June 2022 Newsletter

Message From Our President/CEO

Ten people shot dead by a white supremacist at a Tops supermarket in Buffalo, New York.

Nineteen children and two teachers killed at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.

The headlines over the last few weeks portray the grim reality of gun violence in America, a country where over 45,000 people are killed by gun-related injuries each year. 

Survivors and loved ones of the victims will forever carry the scars of these events. Those of us watching on the news are affected as well, many retraumatized due to past and/or ongoing violence and harm. 

June is National Gun Violence Awareness Month, which is symbolized by the color orange. The tradition began in 2013 as a tribute to 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton, who was shot and killed in Chicago one week after performing with her high school majorette squad at President Obama's second inaugural parade. 

As a conflict resolution center, preventing violence is central to our mission. But beyond wearing orange and putting up a lawn sign, many of us are asking, What can we do? What effective actions can we take that could truly lead to change in the national landscape?

Heather Cox Richardson writes, "For years now, after one massacre or another, I have written some version of the same article, explaining that the nation’s current gun free-for-all is not traditional but, rather, is a symptom of the takeover of our nation by a radical extremist minority. The idea that massacres are 'the price of freedom,'... is new, and it is about politics."

Steve Kerr, the coach of the Golden State Warriors basketball team, whose father was murdered by gunmen in Beirut, Lebanon in 1984, explains the political barrier to change: "[N]inety percent of Americans, regardless of political party, want…universal background checks…. We are being held hostage by 50 senators in Washington who refuse to even put it to a vote despite what we the American people want."

The topic of gun control is a polarizing one, and many Americans view such legislation as a dangerous infringement of personal liberty. This is where the power of dialogue comes in. Talk to your friends and neighbors about the issue of gun violence. Ask genuine questions so you can learn about what's important to them on the issue. Share information about the history of background check legislation, including the Brady Bill and HR 8. Rather than arguing over who is right, work together to see if you can come up with creative solutions that would improve things in our country. Americans across the political spectrum need to be part of this conversation if we're ever going to prevent the kinds of atrocities we've seen in the last few weeks. 

As peacemakers, hard conversations are what we do. And I can think of no better reason to have a hard conversation than if might change the tide of gun violence in this country, and possibly save lives. Here are a few resources to help you start the conversation:

https://www.bradyunited.org/act/wear-orange

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/02/03/what-the-data-says-about-gun-deaths-in-the-u-s/

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/may-24-2022?utm_source=email&s=r

https://www.thetrace.org/2018/12/how-to-have-a-productive-conversation-about-guns-with-someone-who-holds-different-views/

In peace,

Shira May, Ph.D.

President/CEO

One of the most calming and powerful actions you can do to intervene in a stormy world is to stand up and show your soul... To display the lantern of soul in shadowy times like these - to be fierce and to show mercy toward others; both are acts of immense bravery and greatest necessity.

-Clarissa Pinkola Estes

Excerpt from "We Were Made For These Times"

https://www.awakin.org/v2/read/view.php?tid=2195

"Engaging Our Communities"

Guest Speaker: Judge Debra A. Martin, 

Monroe County Supreme Court

Friday, June 3rd, 5:00-6:00pm

Join us as we reflect on our work during the past year and hear about the impact we are having across our communities.

Register in advance for this meeting:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0lcO-gqD0jGtFscYZY2B-D5049p6sRGKa8 

A Community of Support:

Meet Rochester's Street Outreach Workers

On May 31st, street outreach workers specializing in gun violence prevention and response came together for a Listening Session to share their experiences, discuss barriers to their work and brainstorm solutions to the epidemic of gun violence in the city of Rochester. Agencies represented include: Center for Youth, Pathways to Peace, Rise Up Rochester, Roc the Peace, and Untrapped Ministries. 

Small group circle discussions were facilitated by representatives from the Center for Dispute Settlement, the M. K. Gandhi Institute, and Partners in Restorative Initiatives. 

A sense of unity, shared purpose, and collaboration were common themes as the participants shared their stories. As one outreach worker said, "We are the community we've been looking for."

Here are some ways you can support their important work:

• Wear orange to show your solidarity with Gun Violence Awareness Month
• Share information about gun violence and its impact
• Attend the Rochester Peace Fest on July 23rd: http://rocthepeace.org/

Our Interrupt Racism program work continues with a focus on the structural and

historical context of racism. We are challenged to grapple with our understanding of race not as biological fact, but as a social creation. A construct used to justify oppression and injustice. 

We find it jarring to realize that the practice of slavery has been part of United States history (1619-1865) for longer than it hasn’t. Slavery was justified, at least in part, by the concept of race and arguments for natural race-based differences between people. These beliefs didn’t end with slavery though. Instead, they are perpetuated through Institutional, Systemic and Structural racism. Similar to the common understanding of race, these types of racism are so ingrained in our society and institutions that it can feel like the way things are supposed to be.

We invite you to review the articles below and reflect on the origins and impacts of these types of discrimination.

https://www.benjerry.com/whats-new/2016/systemic-racism-is-real?mc_cid=3d36a13afc&mc_ei

d=0b5050dd0e

https://www.dismantlingracism.org/uploads/4/3/5/7/43579015/okun_-_white_sup_culture.pdf

Submitted by Matt Cole, co-chair of the Racial Equity Leadership Committee (RELC)

Mediator As Political Operative?

While it's been said that mediators generally shouldn’t talk about religion or politics, maybe we can make a one-time exception for this discussion.

It was a strange chain of events that led to this thought: Billy Joel’s song ‘Piano Man’ was on the radio and the line ‘…And the waitress is practicing politics…’ became an ear worm. We usually don’t see a waitress on TV rendering opinions about governance and we don’t think of a waitress hammering out the language of a proposed law. A waitress practicing politics was both an intriguing and incongruous thought, leading to a search for a more exact meaning of the word ‘politics’.

Any ideas?

Wikipedia® tells us that one definition of ‘politics’ is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status.

Well, reflecting on what mediators do and how we do it, aren’t we often involved in a set of activities associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status? Yes, in mediation the group is usually quite small and in transformative mediation the mediator’s involvement is both tangential and influential rather than direct, but isn’t the mediator involved in politics as Wikipedia® defines it? Mediator as political operative - what a concept!

We also learn that the word politics may be used positively in the context of a nonviolent "political solution" that involves compromise; descriptively as "the art or science of government" to achieve a goal; or, with a negative connotation as in “the comments were widely seen as a political attack.”

When we practice transformative mediation the disputing parties are empowered and each party’s recognition of the other is enhanced. The parties have the capacity to change the quality of their interactions to reflect relative personal strength and/or self-confidence (the empowerment shift) and relative openness or responsiveness to the other (the recognition shift). Moreover, as these positive dynamics feed into each other, the interactions can regenerate and assume a more constructive, connecting, and humanizing character. The transformative model assumes that the transformation of the interaction itself is what matters most to parties in conflict – even more than a settlement on favorable terms. The parties feel heard and in charge of their decisions and outcomes.

Could it be that as mediators, we are supporting political discussions and decisions in a way that supports recognition of the other's perspective? Generally unheard of, but in mediation, just a day in the life!

Article submitted by an anonymous mediator

• Martyrdom of Guru Arjan Dev Sahib: June 3 (Sikh)

• Shavuot: June 5-6 (Judaism)

• Race Unity Day: June 12 (Bahai)

• Juneteenth: June 19 (Offices will be closed on Monday, June 20)

• Litha (Summer Solstice): June 21 (Pagan and Wicca)