Minutes for MPJC Meeting of July 17, 2017

Present: Peter, Ellyn, Glenda Rae, Rey, Lois, Wanda, Galen

Old business

    1.  Approval of Minutes for June 19: The minutes were approved as corrected.

    2. Progress Reports:

        a. Topic of the Month: Racial Justice. Rey, Glenda Rae, Ellyn and Peter have written their paragraphs. Peter made an attempt to integrate them into one document for the meeting, and Ellyn sent out some corrections. Peter printed Ellyn's version for the meeting. We discussed the draft at length and decided to break it into sections: (1) Definitions of racial justice, prejudice, discrimination, and racism; (2) scope of the problem; (3) remediation suggestions; (4) conclusion acknowledging difficulties. Glenda Rae had some corrections which we worked into the draft. One area of confusion was that although racism is a problem worldwide, this document is focused on racism as it exists in the United States. Another area was the difference if any between institutional and systemic racism. Since both terms are in wide use we decided to put "institutional" in parentheses after "systemic" when the latter is used. Peter will make the changes and send out the new draft. We agreed to ask Darryl and Charlotte for their input on the draft, as well as showing it to SURJ when they next meet.

        b. Hiroshima/Nagasaki Days: August 6 is on a Sunday and August 9 is a Wednesday. It is possible to do something at the first Friday celebration by Morris Civic on August 4th, but Peter and Ellyn will not be in town. Lois asked the rest to consider walking around with a sign to call attention to the anniversary.. We decided to focus the August 7 vigil on this anniversary and make signs opposing the buildup of nuclear weapons in North Korea (and also in the U.S.) We agreed to move the Environmental vigil back to July 31st.

        c. Book of the Month report: Lois has just started reading Chris Hayes' book "Colony in a Nation." Wanda is reading Brian Stevenson's book "Just Mercy," and recommends it highly. It is the SURJ Education committee's choice. It is about an attorney working in Montgomery, Alabama, with children caught in the criminal justice system, some on death row. Rey recommended "Hillbilly Elegy," by JD Vance.

       d. Immigration Coalition Report: They don't seem to be doing anything in particular. The minutes from the last meeting have not yet come out.

        e. International Day of Prayer for Peace: This is actually a week-long event Sept 18-24. Sept 21st is the actual day which marks the opening of the United Nations session. We encouraged Lois to contact John Pinter with the URC and other folks who have been supportive in the past. She can say that she has MPJC support. Whatever is planned has to be a community opportunity.

3. Treasurer's Report: $18.72 with a $5.11 in petty cash.

New Business

    1. What do we (can we) do next? We incorporated this topic into other discussion

    2. Topic of the Month: We will continue to work on racial justice. See above. The next topic should be nuclear war. The U.S. retargeted some of the nuclear missiles aimed at Russia to North Korea. Nuclear war in North Korea would devastate Japan and parts of China and the U.S. It could lead to destruction of the planet if it escalates.

    3. Other Topics and Issues: August 26th is Women's Equality Day and 12 women in the community will be honored that day at the Civil Rights Heritage Center starting at 6pm.

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    5. Next meeting: Monday, August 28th, at 2:30pm at Lois' assisted living center. We will send the directions in the meeting announcement.