven-year break Were you somewhere else? No, I was at home on Sunday mornings Reading the newspaper and eating breakfast And why are you giving up your Sunday mornings? Probably your one leisurely morning of the week Isn't there something that you're losing by giving that up? I don't know how to answer this mark except to say There's no place else I can be What brought you to this exhibit? I mean, you're not a political activist evidently But something brought you here? No, I'm not a political activist I've been a stay-at-home mom for 20 years And not politically active at all except to vote What brought me here Was the haunting eyes of the Iraqi woman On the postcard type brochure That's available to advertise that this exhibits here To provide notice of the exhibits here And she brought me here Tomorrow morning you'll probably be heading back to Chattanooga What difference will it make in your life that you've seen this? I'm aware of a group called Women in Black Who meet on the Walnut Street Bridge in Chattanooga Once a week on a Sunday evening I think it is And I see myself on that bridge in silent vigilance Chattanooga is a very politically conservative environment The buckle of the Bible Belt This war is not unpopular in Chattanooga Bush's policies are not unpopular in Chattanooga Solidly Republican But I think if not anything else Here at the Friends General Conference is Opened another way for me to be Without being threatening or pushy Or poking anybody in the eye As someone in one of my interest groups mentioned With kind of challenging bumper stickers Or sort of in-your-face buttons I don't think I'll take that approach But I'll be much more I feel that I'll have the Presence and the centering To actually speak my witness In a quiet voice What have you been doing here this week? For the last three days you spent a couple hours a day Here with all of those military boots and shoes Or on display What have you been doing with the rest of your time? Well, I find I need a two and a half hour nap every afternoon Because my schedule is otherwise just packed With new insights and new possibilities And new friendships And it's very intense even when I'm still And not active, it's the intensity's high So I'm napping But those intense things that are filling my days I've been participating in a fabulous workshop Called Experiencing the Light And it's focusing on types of Different practices of meditation And walking prayers And centering prayers And visualizations and spiritual journaling With Chris Ravindale out of Pendle Hill In addition to meeting with that workshop for two and a half hours every day Four of us have formed a small community for ourselves Of listening to one another And spiritual friendship would probably be a good way to describe it We haven't put a name on it yet, that's why I'm struggling But that would be a good description And just deep listening to one another I've also attended an interest group on friendship Which is a challenge for me I've been practicing at home and being a better friend And exploring ways within myself of how I might do that And the interest group with Perry Treadwell out of Atlanta It's a very enriching experience to me And I've bought his books of meditations And prayers on friendship and love And besides that, I've been folk dancing every opportunity possible And something I don't do at home But now I'm on the lookout for any Chattanooga dancers That will invite me into their circle You haven't been a folk dancer before? Never, never, never, never But it's always appealed to me, so I guess in my fantasy life I was I'm glad that you've had joy along with the tears that I've been seeing in people's face here It looks like probably a healthy mixture of joy and grief It has been, it has been, thank you Thank you, Janine Whoa, yeah What is good for? Absolutely nothing Whoa, yeah What is good for? Absolutely nothing What is good for? Absolutely nothing What is good for? Absolutely nothing to me Whoa, yeah I think so 'Cause it feels the joy of this life What means to you And now for the love of life When I've served on the pain And lose their life I said, whoa Good God, you're What is good for? Absolutely What gets here and again Whoa, yeah What is good for? Absolutely nothing Listen to me Whoa, yeah It ain't nothing What a heartbreak Whoa, yeah And only to the undertaker Whoa, yeah Is it it it it me? It's too obvious The start of war Whoa, yeah Whoa, yeah Whoa, yeah Whoa, yeah Whoa, yeah Whoa, yeah What is good for? Absolutely nothing Shit, shit, shit Whoa Elizabeth Robling Now, Elizabeth, I don't know you No, I'm a quicker with the Asheville meeting I've been living in the Dominican Republic For seven months So, when I came back What I was observing to these friends is that The Americans are not giving themselves enough Credit, the conscious Americans who are working for peace Are not giving themselves enough Care and attention to know How stressful it is to be Eyes wide open witnesses to this And be holding it in their hearts And that I send energy and love to them And know that the rest of the world is not experiencing this As deeply and profoundly as Americans are Have you seen the exhibit before? Describe what you see when you look at it It's extraordinarily powerful It's like a living veterans memorial Instead of the crosses you see the boots And on the boots you see Sometimes the photographs Or sometimes there was a wrapped up baby blanket There were flags from Puerto Rico There were messages from loved ones There were cheers from other combat soldiers That people had who had come And seen specifically their loved ones Represented and left a message for them For peace, for going on to people to witness And the very powerful message of all of the All of the Iraqi civilians And all the different kinds of shoes That spiraled up and wound up And it's only a small representation And every once in a while You'd come across a picture of a living Or not a living Person And it gives a face to it It's a profound, profound face to it That