A few picks from AFSC staff this week:

“A year after Freddie Gray's death, a look at media's coverage of the Baltimore uprising,” by Kenrya Rankin, Colorlines

“As time went by my heart would ache for strange things: the feel of cool grass under my feet, the feel of rain on my face, the smell of my son’s toes… If you were suddenly ripped from your life and put in a concrete box, what would you mourn? What would you ache for?” – Sara (Mariposa) Fonseca and Julia Steele Allen, from “Mariposa and the Saint.”

Rabbi Brant Rosen recounts an experience of co-leading an interfaith Passover and Good Friday service with his friend Bob Thompson. They both reject the concept of redemptive violence and focus instead on healing and hope. - Lucy

Aid organizations must speak out about the political roots of this humanitarian crisis or risk supporting the status quo. 

How would your life be affected if you didn’t have electricity for at least 16 hours each day? That’s the situation in Gaza where power is available for no more than eight hours per day, and residents live with rolling power cuts occurring on a constantly changing schedule.

Nearly a year after protests shut down the city, we're starting to see signs of positive change.

What a difference a year makes. Three-hundred sixty-five days after the arrest and death of Freddie Carlos Gray, we are now remembering, reflecting, still asking, “Has anything changed?” 

Arnie Alpert served as AFSC’s New Hampshire co-director, where he first joined AFSC in 1981. He retired from AFSC in June 2020. Arnie is a leader in movements for economic justice and affordable housing, civil and worker rights, peace and disarmament, abolition of the death penalty, and an end to racism and homophobia. 

Our campaign reminded presidential candidates that the interests of the people, not corporations, must come first. 

Twenty days after the New Hampshire Primary, The New York Times editorialized in favor of a “better, not bigger military budget.” The Times editors explicitly called on the next president to “scale back the planned $1 trillion, 30-year modernization of a nuclear arsenal,” and referred to Hilla

Millions of immigrants in the U.S. will be affected by the court's decision. Here are two of them. 

By Kimberly Krone and Lisa Vives

Mariam’s story

Seventeen-year-old "Mariam" is a young girl with big dreams. If all goes right, she'll be a lawyer or work in business.

But unlike other girls her age, her future will be decided not by her grades or her family income but by the justices of the Supreme Court.