April 14, 2018 Tax Day Rally Speech by Mary McClintock speaking for Community Action & the Sat. Peace Vigil
PEACE IS CHEAPER
Thank you for inviting me to speak and for all the work that you do.
I’ve stood on this Common for an hour most Saturday mornings since September 2002 when Susan Dorazio and I walked up to the Common from the west at the same time that Ava Gips and Tori walked up to the Common from the east. Each pair of us had decided that Franklin County needed a peace vigil, and we picked the same day, time, and place, not knowing the other pair had chosen that time.
We came together to speak out against the then-year-old US war on Afghanistan, and in hopes of trying to keep the US from starting a war in Iraq.
We knew the terrible cost in human lives, communities, and money that war brings.
Today, the US is involved in more wars, and people are fed up with endless war…
I get LOTS of positive responses to my PEACE IS CHEAPER sign.
Soon after we started the Greenfield Weekly Peace Vigil, I attended the Women’s Congress for Peace in Northampton where I talked with other peace activists about ways to encourage others to join the movement for peace.
Kate Harris said, “We have to be like lifeboats rowing up to a sinking ship. We need to provide an attractive alternative that people want to swim toward.”
Ever since that conversation, whenever I consider what I am doing with my life, I think “Is this a lifeboat activity?”
That’s led to a lot of lifeboat activities, in my activism, on this Common, in my writing, in my work. It was key to what I wrote in my local food column, to my involvement with Juanita Nelson’s Free Harvest Supper, and to my work with Cynthia Bliel to create the 2017 Greenfield Women’s Rally.
PEACE BEGINS WHEN THE HUNGRY ARE FED
Now, I’m immensely fortunate to work for a major lifeboat, Franklin County’s federally funded anti-poverty agency, Community Action Pioneer Valley. Our Community Action is one of over 1,200 similar agencies created during the War on Poverty in the 1960s to send federal money to local communities to address the needs of that community. Our Community Action is a lifeboat to many of our neighbors, helping them have what they need to lead healthy, prosperous, and fulfilling lives.
Our Community Action:
-provides food and heat for our neighbors,
-helps our neighbors get full federal and state tax refunds and credits,
-educates and cares for young children,
-helps our neighbors find resources they need to keep their homes,
-helps our neighbors find meaningful work,
-helps our neighbors resolve their conflicts,
-supports our neighbors as they care for their families,
-provides activities, job training, and internships for young people, and more…
When I talked with Community Action Executive Director Clare Higgins about this Tax Day Rally … she said, “We need money for food, preserving tenancies, early education.”
Yes, instead of paying for war, let’s spend our money building the lifeboats, the attractive alternatives that lift us all.
WHAT ARE YOUR LIFEBOAT ACTIVITIES?
Come join us at the weekly peace vigil Saturdays from 11 a.m. to noon on the Town Common, Greenfield. It’s a great place to plan lifeboat activities.