I was not looking forward to celebrating World Refugee Day this year. After all, it’s been a devastating year for refugees. Currently, 65 million people around the world are displaced by global conflicts (more than have ever existed in human history); nearly 100,000 of them are unaccompanied children who have made treacherous journeys alone.  

From prisoners at Guantanamo Bay to survivors of Chicago police torture, sharing our stories can create new narratives around war and violence.

“Where were you on March 20, 2003?,” Aaron Hughes, an Iraq War vet and artist, asks our group. We’re sitting on the floor around a Persian rug while Aaron brews a large pot of fragrant Alwazah tea with cardamom.

Kay Whitlock is a writer and activist who has been involved with racial, gender, queer, and economic justice movements since 1968. Her most recent book, written with Michael Bronski, is "Considering Hate: Violence, Goodness, and Justice in American Culture and Politics." 

She authored "Bridges of Respect (1988)," the first national guide for adults working with LGBT youth, and 2001's "In the Time of Broken Bones: A Call for National Dialogue on Hate Violence and the Limitations of Hate Crimes Legislation" for AFSC.

It’s the wrong question based on a wrong set of assumptions, and it’s already leading to the wrong responses, responses sure to keep the violence flowing: anti-queer violence, anti-Muslim violence, racist violence. And it’s sucking up all the air in the ether right now.

The news about the shooting was the first thing I saw when I woke up on Sunday. Someone who is very close to me—someone I actually call my son—had posted about it on Facebook, and I couldn’t believe what was going on.

I’m a native Floridian and lived in Orlando for 10 years, when I was still struggling to accept myself as a gay man. People I know were at Pulse that night. Some of my friends were held hostage. They had to climb through the air conditioning system to get out.

Keith Harris is a staff member at AFSC Atlanta's office, providing administrative support to the South region. 

The horrific violence of the Orlando mass shooting has appalled and saddened people of good will throughout the United States and the world. The American Friends Service Committee’s South Region stands in solidarity with all who mourn this tragic event. Like everyone else touched by this, we send our thoughts and prayers on behalf of the dead, the wounded, the fearful, and the grieving.

In 2013, AFSC developed an alternative Quaker vision for U.S. foreign policy called ”shared security” with sister organization, Friends Committee on National Legislation. Since then, key peace-building partners around the globe have adopted and promoted this concept to address conflict in a world more interdependent than ever.

Immediately after the Orlando shooting at the Pulse night club that killed 50, Rev. William Barber, II posted this powerful statement on his personal Facebook page. I asked if AFSC could publish it, and he generously said, "Yes." - Lucy

Hate harbors deceit in his heart.

The Old Testament teaches: "Whoever hates disguises himself with his lips and harbors deceit in his heart." (Proverbs 26:24, ESV)

Hate your brother, walk in darkness.