we don't have now in the public eye And Elizabeth, is this the first time you've seen the exhibit Or what brought you here? I've heard of it I'm here with the French General Conference for the Week And certainly the boots We've been talking about the boots I've been talking to people who are trying to bring it to their town I've heard of it I've threw Quaker channels That it was in existence But I never really appreciated the scale of it Of how big and profound And it's like a moving Vietnam wall What happened inside you when you saw it? There's so much grief That these people had to die For what seems to me No reason There's no reason now In the civilized age that we are That we have to resort to Such primitive methods of solving international disputes What are the roots of that night grief? I mean, these are people from another country I guess you probably never knew them How are you connected with them? Oh, they're my people I mean, they're all my people Everyone is my person We're all brothers and sisters We're all on one planet We all are humans And we're all of one So anyone who suffers We suffer We're only as good as a collective people As we are our weakest brother And our weakest link You said you've been spending Living, I guess, in Dominican Republic Lasteranis What have you been doing there? Why have you been there? I've always had a pull to be in that region of the world I've lived in Grenada, I've lived in Haiti I was on the Vieques Witness in Puerto Rico for four years I'm drawn to the people of color To the roots of the slaves To the roots of colonialism I'm pulled there I had finally to leave here And put myself there After I had established my relationship with my meeting So that they know that I'm there So that they too will come there So that they will see how close Haiti is To the United States And how deeply we owe our heritage In this entire hemisphere To Africa And so I Keep the witness there I work in a school for For street children And I write home to my meeting I talk to the tourists I raise funds I organize with other people who are doing foundation work And do the best I can What kind of school are you working in? It's a school that was started by a Frenchman who came down there And he got money from a foundation to build it It's very cute, it's round And it has six little classrooms And they teach eight to 12 year olds Who have not learned how to read in the standard schools So it's an intensive literacy Reading, writing, basic math And Spanish, a little French Which is the main language of the tourists And I've been teaching English Has it been comfortable for you living there? I love it there, I love it there I love it, the diversity of the people The general joy of their lives Even when they have nothing They are, in fact, a great deal, more joyful than we are I noticed by looking at you That your skin's a little pale You're missing some of that Nice, rich color That probably would make you stand out there Does that, do you get racism against you there? No, they love Americans, actually They adore Americans I went to the hardware store I'm living in a furnished apartment So I don't need much But I went to the hardware store to buy a few things And I started doing Meringue down the aisle With the sales girl And she found out I was from America And pushed all the Europeans who are buying for entire houses Away from the counter And asked to everyone that I danced Meringue better than she does And said, you know, "America, quiero comprar, America wishes to buy" I get a standing discount at the store because I'm from America It's their second largest source of funding People who have gone to America and send money home My Dominican friend said if you took a vote They would 65% of them would join the United States What does the view of the people there about the Iraqi war? What does it look like? What feedback do you hear from people there? What do you experience? Well, we have a fairly large expat community from France And they're sympathetic They understand that Well, I think our president is not, frankly And they don't quite They are very clear to say they understand the people may be different They don't understand the war The Dominicans pulled their troops out already and came home as did Spain So they were involved before and they just left sooner than we have I don't get any personal hostility to me I find that I'm sometimes personally hostile to Americans And I meet who are still for the war When I find that that's their position I need to back away from them There are a few living there and some of the tourists I'm not good at dealing with that How does that fit that reaction that you have fit in with your spiritual beliefs, your spiritual depths? Well, I was relieved to hear Bishop Spong say last night that it's okay that we can just leave them We can just walk away from people that have a mindset that is contrary to ours And if we feel that that's not as evolved or not as deep in that we don't have to We're not called necessarily to convert them We can just move forward to the light and not worry if they don't follow That just keep moving toward the light and take the people who are moving with you And just go with that and you don't have to wait on the side to argue with the guy who's not going to get on the bus You might confuse a few people by referring to Bishop Spong since Quakers don't have any such thing You might want to tell them who you're referring to Yeah, this is the former retired bishop from Diasys of Newark He's the Episcopalian former Episcopalian bishop And he was our keynote speaker last night at the gathering And so I have also read another book of his which is called "Why Christianity Must Change Or Die" And it really helped me be more Christian I'm the sense of being more comfortable being Christian When I was very uncomfortable with the people who were calling themselves Christians were doing or saying So I've appreciated this man's witness and he came and spoke to us last night as our keynote speaker Are you headed