“More than absence of war”—the Young with maturity raise Movement for Peace

JANE ADDAMS (1860-1935)
"one of the most
prominent reformers
of the
Progressive Era"

Dellums, Schroeder Insight at conference “Vietnam: The Power of Protest ● Telling the Truth. ● Learning the Lessons”

Editing, excerpting by 

Carolyn Bennett

Beyond mere absence of war… what if…

American activist and politician

Former Member of U.S. Congress Ron Dellums

What was “principle for our generation is imperative” for the current generation “because we know that the price of war is too high. We know that the price of neglect of the issues that affect the human condition—we do it at our peril—so that we have a responsibility now to address the imperative.…

“We say to this generation of young people, out of a sense of urgency, out of a sense of the imperative—You now must emerge.

 

“

…It is not that this generation does not get it; it’s that they don’t always hear it. But when they do hear it, they get it, because they listen carefully. And if I had to bet my last dollar, I would bet it on this generation of young people, because they’re not carrying the same baggage we carry; and if they ever stand up, they will change America and change the world for their children and their children’s children.

In photo
Schroeder center
Dellums far right
then

“‘Peace is more than simply the absence of war; it is the presence of justice.’ I interpreted that to mean … the peace movement is the ultimate movement. Peace is the superior idea, that the umbrella movement for—of all movements; the peace movement because to come together under the banner of peace forces us to challenge all forms of injustice.

“Peace is more than simply the absence of war—it is the absence of conditions that give rise to war. … If we stayed together, what would the international community look like [today]?

“What would the world look like globally?

Protests now

“What would America look like? Would we still be seeing the Baltimore(s), if we had challenged on these issues?

“But it’s not too late.”

Protest with Civility, Maturity

American former politician and author 

Former Member of U.S. Congress 

Pat Schroeder

“I think about where we’ve been and where we haven’t been of late…

More than
absence of war
Justice for all

“When people say to me, ‘…but things are different now, because the issues are so hard’—I keep saying ‘Are you kidding me? We had Vietnam, the 1973 [Israeli-Palestinian] war, impeachment [of former President Richard M. Nixon]; how many more things can you juggle at one time?’

“

Protests now

And, yet, we were treating each other, even if we disagreed, with respect and decency; and debating on the facts.”

Today “I don’t see that [civility, rigor, rationality] at all. I see name calling, [which] reminds me of the junior high school lunch room. One food fight after another and it’s very sad.”

In photo
Schroeder center right
Protests then

Peace (anitwar) Movement mattered then, matters now

Protests now

While in the Oval Office President “Nixon said, ‘That peace movement … doesn’t have anything to do with me; I’m president, and I’m doing what’s right.’ In a book written after his presidency “he said the peace movement kept him from escalating the war.”

Schroeder continues. 

“Now, none of us want to say anything; but it really did make a big difference. It made a huge difference. … 

“Let’s go out and get young people thinking about it [the Peace Movement] in the environment we’re in today…: Iran, and how many people seem to want to go to war with [Iran]…; what we’ve done in Iraq and Afghanistan…. 

“We need to spread what we have learned.”

Sources and notes

Jane Addams (September 6, 1860 – May 21, 1935): pioneer American settlement social worker (and founder of the social work profession in the United States), public philosopher, sociologist, author, and leader in women's suffrage and world peace. “In an era when presidents such as Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson identified themselves as reformers and social activists—Addams was one of the most prominent reformers of the Progressive Era. She helped turn America to issues of concern to mothers, such as the needs of children, local public health, and world peace. She said that if women were to be responsible for cleaning up their communities and making them better places to live, they needed to be able to vote to do so effectively.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Addams

“Vietnam: The Power of Protest ● Telling the Truth. ● Learning the Lessons” May 1 - May 2 event in Washington D.C.: weekend gathering commemorating “the Vietnam Antiwar Movement,” addressing unlearned critical lessons of that war, and building opposition to today’s contemporary wars ● Featured speakers and performers: Phyllis Bennis, Julian Bond, Ron Kovic, Ron Dellums, Amy Goodman, Tom Hayden, Holly Near, Pat Schroeder, Susan Schnall and Peter Yarrow; a march to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the National Mall.

