Dear Friends,
On April 4th we remember the tragic 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination in Memphis, Tennessee.
The Fellowship of Reconciliation highlights two special offerings to help honor that important moment -- one historic and the other brand-new.
 In thanks for your gift of $50 or more to FOR, you will receive Bob Fitch's timeless photo of Rev. Dr. King poised in front of an image of Mahatma Gandhi. This striking image captured by one of the freedom movements preeminent photojournalists is accompanied by a powerful and sobering quote from its subject, reminding us that "returning violence for violence multiplies violence..."
Available in limited quantities, the photo is displayed in a small poster format on 9"x12" card stock.
Second, Michelle Alexander’s acclaimed best-seller, The New Jim Crow, has already changed the discourse on mass incarceration in our time. Now a new in-depth study guide provides a launching pad for groups wishing to engage in deep, meaningful dialogue about race, racism, and structural inequality.
Published by two FOR affiliated groups, the Veterans of Hope Project and the Chico Peace and Justice Center, in collaboration with Michelle Alexander, the Study Guide and Call to Action engages the critical questions of how we managed to create, nearly overnight, a penal system unprecedented in world history, and how that system actually functions -- as opposed to the way it is advertised. This important new resource also challenges us to search for and admit the truth about ourselves, our own biases, stereotypes, and misconceptions, and the many ways in which we might actually be part of the problem.
 Interlaced with the words and thoughts of Martin Luther King Jr., the Study Guide and Call to Action’s narrative sections, discussion topics, and questions steer readers beyond the four corners of The New Jim Crow, challenging us to discover what is required of us at this critical moment in our nation’s history.
The New Jim Crow Study Guide and Call to Action is designed as a companion to The New Jim Crow. For study groups that are planning to read The New Jim Crow together, copies of the study guide are available free of charge from:
Chico Peace and Justice Center
526 Broadway Street
Chico, CA 95928
(530) 893-9078
Veterans of Hope founder and FOR lifetime member Dr. Vincent Harding, who co-authored Martin Luther King, Jr.'s landmark "Time to Break the Silence" speech on April 4, 1967 (exactly one year before his assassination), calls this resource "an urgent invitation to transformation." The Chico Peace and Justice Center is filling orders of the Study Guide and Call to Action on behalf of the Veterans of Hope Project. As a partner organization in this special offering, the Fellowship of Reconciliation is promoting this special offering by directing interested parties to the Chico Peace and Justice Center.
In peace,
Ethan Vesely-Flad
Director of Communications |