back to Dominican Republic? How long have you been there? I've been there seven months and I didn't want to come back But I knew I needed to come back for gathering and to see my family And I do desperately miss my Quakers and my meeting and my roots here We have started a little meditation group down there From various people from various traditions So we do have a worshipful silence once a week But it's not the same, it's not rooted So I will be here probably to the end of August if I can stand living in my car that long And traveling, maybe I'll take my car out to Portland and leave it with friends out there And fly out from there, I'm not sure But it's supposedly extremely hot where I'm swimming Although we have the beach and the sea, so we can just get in it We don't however have air conditioning, so when it's hot it's very hot What about the spirituality of the people you've encountered there? Can you talk about it? Have you witnessed it? Can you share it at all? This is an area, the Salmon Up and Insula is an area which is very heavily black Very heavily Protestant, it's the only Protestant area in the DR Some of the Protestant churches are very, oh dear, I want to say negative However, some of the evangelicals are really filled with joy And extraordinarily proud of the fact that they can read the Bible, that they found the Bible And that they will insist that they are completely honest Because they'll put their hand on their Bible And say no, see this is my book, which is interesting There are plenty of people who have not gone to church ever And yet they sing when they're working on the garden Or they sing when they're walking down the beach Or they, the children play all the time and make Sandlot baseball games Are seem to be very pleased to be alive The last thing I wanted to ask you is You've been here to the eyes open wide exhibit How will it change how you live your life from today on, or will it? It's very dangerous to get into quicker pride You know, to be proud of being a Quaker To think that our denomination is better than any other denomination And sometimes we labored in Iowa in my meeting That we were trading on our history You know, and things that, really fabulous things that we did in the 16, 17, 1800s And yet what I've seen here is that There are still some pretty fabulous things that we're still doing And so I really, I'm so deeply touched in my heart By people who spend their time doing something like this Making this exhibit, tending to it, sending it from state to state Doing all of the very, perhaps mundane, dreary work That's involved in getting it from place to place And seeing that the boots for the next state Are on the back of the bus and the, you know And it may seem like sort of boring and tedious work But I think it has a profound effect on everyone who sees it It's an opportunity for us collectively to grieve Which I think we need desperately as a nation Thank you very much, Elizabeth I want to check a few words with Francine The exhibit is just closing down Very much Thanks Good job, yo What did you tell them for? I absolutely never said, said, said What? Oh, yeah, ugh What did you tell them for? I absolutely never, Mr. Man What? It ain't nothing more, I break 'em What? It's just one thing, it's just the undertaker Oh, oh, oh And Shannon, many young mainstreams Made him just three more, better at me Like a bus that's not impressive It's been fighting what he's saying What can't give life It can only take it away, oh, oh Oh, oh, oh Good God, yo What did you tell them for? I absolutely never, said again What? Oh, oh, oh What did you tell them for? I absolutely Nothing, Mr. Man What? It ain't nothing more, I break 'em What? Bring only to the undertaker Oh, oh It's my man and the man It's just one thing, it's just one thing It's just one thing, it's just one thing And I'm speaking with Francine Chicks. So Francine, you're here with the exhibit. Did you have some part in bringing it here? Not per se. I work in the communications department. And we have supported this from the very beginning, since it started in January of 2004. We helped to create all of the materials, the signage, the poster, eyes wide open, some of the other materials that are on the table, the name tags, different kinds of materials. And when it goes to certain cities, we provide support in public relations, like developing press releases and sending them out. Not everywhere, but places where they need assistance. We say, who are you talking about? The communications department of the American Friends Service Committee, because this is an American Friends Service Committee exhibit. It is supported by the whole organization. And our listeners probably aren't familiar with that group. And how many people is this? And he tell them what the American Friends Service Committee is. The American Friends Service Committee is a Quaker organization that works in peace, social action, justice, and humanitarian assistance around the world. Was started in 1917 by Quakers as an alternative to military service in World War I, and has grown from that effort, which was helping families in France and Germany after the war, to what we do today, across the United States and in five regions of the world. We have regional offices in Cambridge, Massachusetts, New York, New York, Baltimore, Maryland, Atlanta, Georgia, Chicago, Illinois, Seattle, Washington, San Francisco, California, and Pasadena, California. Should be nine. I think that's-- oh, Des Moines, Iowa, apologize. And five regions of the world, we work in Europe, parts of Europe near Yugoslavia, the former Yugoslavia, in Africa, in Southeast and South Asia, Latin America, and Africa, parts of Africa, not the entire continent. You said this is an organization, or it's a Quaker organization, which I understand, is it all Quakers? It invites people of many faiths who have similar values as Quakers to be a part of it. The corporation and the board of directors are Quakers. The staff is not totally Quaker. It includes many different faiths. How