2016 Year in Review

Carolina Peace Accomplishments in 2016

  • Organized a Refugee Task Force to counter anti-refugee sentiment and aid refugees, launched SC Welcomes Refugees Facebook page (915 Likes), and, through action alerts and publicizing hearings, helped prevent the passage of S.997, an anti-refugee bill in the SC Statehouse.
  • Annual presence at NAACP’s King Day at the Dome and screening of “MLK: A Call to Conscience” documentary at LeCafe Jazz on Dr. Kings’s Beyond Vietnam speech (Jan)
  • Organizing 101 Training with Kamau Marcharia (Feb)
  • Co-sponsored “My Name Is Rachel Corrie” one woman play starring Ash Malloy at USC with Students for Justice in Palestine; performance received standing ovation (Feb)
  • Testified at DOE Public Hearing against receiving German HEU Nuclear Waste at SRS (Feb)
  • Organizing support for Pro-Immigrant Rally and Rally Against Nuclear Weapons in Greenville, SC during the Republican Presidential debate (Feb)
  • “Nonviolence and Struggles for Justice” with Ethan Vesely-Flad, Director of National Organizing with FOR (Fellowship of Reconciliation) (March)
  • “Islamophobia: A Response” panel discussion at USC organized by Refugee Task Force (April)
  • Nuclear Symposium in Aiken, SC featuring Mary Olsen of NIRS (Nuclear Information Research Service) co-sponsored by SC Sierra Club and our respective Aiken branches. (July)
  • Carolina Peace President David Matos spoke at the annual Hiroshima Vigil .
  • Organized “Peace Day at the Statehouse” festival featuring live music and an organization fair.
  • Held Candlelight Vigil for Peace in 5 Points for International Day of Peace covered by WLTX (Sept 21st)
  • Cosponsored Marcia Mejia Chirimia speaking tour on Colombia with Witness for Peace-Southeast. She spoke at Winthrop, but the Columbia engagements were canceled due to the hurricane (Oct)
  • Meet Your Neighbor Potluck organized by Refugee Task Force (Nov)
  • Continued support for Simple Justice #BlackLivesMatter, Students for Justice in Palestine and more.
  • Weekly email announcements publicizing activism in the Columbia, SC area
  • Major upgrade of carolinapeace.org website.
  • Monthly Peace Potluck organizing meetings at the historic Modjeska Simkins House.
    Supported the organizing efforts of our local chapters…

Aiken Peace: “Refugee Resettlement: Facts, Not Fears” with Lindsey Seawell of Lutheran Services Carolinas (May), Black Lives Matter Discussion with Omari Fox and Rev. Brendolyn Jenkins (Oct)
Rock Hill for Peace: Speaking engagement with Israeli peace activist Jeff Halper (May),
International Day of Peace speaker Marty Rosebluth spoke about the global refugee crisis
CSRA Peace Alliance (August, GA): Lobbied against US arms sales to Saudi Arabia due to its bloody war in
Yemen, Screened movies “Ghosts of Jeju” & “Nuclear Savage”; Protested CIA Director John Brennan
Upstate Peace Network: Supported a series of anti-bigotry, pro-refugee and immigrant rights demonstrations and presented at CHRONIC (Carolinas Human Rights Organizing Conference)