http://vietnamfulldisclosure.org/index.php/event/vietnam-the-power-of-protest-telling-the-truth-learning-the-lessons/

“Former Congressman Ron Dellums: Organizing for Peace Forces Us to Challenge All Forms of Injustice,” Monday May 25, 2015, http://www.democracynow.org/2015/5/25/former_congressman_ron_dellums_organizing_for

Ronald Vernie (Ron) Dellums: American activist, veteran, politician, born of labor organizers, native of Oakland, California, where he also served as mayor (2007-2011) and held positions on the Berkeley City Council; elected to thirteen terms (1971-1998) as a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Northern California’s 9th Congressional District after which he worked as a lobbyist in Washington D.C. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Dellums

“Former Rep. Pat Schroeder: The Peace Movement Made ‘Huge Difference’ in Ending Vietnam War,” Monday May 25, 2015, http://www.democracynow.org/2015/5/25/former_rep_pat_schroeder_the_peace

Patricia (Pat) Nell Scott Schroeder: American former politician who represented Colorado in the United States House of Representatives (1973–1997). She had also been On the National Labor Relations Board (1964-1966), attorney for Planned Parenthood and a public school teacher in Denver. In her position as member of the U.S. Congress she was involved in reform of that body— “working to weaken the long-standing control of committees by their chairs, sparring with Speaker Carl Albert over congressional ‘hideaways,’  and questioning why Congress members who lived in their offices should not be taxed for the benefit.” Schroeder served on the House Armed Services Committee and was a major supporter of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 and the Military Family Act of 1985. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patricia_Schroeder

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A lifelong American writer and writer/activist (former academic and staffer with the U.S. government in Washington), Dr. Carolyn LaDelle Bennett is credentialed in education and print journalism and public affairs (PhD, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan; MA, The American University, Washington, DC). Her work concerns itself with news and current affairs, historical contexts, and ideas particularly related to acts and consequences of U.S. foreign relations, geopolitics, human rights, war and peace, and violence and nonviolence. Dr. Bennett is an internationalist and nonpartisan progressive personally concerned with society and the common good. An educator at heart, her career began with the U.S. Peace Corps, teaching in Sierra Leone, West Africa. Since then, she has authored several books and numerous current-affairs articles; her latest book: UNCONSCIONABLE: How The World Sees Us: World News, Alternative Views, Commentary on U.S. Foreign Relations; most thoughts, articles, edited work are posted at Bennett’s Study: http://todaysinsightnews.blogspot.com/ and on her Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/carolynladelle.bennett. http://www.prweb.com/releases/2014/08UNCONSCIONABLE/prweb12131656.htm http://bookstore.xlibris.com/Products/SKU-000757788/UNCONSCIONABLE.aspx Her books are also available at independent bookstores in New York State: Lift Bridge in Brockport; Sundance in Geneseo; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center in Buffalo; Burlingham Books in Perry; The Bookworm in East Aurora

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“Bad ole days” super courageous women politicians: Chisholm, Schroeder

Flashback 1960s, 70s, 80s
By Carolyn Bennett including editing re-reporting

The year was 1973 and Colorado had elected its first woman to the U.S. House of Representatives but the old guard was hanging on to the past when newly elected Congresswoman Patricia (Pat) Schroeder took her seat and accepted membership on the House Armed Services Committee. The committee chairman Louisiana Democrat reportedly went ballistic.

In interviews for a 2008 piece, former Congresswoman Schroeder said Representative F. Edward Hebert (Felix Edward HÉBERT, 1901 – 1979, D-LA, January 3, 1941-January 3, 1977) “went into a rage about how awful it was and how the only thing he still had control over was the number of chairs at the table. And since, in the Congressman’s eyes, African-Americans and women were only worth half a House member, he made us share a chair.”

Partners in tough woman’s world Congress

At the time Colorado Representative Schroeder was being insulted by a Democratic colleague, U.S. Representative Shirley Chisholm had served two terms in the Congress and had sought the Democratic nomination for the U.S. presidency. So, according to the ole boy’s calculation, the interviewer comments, if women are worth one-half; then Congresswoman Chisholm was “one-quarter of a congressperson.”