long have you been connected with AFSC? I've been with AFSC since 1993, which is 12 years. And how did you end up there? Because I wanted your job. I didn't apply for it truly, but I think it's kind of work I would love doing. So how did you get there? And what were you doing before, and why are you there? I got there through serendipity. I have lived in Philadelphia since 1972, except for four brief years when I went to graduate school in New York, and worked there for two years. So four years between 1972 and 2005, I've been in Philadelphia. A friend told me that there was an opening at the American Friends Service Committee. And I reluctantly went there and had an interview and applied. And as soon as I applied, I really wanted to work there, because I had been a reporter in Philadelphia prior to this, and had known a little bit about AFSC, but not the depth and breadth of the work that it did. So I went in, and I was floored. And I said, if I don't work for these people, I will die. I didn't die. They did offer me a job as the director of media relations. And I worked there for about 10 months or so in that capacity. And then they were looking for a director of the department, and I applied for it. And I got the job. I was promoted, and I became the director in 1994. You have to understand, see, I was a speech communications major amongst other things in college. I took a different line after I spent two years in Africa in Peace Corps. When I came back, I went into a different line. But what kind of background did you have to get that? And what was it so much? What was it that they were doing that so much called to you? OK. This is where the serendipity comes in. I started out working for the federal government-- well, actually, for a small community action program in Pittsburgh when I got out of college, that I worked briefly for the state of New York in an education program, then I went to work for the federal government in renewal assistance. Then I came to Philadelphia as a reporter after that, and then worked in public relations with another woman in an agency, was vice president of marketing at the Philadelphia Zoo, and did a whole range of consulting kind of work. And everything that I have ever done in my life has prepared me for what I'm doing in this job. I have learned publications. I've learned-- well, I knew media. I went to school for journalism, so writing, public relations, all of that is a part of who I am. And so that's why I think it was serendipity. And not only did I get the job, but I knew when I walked in the door and heard about the work that they were doing and the faith-based nature of it why they were doing it because they believe in some very basic testimonies of peace, equality, simplicity, I knew that I was home in a religious sense, in a spiritual sense. So I began going to meetings right away. And I was a Quaker before I knew it. Actually, I think I was a Quaker when I got there by another name, and I didn't know it. So I've been a practicing Quaker since I got to AFSC. So you can't not understand what a profound experience this is for me to come to get a wonderful job and to go continue my spiritual journey and find spiritual satisfaction in the work that I'm doing and in the worship that I'm participating in, in the community that I'm a part of. What's not to love? It's just perfect. Did they pressure you in any way to join up with this group of lunatics that they are? How did you-- [INAUDIBLE] I would tell you weren't Quaker beforehand. No one ever asked or pressured me. But the general secretary at the time was somebody that I admired greatly. And in moments when we weren't working, we would have casual conversations, and she would tell me about her experience. She had also been a general secretary of French United Meeting. She's actually a programmed friend, as opposed to unprogrammed in the Philadelphia area, where most of us are unprogrammed. But her spiritual beliefs were so deep, and so all encompassing that they just pervaded everything that she was. And we would talk, and she would share information. But she never asked me if I wanted to. She never asked me if I would. She never did anything. I asked her questions. I asked her about process. I asked her about what things are important in being a Quaker. So I learned from her. And I made my own decision. No one ever asked me anything. I made my own decision. But I knew, as I said, when I got there, that I was compatible with this. I said, why has it taken me 50 years to find this? What were you like-- what did you do before you got to AFS? I mean, religiously, and were you a political activist? Or what kind of risks is that all having your life? I grew up in a little town outside of Pittsburgh in a church of the African Methodist Episcopal denomination. My grandparents were stalwarts in the church, which was founded in 1903. And it just recently celebrated its centennial. I went to Sunday school every Sunday, stayed for church, was in junior choir, Adam, Youth Endeavor-- I mean, Alan, Youth Endeavor, just everything you can imagine. And the church was the focal point of my social activity, too, because we had a large youth program. And we had hayrides, and parties, and picnics, and all kinds of things. So that was a part of my life. But as I became an adult, I found that the church service in that denomination wasn't serving me. But I would go to church. Every city that I've ever lived in, including New York and Washington, when I was working at other different jobs, I would go to church, because that's all I knew. And church has always been important to me. So I would go, and I would worship. But I never became a member of another church since I was a teenager. Never became a member. So I was a practicing Methodist AME, called themselves Methodist, for 50 years, but didn't belong anywhere. I said, I don't know what church I'm going to join, but I haven't found the right one yet. And when I got to AFSC, I knew that's what I wanted. I liked the silent worship. I liked the basis of