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Arch Street Quaker Brutally Beaten
American Fiends Service Committee Statement Deploring US Military Action against Iraq
A Quaker Book of Wisdom on the Web
Called Meeting on the Death PenaltyArch Street Quaker Brutally Beaten
To: All
Subject: Robert Drake
Date: Thursday, March 18, 1999 3:18PMDear people at Friends Center and all leaders of Friends organizations,
I invite you to attend an information sharing about Robert Drake on Wednesday, March 31 at 12 noon in the meetinghouse at Friends Center. The hope is that we may learn more about the situation so that we may each consider with our own home meeting, faith community or organization, any next steps. Please call me if you have relevant information to share.
Robert Drake is a member of Arch Street Meeting who was severely beaten on January 31 inside his Sligo, Ireland home. Robert Drake, age 36 years and gay, suffered major head injuries, and at this writing is not yet stable enough for air transport back to Philadelphia. The men arrested for beating him are 20 and 21 years old, Ian Monaghan and Glen Mahon. Little is known about this act of violence and what led to it.
Arch Street Friends are in contact with his family and friends to learn Robert's and their needs at this time. Arch Street Friends are also reaching out to the "particular meeting" on Eustace Street, part of the Dublin Friends Monthly Meeting, where Robert attended meeting for worship.
Friends there are visiting Robert in Beaumont Hospital, Dublin. We are told that there are about 900 Friends in Northern Ireland and 700 in the Republic of Ireland, of which 500 are in the Dublin area. Membership has been rising since 1991, and Eustace Street Meeting is one of the many new meetings (unprogramed).A spokesperson at Beaumont Hospital told Philadelphia Gay News on March 8 that Robert Drake continues to make improvements: "His eyes are open, and we are weaning him off the ventilator. He is still a very sick young man. He's noncommunicative, and requires kidney dialysis."
Robert lived in Philadelphia for three years, began attending Arch Street Meeting in 1995 and became a member in 1997. He worked as writer, editor and literary agent. He moved to Ireland in July to write a novel.
His partner of six years, Scott Pretorius hopes to arrange Robert's transfer to University of Pennsylvania Hospital as soon as Robert is stable enough to travel.Some immediate questions occur to me: How may we support Robert? and Arch Street Friends Meeting? and Eustace Street Meeting? If Robert lives, his recovery will likely be lengthy. The aftermath also includes the healing and reconciliation work. Are we called to reach out to all involved, to Robert and to Ian and Glen, and those who love them? How can we witness to that of God in this act of violence and the ensuing aftermath?
Some broader questions not for any immediate answer: How are we doing at addressing the homophobia within each of us? How are we doing at welcoming any "stranger" in our midst? A stranger could be anyone who seems new or different from us. How are we doing at healing ourselves, and helping one another to heal, of those fears which prevent us from reaching out to the "stranger"? How are we doing at recognizing root causes of violence?
How are we doing when divisions arise that are difficult to talk about? How are we tender with those we disagree with?
--Carolyn Schodt, PYM AIDS Working Group Clerk, 241-7238 3/18/99
PRESS RELEASE Contact: Peter Lems, Program Assistant for Iraq Phone (215) 241-7170 Fax (215) 241-7177
Philadelphia, PA, Dec. 16 -- AFSC views with utter dismay the newest US attack against the people of Iraq. We call on the Clinton administration to immediately cease all military action against Iraq.
On the eve of momentous religious holidays for all three Abrahamic faiths, the US has taken actions that could, by the Clinton Administration's own admission, result in the death of 10,000 Iraqi civilians, even in a 'medium case scenario.' (16 November, The Washington Post.) This is an enormous price to pay in civilian deaths, and will add to the hundreds of thousands of civilians who have already died as a result of sanctions. These figures need to be part of discussions among officials who make policy decisions about Iraq. These discussions have so far been conducted without due consideration of the humanitarian effects of sanctions and military actions.
Moreover, AFSC finds it morally reprehensible that the US is bombing a predominantly Muslim country on the eve of Ramadan, by far the most sacred time of year for Muslims. During Ramadan Muslims strive to perform extra acts of worship, and to be more generous, kind and patient, and to abstain from all acts that do not benefit humanity. Among these are using threatening language, acting in anger, oppressing the helpless, and killing, all of which are elements of the current US escalation and bombing campaign in Iraq. The Christian minority in Iraq is also preparing to celebrate Christmas, a religious holiday that also calls on people to act peaceably and generously towards their brothers and sisters. The Iraqis, too, are our brothers and sisters. Ramadan and Christmas are periods to cultivate peace, reconciliation, forbearance and forgiveness of one's opponents and enemies. The US government's acts, however, will only serve to foster anger and enmity in the region.
AFSC opposes the use of violence at all times, but resorting to violence in a special year when Christmas, Ramadan and the Jewish festival of Hanukkah all fall in the same month, will alienate many people in the Middle East and make our goal of lifting economic sanctions and establishing a comprehensive regional peace that much harder to achieve. As Hillary Clinton stated recently in Gaza, "Whether we celebrate Ramadan or Christmas or Hanukkah we share common values, common experiences and above all a common future."
We call on the United States government and the United Nations to respect the rights of all Iraqis to live and worship free from economic and military violence. Instead, all parties must work to build a common future based on respect and dignity for every individual.
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The American Friends Service Committee is a Quaker organization which includes people of various faiths who are committed to social justice, peace and humanitarian service. Its work is based on the belief in the worth of every person and faith in the power of love to overcome violence and injustice.
Read the prologue
to Robert Lawrence Smith's
A Quaker Book of Wisdom: Live Lessons in Simplicity, Service,
and Common Sense
Friends:
On Saturday, December 19th, at 4 PM, there will be a called meeting for worship at the 4th and Arch Street Meeting House in Philadelphia, in support of Randy Reeves who is scheduled to be executed on January 14th 1999, in Nebraska.
Randy is a Native American, raised as a Quaker, who while drunk and on drugs killed two women in a Friends Meeting House in 1980. While most appeals courts have ruled against his execution because the jury never found intent to kill, the Supreme Court, with Clarence Thomas writing the majority opinion, ruled this year that Randy's execution shall be carried out.
"Two Flowers in the Sanctuary" is a Friends Journal article describing how on the day after the killings the victim's family placed two flowers in the Friends Meeting House, one for their daughter and the other victim, and one for Randy Reeves. (The immediate families of both victims now are urging that this execution be stopped.) ...
Please join us at this called meeting where we will hear briefly from Kurt Rosenburg of AFSC upon his return from Nebraska and then worship for the remainder of the hour in remembrance of the victims and in an effort to stop this execution.
This meeting is sponsored by the American Friends Service Committee, the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting Concerns Group on Criminal Justice, the New Jersey Interfaith Committee to Abolish the Death Penalty, and the Friends Journal.
Please forward this message and share it with others. For information call Priscilla Adams at (609) 835 4285 or Jon Landau at (215) 925 0705.
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