Ah, those Good Ole Days

That is the air and attitude Chisholm and Schroeder endured in the 1960s, 70s and 80s. Taking her seat in Congress four years after Chisholm, Schroeder said, “We had no women anywhere:

[n]o women pages,
[n]o women at the doorkeeper’s office, in the parliamentarian’s office,
[n]o women Capitol Police.

“You couldn’t go into the gym, where a lot of deals were cut—couldn’t even go out on the balcony, which is off the Speaker’s office. ...

Schroeder said, “The attitude of a lot of women when I got there was, ‘Aren’t we lucky they let us in here?’”

Chisholm, however, took the opportunity to teach another generation of women entering the Congress. She “had this very high profile with people across the country — and women in particular,” Schroeder said. “She understood women’s issues. It came from her being a teacher and from her presidential campaign. Chisholm “was always working for people who didn’t have political action committees; [she] “worked as diligently for them as if they were General Motors ….”

One of her fondest moments with Shirley Chisholm, Schroeder said, was a night during the presidential campaign when her (Schroeder’s) five-year-old daughter asked Chisholm ‘If you got elected, would you keep the White House white?’And Shirley Chisholm responded—

‘I think I’d put polka dots on it of all different colors because that’s how Americans come: in all different colors.’

In her first Congressional term Shirley Chisholm was one of ten women members of the House of Representatives.  In her final term before retirement in 1983, there were 21 women in Congress of which three were African American women.

Chisholm speaks for herself

In her autobiographical work, she reflected, “I was the first American citizen to be elected to Congress in spite of the double drawbacks of being female and having skin darkened by melanin.

“When you put it that way, it sounds like a foolish reason for fame. In a just and free society, it would be foolish. That I am a national figure because I was the first person in 192 years to be at once a member of the U.S. Congress, black and a woman proves, I would think, that our society is not either just or free.”

The nostalgists on the political left, center and right are wrong. Those were not “good days.” They were tough. But some of the most courageous women rose in those bad ole days. They took the baton and led ably, and with unparalleled humanity.

Two outstanding American women

Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm

Patricia Nell Scott Schroeder

Shirley Chisholm ran for the office of U.S. President in 1972.

Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm was elected as a Democrat to the Ninety-first Congress and to six succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1969-January 3, 1983). She served on the Veterans Affairs Committee and the Education and Labor Committee. At retirement, she was the third highest-ranking member of this committee.

Before her election to the U.S. Congress in 1968, Chisholm was a member of the New York State Legislature (1964). In the 1950s she was an educator: director of the Hamilton-Madison Child Care Center (1953-1959); educational consultant for the Division of Day Care (1959-1964).

Born in Brooklyn, New York, of immigrant British Guyanese [of Guyana in the northeastern corner of South America inhabited by indigenous people who named it Guiana (‘land of water’), the only English-speaking country of South America] and Barbadian (British Commonwealth island country in the southeastern Caribbean Sea) parents; raised from primary school age 3 to 7 in Barbados, and from 1934 on in New York City, Chisholm took her academic credentials at Brooklyn College (B.A., 1946) and Columbia University (M.A., 1952). Smith College in 1975 awarded her an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree.

This outstanding American former politician, educator and author (b. November 30, 1924 – d. January 1, 2005) represented New York for seven congressional terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. She was the first African American woman elected to Congress, the first major-party black candidate for President of the United States and the first woman to run for the Democratic presidential nomination (Margaret Chase Smith of Maine, well known for anti-McCarthyism “Declaration of Conscience,” had previously run for the Republican presidential nomination).

Shirley Chisholm is author of Unbought and Unbossed (1970) and The Good Fight (1973). In 2004, the documentary film chronicling Chisholm’s 1972 bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, “Shirley Chisholm ‘72: Unbought and Unbossed,” was featured at the Sundance Film Festival; on April 9, 2006, the film won a Peabody Award. Its director/producer: independent, African American filmmaker Shola Lynch. It 2005, the film aired on U.S. public television.

Pat Schroeder ran for the office of U.S. President in 1987.