the work that is done. I liked the fact that service is inherent in worship and in people's everyday lives. That had been the problem with some of the churches I had been to, not that they weren't good places, and not that the people aren't good, but I needed the closer, inextricable link between service and spirituality. And that's what I found in Quakerism. - Could you tell me a little about the African Methodist, the Episcopal Church, it's confusing conglomeration. I've been to one kind of inner city church in Milwaukee, which is all black. I mean, the six of us who went were the white people in the place, but could you tell me, are they Episcopal? Are they Methodist, or what are they? What do they believe? What do they do? - This church was established by Richard Allen in Philadelphia in 1787. Richard Allen was a man who was born a slave, but he bought his freedom, born in Delaware, bought his freedom, came to Philadelphia and lived, and was a very active social person in the community. He worshiped regularly in many of the churches there, but after a while he got very frustrated because they were relegated to either the balcony or the back bench of the church were told when they could come and where they could go. And he and Absalom Jones finally said that they were tired of being mistreated in white churches and established their own. The African Methodist Episcopal is African first because Richard Allen was an African former slave. Methodist because it's based loosely on Wesleyan Methodism and Episcopalian because it has the structure of the Episcopal Church with bishops and presiding elders and that kind of hierarchy. So that's what the conglomeration is, but it is basically Methodists, very similar to United Methodists, but not in that. It is a fully African American controlled and managed church. - You used to have family who part of that church? - Absolutely. - How do they look at you being not AME? - I have never been traditional in my family. I mean, this is not the only thing that I have done that's been a little bit different from everybody else. I went away after I went to college and lived someplace else. I switched jobs, I was working for the government and being very successful and decided I didn't want to do that. So I changed careers and went to journalism school. So I've not been anyplace to work 20 years and get a watch. So that's nontraditional. They know that I am a person of strong convictions and I do what I believe and I've never asked anybody else to follow me to do what I do, but I do what I believe. And they respect me for that. And as a matter of fact, I have a cousin who's a minister, not in this denomination. He's actually African Methodist Episcopal Zion, which is another group of blacks who've established a Methodist church structure. And we talk about it all the time and he's very admiring of Quakers. And he says, maybe he'll become a Quaker at some point. So I'm very well received in the family. - That's good. Were you well received when you came in? Certainly there's a lot of us whites who have subliminal racism or maybe overt and everything else. And I certainly had some experiences with it from the other side by being the one white in my village when I was a Peace Corps volunteer. I knew what it was like to stand out and everything knew me right away and stuff. What was it like for you? - I have not had any trouble in my meeting because I chose very, very carefully. I live in the city of Philadelphia and I am within 10 minutes of about three major meetings including Germantown, which is an historic meeting. Chestnut Hill meeting, Green Street meeting. And then there's a large meeting that is in the meeting house that's next to the friend center where AFSC's offices are. So there are four meetings within about 20 minutes of where I live. And then there's a meeting at Fourth and Art Street which is also an historic meeting. I decided that I wanted to find a meeting where I could be comfortable where it wouldn't be so big that I would have a hard time learning everybody and learning the ropes and knowing what was protocol and what wasn't. And where I was needed. So I decided to join a meeting that is not in Philadelphia. It's across the Delaware River in Camden, New Jersey. It is called Newton meeting. It was established in 1680, which is two years before Philadelphia meeting was established. So it's an historic meeting. When I joined, when I sought membership, there were five people on the rolls as members, maybe about 10 people who were coming regularly. At one point it almost went defunct but somebody has saved it, a family just maintained it and kept it open. And now we're growing. We have about 12 members, card carrying, Quakers and about 20 people who are attenders and who come and participate in what we're doing. And I have never been anything but warmly welcomed by everybody there. Even though I'm the only person of color in the meeting right now. But the people who are there are there because they want to be a part of that meeting. And that's the most important thing. And so we all have this focus and this commitment to this one ideal and everything is fine. But I do know other people who have had problems in other meetings and if I had gone to some other meeting it might have been different. Even though all of the meetings in Philadelphia have members who are people of color. - Sounds like your meeting is roughly the size of the one that I attend in Eau Claire. Were you politically active before going to the AFC? Were you a, I mean you were a reporter evidently. You had worked with the government. Was there something about political activism? What called to you? - Not so much political activism as social activism. When I came to the American Friends Service Committee for my interview I read some of the literature and learned about all the things AFSC had done. I was flabbergasted because AFSC has been either in the lead or co-leadership or supportive of leadership on every major social action that has happened in the United States