Rhode Island celebrated World Refugee Day on Saturday in the People’s Park (Burnside Park) in downtown Providence. The Rufugee Dream Center’s Omar Bah, a Gambian refugee and now a United States citizen, was the emcee for the event. He noted that Rhode Island’s founder, Roger Williams, was a refugee from Massachusetts seeking freedom and safety in our state. Bah said that welcoming refugees is a Rhode island tradition that must be protected.

Dorcas International Institute of Rhode Island sponsored the event.

On stage were cultural dances, poetry and music from around the world, including Colombia, Burma, the Congo, India and many more. The event ended with dancing from members of Rhode Island’s Syrian refugee community.

The United Nations notes that “World Refugee Day has been marked on 20 June, ever since the UN General Assembly, on 4 December 2000, adopted resolution 55/76 where it noted that 2001 marked the 50th anniversary of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, and that the Organization of African Unity (OAU) had agreed to have International Refugee Day coincide with Africa Refugee Day on 20 June.”

This is the first outdoor World Refugee Celebration in Providence. Representatives David Cicilline and James Langevin, as well as Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea, spoke briefly.

If ever the history of a nation deserved our respect and awe, it is Haiti, whose history reads like a superhero epic. Haiti is the first and only nation in the world to be liberated by slaves. Unlike the United States, which rebelled against England with the help of France, Haiti found itself fighting for independence against France, England and Spain. Unlike the United States, who paid lip service to freedom and equality, Haiti banished slavery outright, showing the world how to eradicate one of the most evil institutions in human history.

At the RI State House New Bridges for Haitian Success held their Haitian Independence Day Awards. Several public officials were in attendance, including Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea, Lt. Governor Daniel McKee and State Senator Juan Pichardo. Dr. Mark Lentz, Professor of Latin American History at Brown University gave an excellent short lecture on the historical importance of Haiti’s revolution.

New Bridges for Haitian success was founded by Bernard Georges.

Keynote Speaker Jean-Claude Sanon, a Boston area politician and radio personality born in Haiti, said, “Free yourself completely and continue to fight for the freedom of the entire world. Wherever there is injustice it is my obligation, as well as yours, to fight it.”

Romie Bois kicked things off with an amazing rendition of the United States National Anthem, and the event ended with a beautiful song in French.

Haitian Heritage Month will be held Wednesday, from 11am to 1pm at the Rhode Island State House, Capitol Hill, 2nd Floor on Wednesday, May 18th at 11:00am-1:00pm. Organizers will be bringing together the Haitian community and allies into a community event serendipitously on the day of Haitian Independence. We want to recognize the courageous efforts of revolutionaries Toussaint L’Ouverture and  Jean Jacques Dessaline in creating the country of Haiti as the first and only free nation in history to be liberated by slaves. Local leaders will partner with official representation from Haiti will recognize historical efforts and courage and will inspire and celebrate the strength of the Haitian people within the United States.

The event is sponsored by the New Bridges for Haitian Success, Inc, in Providence, in partnership with Happy RI and Transform Credit. There will be a delegation from Boston will be attending and local and state local government official in RI.

Keynote speakers are Jean Claude Sinon from Massachusetts and Dr. Mark Lentz.

Guest speaker Senator Juan Pichardo from District 2. For further  information contact Bernard Georges, founder and executive of New Bridges for Haitian Success,Inc.

[From a press release]

Because it is “Good Friday,” the day Christians remember the crucifixion of Christ, I know some of you may jump to the conclusion that I am talking about the idea that Jesus came to die because an angry “Father God” demanded the suffering of his ”only Son,” as some kind of weird blood sacrifice, otherwise God would throw the whole lot of us humans into a burning eternal hell – instead of only some of us.

I don’t believe that.

I’m talking about something a little different.

It has to do with the nature of the world and the force of evolving creation, and with mystery and connection in that cosmos. I think a kind of Love is at the essence of this, working itself out in things as a moving force in what we call history. This Love has a kind of presence and transcendent power that we all experience at times – or yearn for. It is this thing that I and people like me mean when they say, “God.”

