VISION. LAMENTATION. HOW?

We are approaching the annual Jewish “Sabbath of Vision.” It's a spiritual preparation for Tisha b'Av: our ancient Jewish day of mourning for millenia of hatred, violence, and exile.

On Tisha b'Av itself, we'll read the book called Lamentations in English and Eikha in Hebrew. The readings for the “Sabbath of Vision” also highlight the word Eikha—which literally means “How.”

In painful, troubled times like these—when so many are lamenting what seems like the absence of vision—how we understand the word “How” may be our key to transformation. LEARN MORE

Second Annual Multi-Commemorative Walk at

the Maria Hernandez Park Labyrinth

Sunday, August 6th at 10:45 AM

Maria Hernandez Park Labyrinth. Photo Credit: Matt Green / imjustwalkin.com

Commemoration is an essential part of healing through brokenness. WAYS OF PEACE has been leading regular peace walks at the 9/11 commemorative labyrinth since the 20th anniversary of tragedies that shook our city, our country and our world. Last week we led our first remembrance walk to commemorate 160 years since the rarely-acknowledged NYC lynchings of 1863. LEARN MORE

On Sunday August 6th — known internationally as Hiroshima Day — we will hold our second annual multi-commemorative remembrance walk at Maria Hernandez Park. Through each section of the park labyrinth, we will bear witness to different historical manifestations of ongoing violence — most of which occurred between August 6th and August 9th:

• The 1989 killing of neighborhood activist Maria Hernandez — one block southwest of the park that now bears her name

 

• The 1930 lynchings in Marion, Indiana that galvanized the writing of “Strange Fruit”

 

• The 2014 killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri

 

• The 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

 

• The ancient and contemporary challenges of Tisha b'Av, which often falls during these days

 

• The theft, exile and destruction of Native American lands, families, and cultures

Step by step, we will support each other as we renew

our commitments to healing and justice for ALL.

The Maria Hernandez labyrinth walk will take place rain or shine, but space is limited. Please reply to waysofpeace.org@gmail.com NO LATER THAN SATURDAY, AUGUST 5TH to confirm your participation, receive any last-minute updates, and get directions.

 

The Equal Justice Initiative / Community Remembrance Project partners with community coalitions to memorialize documented victims of racial violence throughout history and foster meaningful dialogue about race and justice today. The Community Soil Collection Project gathers soil at lynching sites for display in haunting exhibits bearing victims’ names. PHOTO CREDIT: Mickey Welsh / Montgomery Advertiser via USA Today Network

Thursday, July 13th will be 160 years since the New York City lynching of William Jones and others — most of whose names we may never know — in the infamous "Draft Riots." The trailblazing Colored Orphan Asylum was also looted and burned to the ground that day, although staff managed to escort its 233 children to safety.

Very few New Yorkers are aware of this most murderous civil insurrection in U.S. history, and to this day there are no commemorative markers.  LEARN MORE

Destruction of the Colored Orphan Asylum on Fifth Avenue, NYC "Draft Riots" (NYPL)

If you are NYC-local, please write to waysofpeace.org@gmail.com for information about two commemorative walks to honor William Jones along with countless others named and unnamed. Step by step, we will bear witness to historical and current violence, as we renew our long-term commitments to justice and healing.

Wherever you are, you can join us later on this 160th anniversary for the next online interfaith cohort of

How To Move Our Money: Practicing Reparations As Spiritual Release

Six Thursdays beginning July 13th @ 7PM ET / 6PM CT / 5PM MT / 4PM PT

"It’s rare to find a space where social justice and money management converge....The workshop is supportive, insightful and inspirational, and it’s empowering to have the tools to move 'just giving' forward. I couldn’t recommend it more highly."

The powerful reparations practices of "How To Move Our Money" are equally applicable to our crises of homelessness, reproductive freedom, gun violence, mental illness, immigrant solidarity, wartime displacement and more — regardless of personal income or affluence levels.

Space is limited. TO REGISTER, PLEASE REVIEW THIS LINK AND WRITE TO waysofpeace.org@gmail.com NO LATER THAN WEDNESDAY, JULY 12TH.

NAACP flag flown from NYC headquarters until 1938 (Library of Congress, Courtesy NAACP)