of America. Since 1917 when they established AFSC and provided alternative service for young people then they came back and in the 1920s they supported coal miners who were on strike in West Virginia. They also supported African-American children and Indian children who were in orphanages. In the 1930s they worked with the federal government actually Herbert Hoover helped them to, or solicited them, not helped, solicited them to help in some feeding programs during the depression. Then during the 30s and the early 40s, AFSC had a race relations program and hired this very wonderful black woman named Crystal Bird Fawcett to go around and talk about race relations and they supported her as she went around talking about these things. In 1938 a delegation of Quakers from AFSC went to talk to the Gestapo to try to get them to stop persecuting Jews. 1938, 1942 after Japanese people were interned, Quakers went to the internment camps, took out 4,000 young people, helped them get in college and then helped the families who were still there. They were with Martin Luther King, they were the first organization to publish in large quantity letter from a Birmingham jail which is not necessarily known by as many people as know I have a dream, but if you read it you cannot but be moved by it because he challenges the established faith community in Alabama who criticized him for being a part of the Birmingham bus boycott. So AFSC has been everywhere that's important, working for justice. What's not to love? - What have they been doing last few centuries, a few decades, let's give it a few decades here. What have they been doing? You just got up through 50s and 60s I think. - Great. In 1954 with the Supreme Court decision to desegregate the schools. Some schools including one county here in Virginia closed their schools rather than integrate. AFSC helped several hundred of the young black people from here go to school in other places. They helped them to find a place to live in Pennsylvania and New York, Ohio and other places and they literally took them and moved them from here to those places so they could finish high school. In the 60s there were other kinds of social actions. You may have heard of the book Silver Rights that was written by a family that was the first to integrate schools in Mississippi, Maybirtha Carter and I can't think of her husband's name. They had nine children when the court and the Mississippi state legislature said freedom of choice, they took them up on that even though most blacks were afraid to do that and they sent their children to white schools. AFSC supported them and helped them find housing when they were burned out, when the Ku Klux Klan came to threaten them, when they were thrown off their land as sharecroppers, that's 60s too. Then the war, the anti-war movement Vietnam, AFSC was early on as it always is and saying, we don't need to be in this war, don't send more troops over there, bring the ones home that are here and continue to fight for that until we drag the rest of the country along with us at the same time. AFSC gave support sending medical supplies to people in Vietnam, irrespective of Northern and Southern designation. And right now, here we are trying to have some impact on the more than 1,700 people who have died in the Iraq war. So we have never stopped. - I'd be tired if I were in your job just thinking, well, all that good stuff you're doing. I don't know how many times you've seen this exhibit or been there, tell me what your reaction to it is, what do you see when you look at it? - I am profoundly and sadly moved every time I see it, because as magnificent a memorial as it is, what it does is tell you how many people have died. And the 1,740, which is the number right now on this date on the 8th of July, that number will change. And it is not only that number that is important because each of those individuals are mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, husbands, wives. And so the death of each one of them affects many, many other people and communities, because many of them also come from small communities where the loss is shared by many more people. So every time I see it, I am moved and I cry. As we were packing up, one of the volunteers found a little piece of paper with a prayer on it. It wasn't sure where it had come from. So I asked the tour coordinator, where did that come from? And he said, don't worry about it. There's one in every boot. A mother came to the exhibit in one city. I'm not sure where it was. And she put that in her son's boot and then she went to Kinko's and she copied it and she moved through the exhibit on her knees and put one in every pair of boots. So I cry when I see that. I cry when I read the other personal inscriptions and things on them. And I cannot pass the Iraqi civilian shoe display without seeing some of those shoes that are like two inches long that belong to babies that have been killed. And now they have names on them too. Just as the soldiers boots have names on them, the shoes have names on them too. And there's one that's an eight month old baby. And there's one that's a year old. I mean, that more than one, but the ones that I have noticed. So I am profoundly sad that all of these people are dying. And I don't understand why they're dying. I know what the administration has said, but I think what they have said is bogus and I don't buy it as being legitimate. And yesterday when the bombings occurred in London, and I heard the president saying, the bombings were so terrible because all of these civilians and innocent people were dying, I wanted to tell him to his face, Mr. President, the same thing is happening in Iraq. We're not called terrorists, but we are killing people. And I don't blame the American soldiers. They're there because that's their mission. They have been sent. The people who are at fault are the president and the secretary of defense and state and others who have sent them to their to fight. They are in a very, very difficult place. They do have to protect