“God” is not a puppet master

This force not a big old (angry) Man god in the sky, nor does it have some kind of magic wand of power. The creative energy that pushes and pulls forth the cosmos isn’t All Powerful and Instantaneous in the way we have been taught to think. It doesn’t have that kind of power. It doesn’t work in that kind of way, and its not that kind of God. Creation takes time, struggle, and risk. The force that animates it doesn’t just snap its fingers and make things so. It’s more messy than that – a lot more messy.

It means that, while God is present in Love, not everything that happens in our daily lives is “God’s plan.” Some of it is the necessary struggle of on-going creation. Some of it is “our plan” and not Love’s will. Lots of it seems to be what the powers-that-be like to call “collateral damage.”

It’s a Contradiction.

On the one hand:

In this life we sense things that seem simply too wonderful to be meaningless. Sometimes we are simply and suddenly caught up by the fact that we are alive and that something exists instead of nothing.

The sky is too beautiful. The baby is too amazing. There is something about the way the ocean moves, and the translucent color in the tip of a wave as it breaks. There is that first moment between a couple, or that moment after many years, when the only appropriate response is still, “Oh God!” There are sometimes the solitary moments of deep peace.

And especially, and always there are the faint tracings of the trails left by those who walked in Love long ago.

In all of these things and more we are overcome by awe and fearful wonder. This is a feeling that a Biblical writer once described as “the beginning of wisdom.”

On the other hand:

We experience suffering and loss, intense bondage and injustice, brokenness and death of every kind. We experience horror and anger and guilt. It often seems so frustrating and futile – like change can never come and like we are a people without any power or hope at all.

What is going on here? What kind of a world is this?

We should not be too surprised at these contradictions, except that a lot of our most popular theologies and philosophies, have left us unprepared put it into words. We need to listen to our own experience.

Our lives tell us that creation and love seem to require pain and profound risk. Ask the mother in labor if creative power is without pain. Ask the artist. Ask the animal dying as food for another.

The world is not a puppet show. Not every plan or event or accident is scripted. (Nor is that, on balance, what the ancient scriptures seem to teach). Even the best ideas about life and Love are more like the needle of a compass that points the way to a distant horizon, instead of a map telling you exactly how to get around that flooding river or the mountain beyond. Things could go badly.

On-going creation is a struggle to which we are invited

The battle against oppression and injustice is real. The struggle of life and creation is a working out of things. This is the story we are caught up in. And it happens in both a spaces too big and spaces too small for us to see or even to imagine. It happens in, and is affected by, our time, right now. But it also happens in a cosmic time beyond time. Dr. King called it a kind of direction or bend toward justice in the “arc of the universe.”

It is beyond full understanding, yet we can sense its direction. We hunger for it . We can hear a note or two of its music.

It is a painful, wonderful, risky and fearful process, especially because the God-force is not working by itself. It invites us into the process. It is working through us, and through all life and forms.

We are invited to become conscious participants in this work of Love. But, we can also abandon it, delay its work and sabotage it. We can live for the personal buzz only. We can join the forces of injustice and cold death themselves. We can turn our backs on universal Love and choose to serve only our tribe, our nation, or even our species as if it represented all that was good in life and was unconnected to anything else.

The future of Love’s process in some way depends on what we decide to do, and how we decide to live. Well then, “What does the Lord require?” The prophet Micah writes, “Do justice,” he writes, “Love mercy. Walk in humility – with “God.”

Is this even possible? How can we possibly be so empowered by Love that we can break free of our chains and participate in the process of creation in a positive way?

That’s what I ask myself. And, just when I’m about to despair, something like Good Friday and Easter rolls around again.

I remember that I, myself, have been loved.

We are not without hope and Love is not without its power. Someone has died for us.

Jesus

If we believe nothing about Jesus except what his opponents wrote of him in multiple historical sources, then we know this: He was a Jew living under the crushing bondage of an empire, which ruled by greed, war, and the actions of various puppet kings and councils. We also know Jesus had followers and that he as found and arrested in Jerusalem during his tribe’s Passover celebration as they remember their deliverance from a previous oppressor. We also know he was arrested, tortured and executed in a way reserved for revolutionaries who challenged imperial rule, (like tens of thousands of others).

