Tag Archives: Non-Violence

Death penalty incompatible with faith, humanity

From the Lincoln Journal Star:

The death penalty has survived not in spite of Christians, but because of them, according to Shane Claiborne, social activist, author and pioneer in the New Monasticism Movement.

For a long time, Claiborne believed that scripture supported the death penalty: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth… But his gut told him something else. He believed it was not as simple as good versus evil, right versus wrong and life versus death.

“I went back to study Scripture, and I saw how complex it is,” Claiborne said during a recent visit from Philadelphia to Lincoln and Omaha, as part of Nebraskans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty and Retain a Just Nebraska — both efforts to retain a state law abolishing the death penalty.

More than 200 people attended Claiborne’s June 7 presentations, which coincided with the release of his newest book, Executing Grace: How the Death Penalty Killed Jesus and Why It’s Killing Us. The book examines the death penalty from all angles: religious, moral, just and practical. Many Nebraska stories are included in the 300-page book.

Claiborne’s appearance was the first in a series of guests invited to Nebraska over the coming months to help convince voters to uphold LB268 which calls for abolishing capital punishment in the state, said Dan Parsons, spokesman for Retain a Just Nebraska.

Read the full story from the Lincoln Journal Star.

Retain a Just Nebraska has two upcoming open-house events for faith leaders to discuss the death penalty:

  • In Lincoln June 14 from 6 to 8 p.m.: FUSE Co-Working Space, 151 N. Eighth St. (fifth floor).
  • In Omaha June 16 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Retain a Just Nebraska headquarters, 440 Regency Parkway Suite 234.

Learn more at Retain a Just Nebraska and Nebraskans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.

Celebrate with Marylyn in Omaha and support Retain a Just Nebraska

Join us for a Fundraising Birthday Party & Discussion With Marylyn Felion!

Marylyn is a board member of Nebraskans for an Alternative to the Death Penalty and and active volunteer for Retain a Just Nebraska. She accompanied the last person executed in Nebraska and has been a long-time activist for death penalty abolition. Today, she is working tirelessly to Retain LB 268.

To celebrate her birthday, we’re inviting you to attend her fundraising birthday party and give a gift to Retain a Just Nebraska in her honor. Your gift will help the effort to Retain LB 268 and keep Nebraska death penalty free!

Her no-host birthday celebration is open to the public and will be held at Mama’s Pizza in Omaha, 715 N. Saddle Creek Road, on Wednesday, June 8, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. We hope to see you there!

RSVP to the Facebook event.

Action Alert: Help petition for ballot access at Earth Day events

Upcoming Earth Day celebrations provide opportunities to gather signatures and ensure that the Nebraska Green Party appears on the ballot for Nebraska voters in November:

Earth Day Omaha

  • Saturday, April 16
  • 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
  • Elmwood Park
  • Contact markalanzimmermann (at) gmail.com to help.

Earth Day Lincoln

  • Saturday, April 23
  • 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
  • Union Plaza
  • Contact  mjberry (at) inebraska.com to help.

LJS Editorial: The only way to “fix” the death penalty is to end it

From the Lincoln Journal Star:

Before voters go to the polls on Nov. 8 to vote on whether they want to put the death penalty back on the books in Nebraska, they ought to think about the learning process undergone by Christy Sheppard.

If voters are able to put themselves in her shoes, they too are likely to reach the same conclusion Sheppard did: the death penalty should be abolished.

Sheppard shared her story last week in appearances in Omaha, Grand Island, Kearney and Hastings.

Sheppard was a supporter of the death penalty when here cousin was raped and murdered in 1982.

She was a supporter of the death penalty when two men were arrested in 1987 and charged with murdering her cousin. Upon conviction, Ron Williamson was sentenced to death, and Dennis Fritz was sentenced to life in prison.

Then 11 years later DNA testing proved that Williamson and Fritz had been wrongfully convicted.

Read the full editorial.

Get involved in the campaign to end Nebraska’s death penalty once and for all.

People’s Film Festival Upcoming Shows

As always, the People’s Film Festival is held at First Unitarian Church, 31st and Harney streets, Omaha, at 7 p.m. Note that the schedule has changed from Tuesdays to Mondays.

1913: Seeds of Conflict (Thursday 3/24): 1913 examines a critical yet overlooked moment of transformation in Palestine, long before the Balfour Declaration and British Mandate period usually considered the matchstick for today’s ongoing struggles. It was a time when identities were fluid and few Arabs or Jews living there could imagine the conflict that would engulf their region for the next century.