themselves. They shouldn't be there. As long as they are there, the violence will continue because violence breeds violence. - I believe that George W. Bush sees himself as a deeply religious person doing what he does for what he thinks are religious reasons. Obviously, you think very differently. What can you say from your spiritual center to address his spiritual center? I don't know if that's, I imagine that's a nearly impossible thing to say, but I want to invite you to try and speak spirit to spirit. What can you say that he hasn't heard? - I want to speak now as Francine Cheeks, not representing the American Friends Service Committee, because what I'm going to say has not been endorsed. Nobody has heard it. Nobody has suggested it. Nobody has endorsed what I'm going to say. I'm speaking only as an individual. I would like to talk to the president and ask him some questions about his Christianity. I've just been in a workshop here that's about the book of John, "The Gospel of John." And it gets into the whole question of who Jesus is and what does he stand for? I want to confront the president of the United States who says that he is a Christian and believes that Jesus Christ is the Lord's savior and say, "Mr. President, the prince of peace is not a preemptive warrior. That is not consistent. I don't understand that. I don't understand how he can do that." - Thank you for sharing your personal piece. I know it can be tricky to have a visual job when your words end up being interpreted as being the words of other people too. - I hope you will use my preamble. When you use the words about preemptive warrior where I said, "I'm speaking for Francine Cheeks, not for the American Friends Service Committee, but Francine Cheeks, as a Quaker who believes deeply in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and as my personal savior." And Mr. Bush says, "It's his too, he's his too." - Yes, and I wouldn't think of cutting it. You can believe it. I guess maybe that's one of the easy things about dealing with another Quaker who's looking at that. You're gonna see next year, you know, I know I'm gonna be accountable here too. I wanna thank you for your work, for bringing, for your part in making possible this exhibit. It's now packed up in the truck and I think it's ready to go. I saw all the dozens of people hauling the bags and bags of boots. One thing I didn't hear, by the way, is there a number of civilian shoes there? Was there a count on that? - I am not sure. There were a thousand pair at one time, but I don't know what they are now. I really don't know. I would need to check with the tour director and he will know, he'll be able to tell you. It's just a representative sample. We don't really know what the number is because we don't get official numbers from either the Iraqi government or the American government on Iraqi civilians. We don't get that number. I do know that an academic at Johns Hopkins University has been in touch with some people from Landsat Magazine, which is the counterpart to the American Medical Association Magazine, but in Britain, they estimate that civilian casualties are 100,000. - It's kind of mind-boggling because it's not what I hear in press. I think I've heard of a website or seen a website called Iraqi Death Watch or a Rocky Death Toll, it was something like that, which gave numbers for all nationalities, including Iraqis, as well documented as they could. Have you seen anything like that? - I haven't, but I know there are people who work at AFSC who keep up with those things a lot better than I do. I'm out of my league now, absolutely out of my league. - If someone wanted to find out more about what you or others at AFSC do, how would they go about that? - You can go to our website, which is www.afsc.org, and there are options for going to many different places that relate to this. You can go to the eyes wide open exhibit and find out what's happening there and where it's going. You can go to our Iraq page and see what kinds of work we're doing around this issue outside of eyes wide open. There are options, many options. - Can you name some of the positive things AFSC is doing now? - When the tsunami hit last December, AFSC accepted funds for that, and we raised over 3 million. I'm not sure of the exact number, but over $3 million. We immediately sent money to an organization that we were working with in Indonesia. We didn't have a form relationship with them, but an informal relationship. But we have supported them sending medical teams to the Ache province to kind of help do diagnostics and medical health triage for the people who were affected by the tsunami. And then we are now developing a work plan for what we can do over the longer term to do real development for the people who live in Indonesia. So we will have work programs there. We're working very hard in Israel and Palestine through our Quaker International Affairs representatives. We have them stationed both in Jerusalem and a pair in Jordan. And they are working in Jerusalem expressly with peace organizations on both Palestinian and Israeli sides, trying to bring people together, trying to continue to build momentum for the peace movement in Israel and Palestine. Quaker International Affairs representatives in Jordan are working closely with some youth programs that we have in Gaza and the West Bank, trying to help young people find alternatives to violence and leadership development activities so that they can look to the future and see how they can kind of take over when they are able to move into some leadership positions and help Palestine to grow itself. We have programs in several countries in Africa. As a matter of fact, we just had a delegation of young people who returned from Zimbabwe and South Africa on an exchange program, where some American youth go to Africa at a certain time and then African youth come to the United States to see how we work, to learn about our systems, et cetera, and to build the exchange so that we develop relationships between those two. We