Dear Editor: Thank you for this latest issue of Western Friend, “On Rules.” I’m only half-way through, but I’ve appreciated every article. Eleanor Dart and David Tucker gave good viewpoints on their topics. And then I got to Valerie Ireland and Lori Patterson, and I was truly moved to tears, which is really unusual for me. I don’t know if you will get some flak for Lori’s article, but it was a really good push for me. I have a lot to learn, and these present-day Quakers, sharing their struggles with present-day issues, are really great. I know Valerie Ireland, so it felt like she was just sitting in my living room explaining what it’s like these days to work in inner-city schools. Really important to hear. I don’t know Lori, but I very much appreciated her challenge to us white folk.
My husband and I live in a neighborhood with many blue-collar Republicans, mostly white. We recently ordered a Black Lives Matter sign with pretty colored triangles top and bottom; what we received instead was a Black Lives Matter sign with a raised black fist. And we sort of looked at each other, remembering on our wedding banner back in 1970: a cross, a sign for women and men united, and a raised black fist. Darn if life hasn’t circled around again! We had ordered two BLM signs, figuring someone would rip up the first one. But actually, it’s been out there for over a month with no problem. In 2008, someone put a swastika on our Obama sign, so this is progress, I guess.
– Nancy Rice, Albuquerque Friends Meeting (IMYM)