KEEP HOPE ALIVE: Mother’s Day

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demilitarization, hope, Keep Hope Alive, love, Mother's Day, peace, rev. jesse jackson, Santita Jackson

Happy Mother’s Day everyone. It is a joy to be on “Keep Hope Alive” radio show with Rev. Jesse Jackson and Santita Jackson. We are discussing the origins of Mother’s Day and what Mother’s are doing around the world.

On the KEEP HOPE ALIVE with REV. JESSE JACKSON NOW
Join us until 9amC
Happy “MOTHER’S DAY FOR PEACE!”

We invite you to the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition International Conference—July 12-15, 2017—in Chicago…

Please go to RainbowPUSH.org and KeepHopeAliveRadio.com, and call 773.256.2700 throughout the week for further information…

Today we are in a time of tremendous change and tumult…What should MOTHER’S DAY mean to us in this extraordinary moment?

Let’s go back to the beginning…

In 1858, ANN JARVIS created a day for Mothers to work for better cleanliness and health because so many children in her community were dying of diseases like measles, smallpox, whooping cough, Tuberculosis and the like…

Inspired by ANN JARVIS, JULIA WARD HOWE—Abolitionist, Suffragist, Poet and Human Rights Activist, wrote the lyrics to the BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC—

And at the end of the Civil War, Howe called for an end to all war and pushed for equality for all people regardless of race, color, creed, nationality or religion—writing the MOTHER’S DAY PROCLAMATION in a call for Mothers to leave their homes for one day a year to work for peace in their communities. This was to be: MOTHER’S DAY FOR PEACE. She wrote:

“Arise, all women who have hearts, whether your baptism be that of water or of tears! Say firmly: ‘We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies, our Husbands shall not come to us reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause’…

“From the bosom of the devastated Earth a voice goes up with our own. It says, ‘Disarm, disarm! The sword is not the balance of justice.’ Blood does not wipe out dishonor nor violence indicate possession…

“In the name of womanhood and of humanity, I earnestly ask that a general congress of women without limit of nationality may be appointed and held at some place deemed most convenient and at the earliest period consistent with its objects, to promote the alliance of the different nationalities, the amicable settlement of international questions, the great and general interests of peace.”

What are our wars costing us?
● Iraq and Afghanistan: $7.9 billion since 2001
● Every hour, American taxpayers pay $8.36 million on wars
● Four-year University scholarships for 15.9 million students
● Healthcare for 222.93 million low-income children and 148 million adults
● 6.5 million elementary school teachers
● 9.5 million infrastructure jobs

And on this MOTHER’S DAY, as women are marching by millions, what do women need in addition to flowers?
● Equal pay
○ White women make 82 cents for every dollar a White man makes…
■ Black women make 65 cents
■ Hispanic women make 58 cents
■ Asian women make 87 cents
○ AA and Hispanic women are 2.5 times more likely to have zero, if not negative, net worth
● And while American women control more than half of America’s wealth, these same women don’t HAVE that wealth
Let’s talk…
Joining on our panel are:
● MEDEA BENJAMIN:CODEPINK;
● MELISSA MAYS: Wife, Mother and Activist in the #FlintWaterCrisis;
● ATTY. BARBARA ARNWINE: Mother and Leading Civil Rights Lawyer;
● ATTY. TERRY O’NEILL: Mother and President, NOW;
● REV. ATTY. JANETTE WILSON;
● BETTY MAGNESS: Mother Rainbow/PUSH and Independent Voters of Illinois;
● REV. DR. GRACE JI-SUN KIM: Author and Theologian;
● REV. FRANK WATKINS: Author, Founder Operation PUSH and RAINBOW PUSH COALITION; and,
● TREVOR GERVAIS: COMMON CAUSE.