Feeding Frenzy: The Food Industry, Marketing & the Creation of a Health Crisis (Monday 4/4): Over the past three decades, obesity rates in the U.S. have more than doubled for children and tripled for adolescents — and a startling 70% of adults are now obese or overweight. The result has been a widening epidemic of obesity-related health problems, including coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, and Type 2 diabetes. While discussions about this spiraling health crisis have tended to focus on the need for more exercise and individual responsibility, Feeding Frenzy trains its focus squarely on the responsibility of the processed food industry and the outmoded government policies it benefits from. It lays bare how taxpayer subsidies designed to feed hungry Americans during the Great Depression have enabled the food industry to flood the market with a rising tide of cheap, addictive, high-calorie food products, and offers an engrossing look at the tactics of the multibillion-dollar marketing machine charged with making sure that every one of those surplus calories is consumed. Features industry analysts, health experts, and advertising scholars, including Marion Nestle, Kelly Brownell, Sut Jhally, Brian Wansink, and Michele Simon.

Call of Life (Monday 4/18): Call of Life is the first feature-length documentary to fully investigate the growing threat posed by the rapid and massive loss of biodiversity on the planet. Featuring leading scientists, social scientists, environmentalists and others, the film explores the scope, the causes, and the predicted global impact of a mass extinction occurring on a scale not seen since the disappearance of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. If current trends continue, scientists warn that half or more of all plant and animal species on Earth will become extinct within the next few decades. Entirely caused by human activities, this contemporary mass extinction is disrupting and destroying the complex, interconnected biological systems that support life on earth. Through interviews with eminent biologists and ecologists, the film examines the primary drivers of species loss: habitat destruction, global warming, pollution, and invasive species, all compounded by the expanding human population and our consumption patterns.

GMO-OMG (Monday 5/2): This provocative documentary follows one father’s search for answers to the question “What are we feeding our families?” and examines the risks of consuming genetically modified foods, or GMOs. Features Jeremy Seifert.

Charles E. Richardson: 1935-2016

Founding Co-chair of the Nebraska Green Party, Dr. Charles Richardson, died on Monday, March 7, 2016, in Hastings. Thank you, Charles, for your early Green Party support, your tireless District 3 work gathering hundreds of signatures in each petition campaign, convening meetings, and providing NGP visibility where we needed it most. Members of the Nebraska Green Party extend sympathy to your family and friends.

Read Charles’ obituary.

Super Tuesday: The empire strikes back, but the rebellion lives

From Jill Stein and Jill2016.com:

Super Tuesday was a big win for oligarchy, as the Democratic Party establishment delivered over 60% of available delegates for Hillary Clinton and billionaire demagogue Donald Trump stomped to victory in 8 states.

But despite the dominance of Clinton and Trump, the millions of votes for Bernie Sanders show that Americans are hungry for sweeping changes to a broken system that’s throwing workers, students, the middle class and the poor under the bus.

I agree with Bernie and his supporters that we must take our democracy back from the billionaires, win economic justice for the 99%, confront the existential threat of climate meltdown, adopt an improved Medicare For All healthcare system, provide a welcoming path to citizenship, and end racist violence in our criminal justice system.

On many issues, we must go further – for example, by canceling all student loan debt, urgently transitioning to 100% clean renewable energy by 2030, nationalizing the Federal Reserve, and reforming the electoral system with measures like proportional representation. And we must roll back the military-industrial-surveillance complex that is undermining our liberty and security while bankrupting us financially and morally.

Read more at Jill2016.com.

Anti-death penalty campaign kicks off

From the Lincoln Journal Star:

A group of Nebraskans who want voters to uphold the Legislature’s repeal of the death penalty kicked off a statewide education campaign Wednesday.

The group scheduled a news conference at the Capitol to launch the campaign and unveil its new name: Retain a Just Nebraska.

The name change from Nebraskans for Public Safety reflects the action needed to support the death penalty repeal (LB268) passed last session, said spokesman Dan Parsons.

Support for abolishing the death penalty is diverse, he said, and includes fiscal conservatives, law enforcement officials, faith leaders and murder victims’ families.

Senators won a hard-fought battle in passing a repeal bill introduced by Omaha Sen. Ernie Chambers, one he had introduced 37 times during his tenure in the Legislature. The bill advanced through three rounds of debate, was vetoed by Gov. Pete Ricketts, and then senators voted to override the veto.

Before the repeal could go into effect, Nebraskans for the Death Penalty launched a petition drive to stop the repeal until Nebraska voters could weigh in in November on whether or not the state should continue to have capital punishment.

Now those who supported the repeal want voters to endorse it.

Read the full story.

Seeking Peace and Justice in Palestine and Israel, Feb. 28 in Omaha

From Nebraskans for Peace:

Learn about peace work in Israel and Palestine and what you can do to help. Rabbi Joseph Berman and Bshara Nassar, a Christian from Palestine, will discuss the work they have been doing for peace and justice in the Holy Land.

  • WHO: Rabbi Joseph Berman and Bshara Nassar
  • WHEN: Sunday, February 28, 2016 from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
  • WHERE: Urban Abbey, 1026 Jackson St., Omaha

This event is organized through the Holy Land Task Force, Peace with Justice Ministries and the Mercy & Justice Team of the Great Plains Conference of The United Methodist Church, in collaboration with the Palestinian Rights Task Force of Nebraskans for Peace.