Brooklyn For PeacepresentsThursday, December 8, 20227:00 pm - 8:00 PMVirtual Gala
Illustration by Sarah SillsProgram by Veronica Nunn1
Brooklyn For PeaceWe are excited to be hosting our ninth annual gala, this year on Zoom!While we wish we could be together in person, we are grateful to everyone for supporting this year’s event. We look forward to hosting our gala in-person next year!Welcome to the 2022 PathMakers to Peace Virtual GalaCharlotte Phillips, M.D.Chairperson, Brooklyn For PeaceMichaela Czerkies, Executive Director, Brooklyn For PeaceIn solidarity,We are excited to be hosting our ninth annual gala this year on Zoom! Since 2013, Brooklyn For Peace has held this event to honor organizations and indi-viduals who have played a leadership role in working to nd nonviolent reso-lutions to conict. The name of our award, PathMakers to Peace, emphasizes that there are many roads to reaching the goal of a peaceful and just world.This year, we are proud to honor Dr. Debbie Almonstaser, Phyllis Bennis, Rev. Dr. Herbert Daughtry, Bev Grant and the Brooklyn Movement Center. Each of our PathMakers honorees has made outstanding contribu-tions to peace and sicialjustice through active education, advocacy, community organizing, and/or music and arts. You can learn more about each of our honorees on the following pages.Brooklyn For Peace has been working in Brooklyn since 1984. We are primarily an educational organization, with activism as an integral part of our mission. We are dedicated to connecting global and local issues. Over the years the specic issues have changed, but urgent challenges remain: to end US militarism; to promote social justice at home and abroad; to tackle the climate emergency; to address the continuing impact of white supremacy and the profound racial inequalities that still characterize our country. As we continue our campaign to sustain the future of Brooklyn For Peace, we are grateful for your ongoing support and commitment. We greatly appreciate your participation and many contributions to Brooklyn For Peace over the years. Thank you for being here tonight with us!2
PathMakers to Peace 2022 Program6:45 PM - 7:00 PMPre-eventMusic videos of Bev Grant and the Brooklyn Women’s Chorus7:00 PM - 7:07 PMIntroductionAbout Us - Michaela Czerkies7:07 PM - 7:55 PMPresentation of the AwardsPresenters: Thomas CoxCarolyn “Rusti” EisenbergAnn Fawcett AmbiaEd GoldmanDr. Charlotte PhillipsRemarks by honoreesDr. Debbie Almontaser Phyllis BennisRev. Dr. Herbert Daughtry Bev Grant (& Special Performance)Michael Higgins (on behalf of Brooklyn Movement Center)7:55 PM - 8:00 PMClosingEmceeVeronica Nunn3
A veteran of New York City’s public school system, she taught special edu-cation, trained teachers in literacy, and served as a multicultural specialist and diversity advisor. She co-designed a curriculum for the Muslim Communities Project at Columbia University and for Educators for Social Responsibility/Metro. www.debbiealmontaser.comDr. Debbie Almontaser is an inter-nationally recognized, award-winning educator, speaker and authority on cross cultural understanding. She is an inuential community leader and the Founder and CEO of Bridging Cultures Group, Inc. She was the founding and former principal of the Khalil Gibran Acade-my in Brooklyn, NY.Dr. Debbie AlmontaserFellow Phyllis Bennis directs the New Internationalism Project at IPS, focusing on Middle East, U.S. wars and UN issues. She is also a fellow of the Transnational Institute in Amster-dam. In 2001 she helped found the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights, and now serves on the national board of Jewish Voice for Peace.She works with many anti-war and writing and speaking widely across the U.S. and around the world. She has served as an informal adviser to several top UN ofcials on Middle East issues and was twice short-listed to become the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.Phyllis has written and edited eleven books. Among her latest is the just-published 7th updated edition of her popular Under-standing the Palestinian-Israeli Conict. She has also written Before & After: US Foreign Policy and the War on Terror and Challenging Empire: How People, Governments and the UN Defy U.S. Power. www.ips-dc.orgPhyllis Bennis4
