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Stop Cop City

Truth, Justice, and Reconciliation in Alaska

• Authored by:
• Lindianne Sarno

About three years ago, a group of my Alaskan friends were talking about abuses suffered by citizens from unconstitutional police acts. One of us said that we need a Truth, Justice, and Reconciliation Commission like the one that Desmond Tutu used to help South Africa recover from apartheid. I thought, “What a great idea!” Rather than wait until after America’s burgeoning police state has harmed millions of people, let’s provide a way for people to tell the truth, clear the air, put the police on notice that citizens are observing their unconstitutional acts, and send them a message that we expect the police to act within the bounds of the constitution.

On Reconciliation (January 2015)

More on Racism and Policing (2)

• Authored by:
• Nancy Marshall

Dear Friends: The word “defund” troubles me when we talk about confronting our issues with the police. I believe many people from all racial backgrounds want some kind of police protection. Repeated horrific acts by police officers, now being filmed and exposed constantly, demonstrate the real need for major change. But will words like “defund the police” help as we move forward?

On Relevance (March 2021)

Privilege and The Other (unabridged)

• Authored by:
• David-James Bloom

[This article is abridged from a longer one, published online at https://westernfriend.org/media/privilege-and-other-unabridged.]

On Cliques (September 2021)

Group arrested at Quaker Meetinghouse in London

Get Out of the Way

• Authored by:
• Lori Patterson

Multnomah Monthly Meeting in Portland, Oregon, has a reputation of being one of the “more liberal” Quaker meetings. This is Portland, after all. There’s plenty of action and donations of money in the meeting around climate change, immigrant rights, and many other worthy social-justice causes. But when it comes to action around supporting Black Lives, there seems to be a hesitancy.

On Rules (November 2020)

Unspectacular Solutions

• Authored by:
• Mke Clarke

Dear Friends: Two articles in the Nov/Dec 2020 issue express concerns about policing and both would benefit from tempering in their respective meeting communities. “Get Out of the Way” alleges unfair discrimination by the author’s meeting, in part based on its reticence to display a “Black Lives Matter” poster and a “defund the police” banner while giving support to other social justice causes. Similarly, the author of “Abolish the Police” states, “As Friends, our Society has a long history of participating in social movements to challenge oppression; but in our recent experience, Friends have seemed very hesitant and resistant to embracing police and prison abolition.”

On Vision (January 2021)

Bridge City on Systemic Racism