And we know this from the testimony of his followers and later history: He was warned that the authorities were intent on arresting him if he showed up in the city. He went anyway. He and his followers engaged in street and temple actions calling for liberation. During the Passover meal itself he sensed that one or more of the followers would betray him. He still stayed to teach and train and be with them anyway.

After his death, instead of being crushed as the empire expected, his followers actually grew and spread his words and actions throughout the empire. They spoke brutally of death, but also of a kind of resurrection powered by Love. In those first years they often seemed to lose every sense of class bondage and they shared what they had. Many followers suffered similar fates as he, but they kept on as if something was burning now that could not be extinguished by swords or crosses or personal affliction. And, as foolish as it sounded, they testified, and acted like they were still experiencing this Jesus as a living presence; as if they knew that history could change and that nothing could separate humankind from this kind of Love.

It was as if they had seen, in the vulnerability of God, a kind of God who was with us in the pain of creation, in the contradiction of life, as a kind of answer that involved human action in the direction of the universal Love that creation had loosed.

But as for me, I lose it a lot. I forget. I stumble. I sometimes feel helpless even with the help of family and friends.

But on a day like today, I remember.

I wonder of him as he faced arrest. I wonder of him in the last moments of his consciousness hanging on that crossed instrument of terror as he destroyed its power. Was he in some tiny way he thinking of someone in the future like me; like us, being given the strength to love in these dark times?

In a season like this, and against all reason, it sometimes feels that way.

Like what he did, (along with others), gives us power to do what we need to do. Like we’ve been given a gift. Like we’ve been given grace to start over again.

Like the light that shown in the darkness has never been completely snuffed.

Like someone loves us that much.

It feels personal.

Someone died for me today and it changes everything.

[Originally posted here, reprinted with permission]

The National Day of Reason is held every year on the same day as the the National Day of Prayer. The goal is to celebrate reason, an inclusive concept everyone can get behind, as opposed to prayer, which caters to the religious only. The Day of Reason also calls attention to the dangers of mixing church and state, dangers the National Day of Prayer epitomizes.

Darwin Day, celebrated on or around February 12 each year, marks the legacy and insight of Charles Darwin, whose theory of evolution was so important to our understanding of science and our place in the universe.

Last year the Connecticut Coalition of Reason petitioned Governor Malloy to declare May 7, 2015 a Day of Reason, but the petition was denied without explanation. Malloy is expected to reject this year’s petition to declare May 5, 2016 a Day of Reason because the policy of the Governor’s office is to “reject all proclamation requests out of hand if the same request was rejected in the prior year” says Patrick McCann, who prepared both petitions.

McCann is the President of the Hartford Area Humanists and the co-chair of the Connecticut Coalition of Reason. He wants the Governor to issue a proclamation “to recognize that Connecticut has a very large and thriving secular community.

“In fact,” says McCann, “a very recent Gallup poll shows that Connecticut is one of the least religious states in the country with 39 percent of respondents indicating that they were non-religious.”

When McCann later found out that Governor Malloy had signed a Day of Prayer proclamation at the behest of some religious constituents, he was furious. “By issuing a Day of Prayer proclamation and rejecting our Day of Reason proclamation request, the Governor is sending a very strong signal that he favors one segment of the population over another. I for one find that unacceptable.”

Last year Malloy’s office also rejected a petition to declare February 12 “Darwin Day” because it was submitted late. This year the petition was submitted on time, but Malloy rejected this one too without any consideration of the content.

Calls and emails to the Governor’s office seeking an explanation for the rejections have gone unanswered, forcing McCann to file a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request last year. Although the reasons for the rejection of the proclamations were not available, the information obtained through the FOIA was telling.

According to McCann, “The Connecticut Governor’s office received 675 proclamation requests between January 1, 2015 and April 10, 2015. Of these, 601 were granted. Of the 11 percent that were rejected it is likely that some percentage were rejected for technical reasons e.g., falling outside the required time frame. The remainder must have gotten rejected for content. Since our request had complied with all the guidelines, it must have been rejected solely on content.”