Patricia Nell Scott Schroeder was elected as a Democrat to the Ninety-third Congress and to eleven succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1973-January 3, 1997); and chaired the Select Committee on Children, Youth and Families (One Hundred Second and One Hundred Third Congresses). She was the first congresswoman to serve on the House Armed Services Committee and was known for advocacy on work-family issues: a prime mover behind the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 and the 1985 Military Family Act.

Schroeder was also involved in reform of Congress and worked to weaken entrenchment, the long-standing control of committees by their chairs. She challenged the congressional ‘hideaway” (exclusive resort known to handful of the United States’ highest-ranking officials) and Members’ living in their offices tax free.

Born in Portland, Oregon (July 30, 1940), raised in Des Moines, Iowa, Patricia Nell Scott Schroeder took her academic credentials at the University of Minnesota (B.A., history, 1961) and Harvard Law School (J.D. 1964). In the mid 1960s, she worked for the National Labor Relations Board. In the 60s and 70s, before entering Congress, she was a lawyer in private practice and a teacher.

This outstanding American former politician represented Colorado in the United States House of Representatives from 1973–1997, was a member of the Democratic Party, and the first woman elected to Congress from Colorado. Pat Schroeder is author of 24 Years of House Work . . . And the Place is Still a Mess: My Life in Politics.

Though it is clearly not enough, today’s 112th Congress (2011–2013, House and Senate) seats close to one hundred women.

78 women in the U.S. House of Representatives and
17 women in the U.S. Senate

Sources and notes

“Chisholm Forged A Place for [not only] Black Congresswomen” (Brian Reed), November 4, 2008 [comment, emphasis added],

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=96516491&ft=1&f=1014

Biographical sketches

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patricia_Schroeder

http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=S000142

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shirley_Chisholm

http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=C000371

112th Congress, 2011–2013

Women in 112th Congress, 2011–2013, according to the website Women in Congress http://womenincongress.house.gov/historical-data/representatives-senators-by-congress.html?congress=112