also have a study tour for adults that's available August or September, sometime late this summer, that will take adults, they have to pay their own way, go to different places in southern Africa. I think it's Zimbabwe and South Africa again, meet with officials, meet with civic leaders, meet with activists to just get a better handle on what's happening in Africa and how we can have a positive effect. AFSC was asked to be involved with the live aid event that happened in Philadelphia because we have been working on debt relief for the poorest of the African countries for more than 20 years. We have been doing advocacy, we've been working with other organizations, we've been petitioning the IMF and the World Bank to pull back on those requirements that make African countries have to pay debt service and not build schools, not provide health service. So that's one of the other things we're doing in Africa. In the former Yugoslavia, we've got a program that's very small right now, but it involves community gardens where we have people from the various different groups, Serbs, Croats, Muslims, all kinds of people coming together to grow food, which helps them to build relationships too. In Latin America, we have Quaker International Affairs, representatives and very small programs in the Andean region of South America, Ecuador and Columbia. Our program in Columbia is probably largest where we're working with communities that are trying to find alternatives to violence. You know, the United States government sends huge amounts of money to support the Colombian military and then there are militias that are fighting the military and then there are some communities, particularly Afro-Columbian communities that are caught in the middle and they're trying to find alternatives to violence and trying to find a way to sustain themselves and get some kind of positive response from the Colombian government. And then in this country, we have many different kinds of programs. We are working to make sure people understand the implications of the budget that has been passed in the United States Congress, what it means, it means less money for Pell grants, for people going to school, less money for welfare, because when the federal government gives less money to the states, the people in the counties and the cities get less money. In the New York metropolitan region, we have some very strong programs dedicated to criminal justice. We're working with some adjudicated youth to try to help them to get on the right track. We have another program that works with people who are getting out of prison, trying to make transitions. We have an immigration program that helps people who are immigrants of the community know their rights and make sure that they're not taken advantage of. We have programs in Cambridge that relate to immigration, to economic justice, to a whole range of things. If you go on the FSC web page, you'll see how broad our work is. But we work all over this country and, as I said, in five regions around the world. Francine, again, I want to thank you for doing this, particularly impromptu. I mean, I walked into the exhibit and saw you sitting here. Thank you for doing your work and thank you for sharing. Also, what comes from Francine Cheeks as opposed to your job. Thanks for bringing your spirituality to this work. Thank you very much. I am so happy and so proud to be a part of the American Friends Service Committee. [MUSIC PLAYING] Now, I've been happy lately thinking about good things to come. And I believe it could be something good has begun. Oh, I'm on the edge of darkness. There has to be strength. Oh, be strength, take this country. Come on, take this home again. Oh, I've been smiling lately thinking about good things to come. And I believe it could be something good has begun. Oh, be strength, sound, and light. Right on the field strength. Oh, be strength, come on, let's be strength. Be strength, holy mother. Everyone jump on to be strength. Oh, be strength, get your bags together. Go and bring your friends too. Because it's getting mirror, it soon will be with you. Come and join the living. It's not so far from you. And it's getting mirror, see it's the arbitrage. Oh, be strength, sound, and light. Light on the field strength. Oh, I've been smiling lately thinking about the world as it is. Oh, why must we go and hate it? Why can't we live unless it goes out on the edge of darkness. There is a peace train. Oh, be strength, take this country. Come on, take this home again. Come on. Oh, I've been smiling lately thinking about the world as one. And I believe it could be someday it's gonna come. 'Cause out on the edge of darkness. There is a peace train. Oh, be strength, take this country. Come on, take me home again. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Thanks for joining me, Mark Helpsmeet, for this visit to the Eyes Wide Open exhibit. Please check the www.afsc.org website for the Eyes Wide Open Tour itinerary, including the upcoming tour to the Twin Cities, September 29th, October 1st. The visit will be to the St. Paul campus of the College of St. Catherine. My thanks to Janine Brewton, Elizabeth Robling, and Francine Cheeks for sharing their comments and journeys on this program. This program included the music of the Kingston Trio, performing Where Have All the Flowers Gone, Edwin Star doing War, and a version of Cat Stephen's Song Peace Train performed here by Richie Havens. The theme music for Spirit in Action is "I Have No Hands but Yours" by Carol Johnson. Thank you for listening. I welcome your comments and stories of those leading lives of spiritual fruit. You can email me at helpsmeet@usa.net. May you find deep roots to support you and grow steadily toward the light. This is Spirit in Action. I have no higher call for you than this. To love and serve your neighbor, enjoy in selflessness. To love and serve your neighbor, enjoy in selflessness. To love and serve your neighbor, enjoy in selflessness. To love and serve your neighbor, enjoy in selflessness.