“Non-theistic constituents like Mr. McCann have contemporary grounds on which they can base their concern,” added Dr. Jason Heap, executive director of the United Coalition of Reason, headquartered in Washington, DC. “If it is true that the reason for rejecting the Darwin Day proclamation was due to its being rejected last year, then it is understandable that non-theistic voters might feel as if their concerns and inspirations are second-class. Recognizing Darwin Day doesn’t glorify a court decision that determined that “intelligent design” as another form of creationism was unconstitutional and therefore had no place in our nation’s public-funded schools. Darwin Day does not mock religious thought such as concept of special creation or the removal of a deity’s responsibility for natural suffering. Rather, it is a recognition of a key figure in modern scientific inquiry–an inquiry that all humans benefit from, regardless of their sincerely-held beliefs.”

Heap also added his concerns for the potential rejection out of hand of McCann’s National Day of Reason proclamation. “It doesn’t take a theological scholar to understand that the National Day of Prayer’s task force has only one sincerely-held belief community in mind. Their website does not hide their mission to “…represent[s] a Judeo-Christian expression of the national observance, based on our understanding that this country was birthed in prayer and in reverence for the God of the Bible,” and that their supporting materials on the website is used as a tool for Christian evangelism. For Gov. Malloy to deny a National Day of Reason proclamation but find it necessary to create a Day of Prayer proclamation excludes non-theists in Connecticut as well as every other sincerely-held belief group that does not hold similar theological views to the National Day of Prayer Task Force. We are seeing how divisive sectarian prayer has become in our government buildings with rabbis being escorted from the premises after she exercised her free speech to claim the prayer as offensive, or using political processes to block the Satanic Temple from delivering their own Constitutionally-protected expression. It is in such current situations that I invoke the memory of Roger Williams, the founder of Rhode Island colony, who wrote in The Bloudy Tenet of Persecution: “All civil states with their officers of justice in their respective constitutions and administrations are proved essentially civil, and therefore not judges, governors, or defenders of the spiritual or Christian state and worship”.

Absent an explanation, Governor Malloy’s repeated rejection of his secular constituent’s concerns smacks of bigotry and preference. Fortunately, other elected officials in Connecticut have been far more supportive. Connecticut Senators Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy sponsored and co-sponsored the Darwin Day resolution in the Senate and Representatives Jim Himes and Elizabeth Esty have sponsored and co-sponsored the Darwin Day resolution in the House. Rep Himes has sponsored the Darwin Day bill three times and has met with members of the Secular Coalition of Connecticut. Senator Blumenthal and his wife attended this year’s Darwin Day Bash held at the Norwalk Inn and Conference Center.

For some reason, this year I thought I must do something special on Martin Luther King, Jr. day. I decided to read something he had written. But today I found the video of his “Free at Last” speech and decided to watch and most importantly to listen to the great man deliver his most celebrated speech.

As I watched tears developed in my eyes. At the climactic end, one forlorn tear from each eye rolled down my cheeks. As I watched I remembered that what MLK had looked forward to had not yet come to pass in this great, yes great, nation of ours.

Black Lives Matter.

How many deaths must we watch before we come to grips with our own insidious built-in racism? How many Black families must grieve for their lost sons and daughters? How many children must we raise who are still de facto segregated into black schools and white schools, poor schools and rich schools, ghettos and fields of plenty?

I am certain the day will come when we will truly be equal, but it will not come by itself. It may not come in my lifetime, but it will come. And, I believe, without violence.

But we must never forget that “the price of liberty” for all “is eternal vigilance” by all. That vigilance is here today. White brothers and sisters are opening their eyes. Yes, it has taken a lot of pushing and faces severe resistance, but it is happening. Efforts are underway to end the injustices. But efforts are not enough, we must succeed. We cannot take our eyes off of the end goals, and we must do what is necessary to peacefully achieve them, and to keep them. We must be vigilant.

When were my eyes open to the continuing injustices faced by persons of color? It actually wasn’t anyone’s death, it wasn’t anyone’s wrongful incarceration. It was earlier but is current, it was something seemingly innocuous yet revealing. It was when I first heard the term: “DWB: Driving While Black.”

We have a ways to go. But the spirit of MLK will lead us there.

I knew there was a reason.

