Starting around
5:45 pm on Tuesday, January 21, people started pouring into the Orange
Grove Friends Meetinghouse until every bench and every chair was filled. People
filled the social hall as well as our worship space! Between 120-150 people attened, the largest public event at our Meeting that I have
ever seen, as you can see from this picture. The Pasadena Now has an article about
it:
You can also see it livestream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1tYtSpfV8k&feature=youtu.be
We created a booklet of the candidates' responses
to our question and posted them online:https://makinghousinghappen.net/2020/01/21/where-the-candidates-stand-on-affordable-homeless-housing/
Jill made everyone laugh when she told them that
District 1 Councilmember Tyron Hampton wanted her support when he ran for
office and she gave him a 10 question quiz. He answered 8 questions
"correctly" and she supported him. "But what's most
important," Jill added, "is that he actually did what he promised to
do. Now that candidates have written down and expressed their views, we can
hold them accountable."
This was a lesson that everyone heard and I hope took to heart.
Thirteen of the 15 candidates took part. (One candidate is running
unopposed and another just spaced out.)
 |
| From left, Ryan Bell, Steve Madison, Tamerlin Godley, Gene Masuda, Char Bland, Felicia Williams (hidden from view), the moderator, Tricia Keane, Kevin Litwin, Major Williams, Victor Gordo, and Terry Tornek. Photo courtesy Ryan Bell via Twitter and published in Pasadena Now |
Many of the candidates thanked and spoke appreciatively of GPAHG,
but I was particularly touched by Gene Masuda. He and his wife Joan are
Japanese Americans and they were thrilled to be in a Quaker meetinghouse. They
couldn't say enough good things about Quakers! I told them to speak to Phil Way
since his Mom and Dad were among those Quakers who did the most to help
Japanese Americans.
I welcomed people to the Forum and shared with them some of the
history of our Meeting and our Quaker faith and practice.
Welcome to our Quaker meeting house. As you can see, it’s very simple: no religious trappings. We don’t have a pastor or set order of worship. We come together here to worship in silence, guided by the Spirit, and speak only when we feel led by the Spirit. Our meetinghouse was built in 1907 and is one of the oldest church buildings in our city. Quakers have been committed to peace and justice work for 350 years, and our Meeting has a special concern for housing justice and immigration
Jill spoke about the history of GPAHG and mentioned that GPAHG was
birthed in the AFSC office in the early 1990s.
We were pleased that several of the candidates support rent
control and almost all of the candidates
expressed support for permanent supportive housing and commercial development
at the Civic Center.
Our work is grounded in our Quaker faith that there is “that of
God” in everyone, including elected officials we sometimes disagree with. An important
element of this kind of activity is building relationships. People had a chance
to meet and greet candidates at the end for around 45 minutes. People were
excitedly discussing housing issues in a way that brought joy to our hearts as
housing justice advocates.
I feel we are putting into practice what I learned in my FCNL
training as an advocate. I use that training to train other in how to approach
our elected officials with the goal not just of persuading them, but also of
listening and being open to hearing their viewpoint. Our ultimate goal, I
explain to our advocates, is to create what Dr. King calls "The Beloved
Community." I feel that the Beloved Community came to our Meeting house during
this Forum.
I give God all the thanks and praise for what God is accomplishing
through us. I also want to thank Orange Grove Meeting for your support and
encouragement! The words of Jesus come to mind: "I have told you
this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete."
(John 15:11)
No comments:
Post a Comment