I received some wonderful news from my friend Joe Morris. George Lakey is coming to Santa Monica Meeting at noon this Sunday, Feb 19. Joe wrote these powerful words about George, one of the most joyful and committed Quaker peace activist of our time:
Please do not miss the unique opportunity of hearing George Lakey speak to us this Sunday noon at Santa Monica meetinghouse (1440 Harvard St, Santa Monica, CA ) as part of his nationwide book tour of his autobiography, Dancing with History. Simply put---George is quite probably the most remarkable Quaker activist any of us are likely to meet! And, at the age of 85, he is unlikely ever to travel from Pennsylvania to meet with us again.
George is best known for developing and putting into practice the concept of "nonviolent revolution," training thousands of people to take direct action to peaceably resist organizations that have hindered our being a just and humane society. Back in the sixties, it was he who helped organize a successful Friends mission on a ship filled with medical supplies to N. Vietnam during the Vietnam War. (The Seventh Fleet let them pass.) In the nineties, he founded the Earth Quaker Action Team. They were engaged in such efforts as a sit-in at a Pennsylvania bank to protest their investment in a mountain-removal project in the Appalachians. They prevailed. George is a savvy activist, a sociologist by training, was a longtime professor at Swarthmore.
It seems fitting that George will be speaking on Transfiguration Sunday, a time when Jesus took some of his students to a mountain top and revealed himself transformed by the Light of God. In addition to being a brilliant peace and justice activist, George exudes light and joy, as you can see from this picture of him being arrested. I am looking forward to having my faith in Quakers and in God renewed and restored by this amazing man of peace, joy and love.
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