as well as Founder and President of the African People’s Christian Organiza-tion. He was among the leaders of the anti-nuclear march and rally that drew over one million demonstrators to Central Park on June 12, 1982. Active in the peace movement since the 1960s (Vietnam) to the war in Ukraine calling for a cease-re, negotiations, and settlement, mutually benecial. www.hdgministries.org.The National Presiding Minister Emeritus of The House of the Lord Churches, served from 1959-2019. He hails from a family that has produced ve generations of Black church leaders. Currently the Founder and Chairman of Herbert Daughtry Global Ministries, he has previously served as Chairman of the National Black United Front Rev. Dr. Herbert DaughtryBev Grant is a veteran social activist, feminist, labor singer/songwriter, and “cultural worker” from Park Slope, Brooklyn, where she has lived for over 40 years.Winner of the 2017 ASCAP Jay Gorney songwriter award and the 2017 Joe Hill Award, Bev Grant grew up singing and playing in Port-land, Oregan, where she began herBev Grantperforming career as a child in a band with her two sisters. After moving to New York City, she devoted herself to topical songwriting and social activism, notably in her band The Human Condition. Bev is featured on the Gram-my-nominated Best of Broadside album, and she founded the Brooklyn Wom-en’s Chorus in 1997. We congratulate Bev on her decades of leadership of the Brooklyn Women’s Chorus as she retires as its founding director, and celebrate the chorus continuing under new leadership.Bev has used her music as an organizing tool in both community and union organizing, often writing songs for specic issues or campaigns and facilitating the creation and use of music by oth-ers. www. bevgrant.com5
Through our intersectional organizing, BMC centers a full range of issues and Black identity that dene a whole community. Read more about Brooklyn Movement Center. www.brooklynmovementcenter.orgBrooklyn Movement Center (BMC) is a Black-led, member-ship-based organization of primarily low-to-moderate income Central Brooklyn residents.Brooklyn Movement CenterThank you for your ongoing support! We build power and pursue self-de-termination in Bedford-Stuyvesant & Crown Heights by nurturing local leadership, waging campaigns and winning concrete improvements in people’s lives.6
Brooklyn For PeaceBrooklyn For Peace is committed to eliminating war and the so-cial injustices that are its causes. We seek to empower our community and ourselves to be an active force in securing a peaceful future for generations to come. We assert that negotiation and diplomacy lead to better outcomes in the resolution of conict than military action. We advocate for U.S. policies based on peace, justice, democracy, human rights and respect for international law.We work to: • transfer resources from military to human needs, leading toeconomic and social justice within and among nations.• eliminate nuclear, biological, chemical, and conventional weap-ons by all entities in an internationally coordinated process.• resolve international conicts peacefully via the UniteNationsand the promotion of internationally accepted rules of law.A demonstration in the late 1980s opposing the establishment of a nuclear homeport in Staten Island.Our Mission7
8
9
10
11
Brooklyn For Peacefounded in 1984Brooklyn For Peace was founded in 1984 by nursery-school parents who were spurred into action by the U.S. invasion of Grenada. We soon joined other groups in a coalition which succeeded in deterring the Navy from opening a nuclear-capable homeport on Staten Island, and opposing U.S. intervention in Central America. We mobilized local opposition to the 1991 Gulf War, while ghting to preserve welfare, Medicaid, and public edu-cation in NYC. In the wake of September 11, 2001, we organized Brooklyn communities to oppose a U.S. military response, advocating for the protection of our civil liberties and against the detention of immigrants arrested without charges. We initiated a campaign aimed at high school youth to counteract the misleading claims of military recruiters, offering concrete advice on getting an education and career training. We regularly hold forums, providing historical and political analysis on a wide variety of topics. And we’re on street corners and fairs too. Have you noticed those posters in neighborhood store windows declaring that “Refugees and Immigrants Are Welcome Here?” That’s the work of Brooklyn For Peace volunteers. We all have obligations to family, friends, schools and jobs, but through Brooklyn For Peace we are nding ways to work for peace with justice to whatever extent we are able. Please join us.Visit our new website to nd out more about our organization at www.brooklynpeace.org.Our History12