Women in U.S. House of Representatives

1. •Sandra (Sandy) Adams (Republican, FL)
2. •Michele Bachmann (Republican, MN)
3. •Tammy Baldwin (Democrat, WI)
4. •Karen Bass (Democrat, CA)
5. •Shelley Berkley (Democrat, NV)
6. •Judy Borg Biggert (Republican, IL)
7. •Diane Black (Republican, TN)
8. •Marsha Blackburn (Republican, TN)
9. •Suzanne Bonamici (Democrat, OR)1
10. •Mary Bono Mack (Republican, CA)
11. •Madeleine Z. Bordallo (Democrat, GU)
12. •Corrine Brown (Democrat, FL)
13. •Ann Marie Buerkle (Republican, NY)
14. •Shelley Moore Capito (Republican, WV)
15. •Lois Capps (Democrat, CA)
16. •Kathy Castor (Democrat, FL)
17. •Donna M. Christensen (Democrat, VI)
18. •Judy Chu (Democrat, CA)
19. •Yvette D. Clarke (Democrat, NY)
20. •Susan A. Davis (Democrat, CA)
21. •Diana L. DeGette (Democrat, CO)
22. •Rosa DeLauro (Democrat, CT)
23. •Donna F. Edwards (Democrat, MD)
24. •Renee Ellmers (Republican, NC)
25. •Jo Ann Emerson (Republican, MO)
26. •Anna Georges Eshoo (Democrat, CA)
27. •Virginia Foxx (Republican, NC)
28. •Marcia L. Fudge (Democrat, OH)
29. •Gabrielle Giffords (Democrat, AZ)2
30. •Kay Granger (Republican, TX)
31. •Janice Hahn (Democrat, CA)
32. •Colleen Hanabusa (Democrat, HI)
33. •Jane F. Harman (Democrat, CA)3
34. •Vicky Hartzler (Republican, MO)
35. •Nan Hayworth (Republican, NY)
36. •Jaime Herrera Beutler (Republican, WA)
37. •Mazie Hirono (Democrat, HI)
38. •Kathleen C. Hochul (Democrat, NY)4
39. •Sheila Jackson Lee (Democrat, TX)
40. •Lynn Jenkins (Republican, KS)
41. •Eddie Bernice Johnson (Democrat, TX)
42. •Marcia C. (Marcy) Kaptur (Democrat, OH)
43. •Barbara Lee (Democrat, CA)
44. •Zoe Lofgren (Democrat, CA)
45. •Nita M. Lowey (Democrat, NY)
46. •Cynthia M. Lummis (Republican, WY)
47. •Carolyn B. Maloney (Democrat, NY)
48. •Doris Matsui (Democrat, CA)
49. •Carolyn McCarthy (Democrat, NY)
50. •Betty McCollum (Democrat, MN)
51. •Cathy McMorris Rodgers (Republican, WA)
52. •Candice Miller (Republican, MI)
53. •Gwen Moore (Democrat, WI)
54. •Sue Myrick (Republican, NC)
55. •Grace Flores Napolitano (Democrat, CA)
56. •Kristi Noem (Republican, SD)
57. •Eleanor Holmes Norton (Democrat, DC)
58. •Nancy Pelosi (Democrat, CA)
59. •Chellie Pingree (Democrat, ME)
60. •Laura Richardson (Democrat, CA)
61. •Martha Roby (Republican, AL)
62. •Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (Republican, FL)
63. •Lucille Roybal-Allard (Democrat, CA)
64. •Linda T. Sánchez (Democrat, CA)
65. •Loretta Sanchez (Democrat, CA)
66. •Janice Schakowsky (Democrat, IL)
67. •Jean Schmidt (Republican, OH)
68. •Allyson Schwartz (Democrat, PA)
69. •Terri Sewell (Democrat, AL)
70. •Louise M. Slaughter (Democrat, NY)
71. •Jackie Speier (Democrat, CA)
72. •Betty Sutton (Democrat, OH)
73. •Nicola S. (Niki) Tsongas (Democrat, MA)
74. •Nydia M. Velázquez (Democrat, NY)
75. •Debbie Wasserman Schultz (Democrat, FL)
76. •Maxine Waters (Democrat, CA)
77. •Frederica Wilson (Democrat, FL)
78. •Lynn C. Woolsey (Democrat, CA)

Women in U.S. Senate

1. •Kelly Ayotte (Republican, NH)
2. •Barbara Boxer (Democrat, CA)
3. •Maria E. Cantwell (Democrat, WA)
4. •Susan Margaret Collins (Republican, ME)
5. •Dianne Feinstein (Democrat, CA)
6. •Kirsten Gillibrand (Democrat, NY)
7. •Kay Hagan (Democrat, NC)
8. •Kathryn Ann Bailey Hutchison (Republican, TX)
9. •Amy Klobuchar (Democrat, MN)
10. •Mary Landrieu (Democrat, LA)
11. •Claire McCaskill (Democrat, MO)
12. •Barbara Ann Mikulski (Democrat, MD)
13. •Lisa Murkowski (Republican, AK)
14. •Patty Murray (Democrat, WA)
15. •Jeanne Shaheen (Democrat, NH)
16. •Olympia Jean Snowe (Republican, ME)
17. •Deborah A. Stabenow (Democrat, MI)

WIC Footnotes

1. Suzanne Bonamici was elected in a special election on January 31, 2012, to succeed David Wu.

2. Gabrielle Giffords resigned on January 25, 2012.

3. Jane Harman resigned on February 28, 2011, and was succeeded in a special election by Janice Hahn on July 19, 2011.

4. Kathleen C. Hochul was elected by special election on May 24, 2011, to succeed Christopher Lee.

112th Congress, 2011–2013, http://womenincongress.house.gov/historical-data/representatives-senators-by-congress.html?congress=112

Images: http://www.jofreeman.com/politics/womprez03.htm
http://www.watcha-want.com/Good-Ole-Days.html

http://www.chariweb.com/2012_05_24_archive.html

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Bennett's books are available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY] • See also: World Pulse: Global Issues through the eyes of Women: http://www.worldpulse.com/ http://www.worldpulse.com/pulsewire http://www.facebook.com/#!/bennetts2ndstudy

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