1 Handful of Salt Volume XXXVIIXXXVII,, Number 111 JanuaryJanuary----FebruaryFebruary 2013 From the drones and weapons kill children and adults in Director’s Pakistan, Gaza, Afghanistan, Yemen. Our bases surround Iran. Chair I want to pull at the threads that make this By Liz tapestry and identify them as carefully as Moore possible. This is just a start and I hope you'll join the conversation at our blog. pulling at One thread is our cultural and political the threads fetishization of weapons and of our 2nd of our Amendment. Arms now are hardly the same culture of thing at all as those around at the time the 2nd violence Amendment was written, which took a minute Like you, my thoughts, heart, and sorrow to manually load for every shot. Now, semi- have been with the families, children, automatic guns pump out rounds. No, the teachers, and entire community of Newtown, problem isn't JUST access to guns, but CT, in the wake of the devastating tragedy of certainly easy access to these massively 28 people, including 20 children, shot and destructive weapons is a tragic thread. killed in Sandy Hook Elementary School. I Another element of this thread is how we have felt the need not to engage with much show weaponry to children, and they clearly media coverage of this heartbreaking event, understand it as a pathway to power. Fig Tree but I do feel the need to share some reflection editor Mary Stamp shared seeing toy assault and thoughts with you here. weapons offered for Christmas gifts in local This horrible atrocity is part of a pattern of stores and suggests one action is to ask stores violence in our country. A timeline of most to choose not to sell them. deadly mass shootings from 1989 to the Fictional media glorifies tough guys and present (http://timelines.latimes.com/deadliest their weapons. This thread reinforces the myth -shooting-rampages/) is a shocking and of redemptive violence, telling us that we can saddening set of information, showing create justice or access power through increasing frequency in more recent years. violence and aggression, which is ok if it's And at the same time, our federal budget puts used for the right purposes. The creative 47% of our national budget into past and human mind can justify horrible deeds with current Pentagon spending, comprising 40% the "right" reasons. of the entire world's military spending. Our (Continued on page 8) Peace and Justice Action League of Spokane Affiliate of the Fellowship of Reconciliation 35 W. Main, Ste 120M, Spokane, WA 99201 · 509-838-7870 · www.pjals.org 2 The Handful of Salt is published six times a year by the Peace and Justice Action League of Spokane. Its name comes from Mohandas Gandhi’s salt tax protest in India, a successful, nonviolent, grassroots action that created significant social change against overwhelming resource advantages. Steering Committee David Brookbank, Megan Cuilla (Chair), Justin Ellenbecker, Linda Greene (Vice Chair), Garrett Havens, Rebecca Lamb (Secretary), Mike Nuess (Interim Treasurer), Suzy Vennard Halberstadt (Volunteer Office Manager and Volunteer Coordinator), Ken Isserlis (Advisor) Staff Liz Moore, Director; Shar Lichty, Organizer; EWU interns Justin Filla, Michelle Little, Josh Neil, Lucy Vazquez; Nancy Street, Volunteer Database Manager Volunteers Contact PJALS: 509-838-7870, www.pjals.org, [email protected] Volunteers Make It Happen Contact Shar at 838-7870 to share your time and talents. Yvette, sentenced to Life at 17, needs Wish List your support • Desk chairs and a desk for interns. Please take a moment to write a short letter to • Donate your gently used (and not too old) Judge Michael Moon, Story County District desktop computer for use by our fantastic Court, 1315 South B Avenue, Nevada, IA interns and volunteers. 50201 to support the release of Yvette • Copy paper for fliers etc: case for $48 Louisell (0805144), whose case has been de- • Printer ink: $45 scribed previously in the Handful. Sentenced • Office Angel to help keep our supplies as a 17-year-old college student to life with- organized and tidy: Priceless! out parole, Yvette has been incarcerated now • Young Activist Leaders program for 24 years. Since the June Supreme Court materials (binders, training materials, etc) decision to strike down laws of Life Without for 2012-2013: $460 Parole for Juveniles, the Iowa Governor Terry • Police Accountability voter education Branstad converted each of the individual work: $120 mails 1000 postcards! cases in Iowa to 60 years. Yvette's case is now in the courts. Hopefully, there is great support by our readers to end JWLOP and support fair Become a Handful Contributor. sentencing; and a note to Judge Moon would We welcome your articles, subject to editing be most helpful. Email nancystree@yahoo for for space and appropriateness of content. more info & share this note with others! Contact [email protected] 3 Rusty Nelson on start. I found it interesting that the first two Peace and War places held by the paid place-holders were taken by Rich Hadley of Greater Spokane, Inc. What I wanted to and Beth Thew of the Labor Council, the odd say... couple doing the most to promote turning our rail corridor into China's coal chute. This It's exciting to watch shows the system is rigged in favor of the PJALS cram moneyed interest, beyond exposing the rest of meaningful meetings, us, already overmatched by full-page public events, and newspaper ads, to the whims of winter. activist opportunities Even if the fix is on, there was a back-up into your monthly schedule. It reminds me that, system, and I read my carefully-timed, two- halfway through our tenure at PJALS, Nancy and minute remarks to a stenographer taking oral I realized Spokane had undergone drastic changes comments, and dropped a written note into regarding things to do, places to be, and live and one of several boxes I hope will be examined interactive education and information. These before the poor panel members become days, of course, I have options. Sometimes, I feel completely unraveled. Perhaps I was heard, free to simply stay home or even be detached after all, but here's my main point: "Exporting about significant issues. But there are times I miss coal to Asia means we will be a Third World the action, being in the trenches or on the street. country. It's bad enough that we abuse our One week in December, there were two earth and our human resources by continuing opportunities I couldn't resist. Public comment to mine and burn this obsolete fuel, but to send was solicited on the proposed system for sending it to China, where we've sent so many coal through our front yard to Asia, and Liz manufacturing jobs and from whence its invited me to participate in a news conference to considerable pollution will add to our try to help Senator Murray understand the costs of ecological woes, defies fiscal and common war. I can hardly ever turn down a chance to sense. Letting corporations drag us down is a speak about issues I feel strongly about, but here very Third-World thing, and it means we still were two challenges to be brief and poignant. fail to admit that globalization is devastating Neither effort turned out as I planned, so I'm American health, jobs, and hope. If corporate taking a follow-up shot, here in my comfort zone. interests cared about 'creating' jobs in the U.S., Having divided an evening between the Sierra NAFTA and subsequent greased skids for Club workshop on the coal conspiracy and a death 'Made in the USA' would be dismantled, and penalty meeting, I wasn't fully briefed when I set Americans would be building solar and wind out for the Tuesday hearing at the fairgrounds. power components for global energy needs. Over 100 were in line to claim 75 spots for public No one seems to see the irony of multiplying testimony. Visiting with friends, including the use of domestic diesel fuel to haul our volunteer place-holders, I learned 35 green- unwanted coal away. U.S. consumers of diesel shirted place-holders, hired at a temp agency, had have already borne the brunt of gouging by arrived at 10 am to wait in the cold and damp energy companies because the fuel is in high behind four early birds and acquire credentials for demand beyond our borders. Instead of supporters of coal exports. We all were admitted turbocharging the waste of our pitiful rail to the spacious building shortly before the 3 pm (Continued on page 11) 4 Coalition Calls on Legislators to health, wealth, education or political Work for Racial & Economic Equity representation, wide gaps persist between by Lucia Vazquez communities of color and white communities. Our WA legislature These disparities are not merely vestiges of received a D for its historical inequality that will diminish over voting on racial equity time. On the contrary, many of the gaps are bills for the 2011 and widening, such as the wealth gap between 2012 sessions. The grade African Americans and whites that has came from Washington quadrupled since the mid-1980s. The report CAN!’s report Facing points out that racial inequities are largely a Race: 2012 Legislative result of policy decisions that are made every Report Card on Racial year by policymakers on issues such as Equity. The report education, housing, taxation, health care, civil assessed the Legislature's rights, and tribal sovereignty. performance during the 2011 and 2012 regular The report identified eight missed sessions on issues that affect racial and opportunities that would have targeted gaps in economic equity and was endorsed by 52 those areas: expanding Medicaid, organizations across the state, including implementing the Basic Health Option, the PJALS.