St. Louis resident Diamond Latchison joined the protests five days after Mike Brown’s death. “Once I started seeing firsthand what the people were doing and what the police were doing, I never left,” she says.

Sterling Duns is a West Philly based hip-hop artist and musician.  His passion for music stems from his desire to make sense of the events that make our lives unique and intertwined, all at once. He holds a BA in English from Dickinson College and an MA in Poetry from the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England. Sterling has worked with youth from all different backgrounds, at summer camps and in classrooms, for the last 10+ years. He truly believes that if we empower and inspire the youth of today, our future will be in great hands.

The human experience is a beautifully complex one. In our 21^st century lives, it seems that our online newspapers, twitter feeds, and emails are filled with stories of hate, injustice, oppression and violence. We often need to look a little deeper to find the stories of hope, faith, compassion, and love, and by the time we get to them, we are often too weighed down with challenging stories to recognize the uplifting ones. But we must be resilient. We must stay encouraged.

This is the final in a series about Quaker healing justice work, including Quaker activist J. Jondhi Harrell and AFSC’s Lewis Webb.  I interviewed Marshall “Eddie” Conway at his office at the Baltimore Real News station, where he works as a TV producer when he’s not organizing at AFSC’s Baltimore office. 

Note: Recently Lia Lindsey, Policy Impact Coordinator for AFSC, traveled to Geneva with a delegation to testify to the UN Committee against Torture about solitary confinement in the United States. She joined many others, including Mike Brown's parents, to bring the voices of those most impacted to the halls of the United Nations to consider actions to disrupt injustice, including solitary confinement, in the United States. - Lucy

Sahar Vardi is AFSC's Israel Program Director and has worked closely with youth who refuse to serve in Israel's military. Here, she explains the politics behind Israel's new "Draft-Dodgers Law."  Learn more about AFSC's Israel program here.