May 22

Today in 1856, a brawl erupted in the U.S. Congress after Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts made a speech in which he compared the institution of slavery to a prostitute. This was in response to similar sexually-charged language that enslavers used toward abolitionists. Representative Preston Brooks of South Carolina attacked Sumner and beat him severely with a walking cane, illustrating that right-wing violence often dresses in a coat and tie, and while fascists are good at dishing out insults, they cannot take them. 

Today marks the birth, in 1922, of Richard Oakes, a Native American activist who helped start the first American Indian Studies university program. He also led the protest occupation of Alcatraz. Later, he was shot and killed under disputed circumstances, but which was likely a racially-motivated murder. 

Today is also the birthday, in 1943, of Betty Williams, a peace activist in Northern Ireland who organized The Community of Peace People, which advocated an end to the fighting between Protestants and Catholics. She would win a Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts.

Today marks the death, in 1967, of poet and civil rights activist Langston Hughes, who was part of the Harlem Renaissance. Hughes’ short poems pack a punch, and continue to give spiritual fuel to people tired of oprression.  

Reflection:

Richard Oakes wrote to officials during the occupation of Alcatraz:

The Declaration of the Peace People reads: 

• We have a simple message to the world from this movement for Peace.

• We want to live and love and build a just and peaceful society.

• We want for our children, as we want for ourselves, our lives at home, at work, and at play to be lives of joy and Peace.

• We recognise that to build such a society demands dedication, hard work, and courage.

• We recognise that there are many problems in our society which are a source of conflict and violence.

• We recognise that every bullet fired and every exploding bomb make that work more difficult.

• We reject the use of the bomb and the bullet and all the techniques of violence.

• We dedicate ourselves to working with our neighbours, near and far, day in and day out, to build that peaceful society in which the tragedies we have known are a bad memory and a continuing warning

On of my favorite poems by Langston Hughes: 

Prayer: God of Justice and Peace, we know that true peace will require reparations. We pray that you will give our leaders the wisdom, and your people the tenacity, to pursue the paths that lead to just peace. Amen.