Here at RI New Leaders Council, we train the next generation of trailblazing political entrepreneurs – civically engaged, socially conscious change makers.

That means no matter whether our people are launching startups, fostering thriving non-profits, or being stellar public servants, they’re focused on the welfare of our larger Rhode Island community. The holiday season is a perfect time to take stock of how we’re improving Little Rhody and brainstorm a wish list for 2016.

At the top of our wish list is that you come celebrate our 5^th year anniversary with us! Scroll to the bottom of this blog for details and make sure to RSVP, we want to see you there. What we’ll be celebrating is at the heart of every progressive in Whoville – starting truly paradigm-shifting change with an inspired community.

Over the past five years we’ve had lots of success in planting some remarkable seeds of change. As many of us huddle around a fireplace drinking eggnog, one example that we can be proud of is NLC Alum Omar Bah, the founder of Refugee Dream Center in RI. Omar has been a strong advocate for refugees, especially as the debate over Syrian refugees rages in national political discourse. Omar is just one example of the over 80 leaders we’ve provided our premiere leadership development training to over the past five years and we’re excited about the growth and impact the next five years will bring!

What is on your wish list of change? We need your ideas, your passion, and your financial support to provide this one-of-a-kind training to leaders outside the traditional power structure.

Join our fantastic board, alumni, and community partners to celebrate and meet our newest 2016 Fellows, just about to embark on the journey of a lifetime. Here are the details, RSVP today:

NLC-RI’s 5^th Year Anniversary Celebration

When:

January 16, 2016 at 6pm – 9pm

Where:     

Easy Entertaining
166 Valley St.
Providence, RI 02909

RSVP:       http://ri.newleaderscouncil.org/celebration

* Hors d’oeuvres will be served, cash bar available.

Human Rights Day was celebrated yesterday in Rhode Island with a vigil outside the Dorcas Institute in South Providence. Organized by AFSC-SENE and Jewish Voice for Peace, there were attendees from Bell St Chapel and the Sisters of Mercy, as well as a couple of “hard-core” atheists. All were gathered in community to “stand together against the hate and fear,” to welcome refugees to our state and to “stand with our Muslim brothers and sisters.”

As the organizers said, hate and fear are not working, “let us see what love can do.”

The family-friendly scavenger hunt will highlight Providence’s civil liberties history, and we hope the event educates the public, and especially children and teenagers, about the Bill of Rights and importance of knowing one’s rights.

So, think you know your Rhode Island history? Want to learn how the Constitution applies to everyday life? Put on your walking shoes and head to downtown Providence on your own or with your friends and family on Saturday, September 19, to start the hunt!

We’ll start sharing clues on our Facebook and Twitter at 1 p.m. (Rain or shine). Use them to start a self-guided hunt for landmarks around the city. Once you arrive at a stop, snap a photo (selfies are encouraged!) and share it on Facebook or Twitter with the hashtag #ConstitutionHunt. Make it to the final location to earn bragging rights and a small souvenir.

Constitution Day Scavenger Hunt

 (RSVP On Our Facebook Page Here)

Saturday, September 19

1 to 3 P.M.

Downtown Providence

For more information and official rules, click here.

There is nothing more American than a parade, and parades are paeans to socialism. They run on publicly funded streets, feature military equipment and fire apparatus paid for with taxes to protect the public good, and are supported by local governments.

The Glocester Ancients & Horribles Parade is a Rhode Island institution famous for its political and social commentary. Usually that commentary is very un-PC, runs to the right politically, and is mostly unfunny.

There was some of that this year, with the float to “honor” Caitlyn Jenner a case in point, but for the most part, the political commentary was decidedly left of center. There were marchers from Northwest Rhode Island Supporters of Open Space, a float promoting the dangers of Climate Change and opposed to the expansion of the Spectra pipeline in Burrilville, and an entire float dedicated to the presidential campaign of Bernie Sanders.

Is this an early sign of a political left turn in Rhode Island?

Time will tell…

In election years, no candidate for statewide office can afford to miss it. This year, Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse were the only politicians who bothered.

These flags might make many think of the modern right wing Tea Party, but the context was the Fife and Drum band featured above.