BFP BoardChair:Charlotte Phillips, M.D. Co-Vice Chairs:Bruce AltschulerCarolyn “Rusti” EisenbergVeronica NunnSecretary:Melissa CorbettTreasurer:Sam KoprakMembers at large: Milton AllamadiAnn Fawcett AmbiaCharlene BarkerBetta BroadThomas CoxMohammed Nurhussein, M.D.Eleanor PreissMichelle SmithspiritchildExecutive DirectorMichaela CzerkiesBFP Advisory BoardTed AuerbachMukti BanerjeeLeah Gunn BarrettRowena Blackman-Stroud (In memoriam)J. Tara CurrieKen DiamondstoneSasha Dobos-CzarnochaHenry FlorsheimJaki FlorsheimEd GoldmanMel GrizerCarolyn HughesCarol Husten (In memoriam)Lucy KoteenVicki McFadyenEllen MeyersMary NolanNancy RomerMajor Owens, (Ret.) Congressmember(In memoriam)Eric ShtobDavid Tykulsker Matthew WeinsteinCheryl WertzBarbara Winslow13
Plus....Mukti BanerjeeCharlene BarkerMelissa CorbettFran MinichielloVeronica NunnCharlotte PhillipsMichelle F. SmithFundraising CommitteeThank you to our Fundraising Committee for planning and executing PathMakers to Peace!Milton AllimadiBruce AltschulerAnn Fawcett AmbiaThomas CoxCarolyn “Rusti” EisenbergHenry and Jaki FlorsheimEd GoldmanGreg KalvinSam KoprakMolly NolanEleanor PreissMatthew WeinsteinEven though these people are not on the fundraising committee, a special thank you to the following for their extra efforts to make this event a success!And a huge thanks to graphic artist Cristina Rodero for creating some of the beautiful ads for this year’s program.14
2022 SponsorshipGlenda GarrickMolly NolanCharlotte PhillipsEleanor PreissBarbara WinslowTrailblazers- $500 or morePeacemakers - $250 or moreFriends - $25 or moreSupporters - $100- or moreJohn MiksadPeace Action of Staten IslandVandra ThorburnThank you to our sponsors for their contributions!Alan EssnerHenry & Jaki FlorsheimGregory LargeLen Polletta & Karen GisonnySarah Sills & David BraginVeterans for Peace /NYC Chapter 34Ted AuerbachMartha Cameron & Gary GoffPatricia Conway & James O’CallahanTom Gogan & Gloria BrandmanLong Island Alliance for Peaceful AlternativesBob & Bonnie NelsonVeronica NunnEric Shtob & Sonia CollinsMaren StangeBernard Tuchman & Judith Ward15
350BrooklynAllan Eisenberg, PhDArab American Assocation of New YorkBelli OsteriaBlack Star NewsBlack Veterans for Social JusticeBFP Arts and Culture CollectiveBFP Darfur/Africa Task ForceBFP Diversity Outreach Task ForceBFP Israel-Palestine CommitteeBFP Peace & Economic Justice Committee BFP UNICEF CommitteeBrooklyn Arts Exchange (BAX)Brooklyn Society For Ethical CultureBrooklyn Solar WorksBrooklyn Women’s ChorusCambridge Dental PCCamp Kinderland, Inc.Carolyn EisenbergCBID: Central Brooklyn Independent DemocratsCenter for Constitutional RightsCharlotte Phillips & Oliver FeinChris OwensClark, Yvette D. (Congresswoman)Cypress Hills Local DevelopmentDead Horse RecordsDomestic Workers UnitedEleanor Preiss & Mitch CohnEllen CassedyFat Tail Financial Advisory GroupFlatbush Food CooperativeFood Universe Market PlaceFoodtown Prospect HeightsFriends of Assemblymember Robert CarrollGerstein’s Brooklyn Tax ServicesGo Greene HardwareGranny Peace BrigadeAdvertisersGreenpoint FramesHoffman-Grizer FamilyHolyland Auto RepairHungry Ghost CafeLong Island Alliance for Peaceful AlternativesMake the Road New YorkMove the Money --NYC (MTM-NYC)Muslim Community NetworkNational Lawyers GuildNew Yorkers for Clean PowerNYC War Resisters League Peace Action Bay RidgePeace Action Fund New York StatePeople’s WorldPerelandra Natural Foods CenterPhillips-Fein FamilyPhysicians for a National Health Program/ NY MetroRahmann ContractingRalph’s BodegaRobin S. Cohen & Roque RistorucciRothberg Law FirmSavemor Digital PrintingShahana Hanif (Council Member)Solidarity MoversStacey and Matthew WeinsteinSuperne RestaurantUnited African CongressUnited Community Centers- East New York (UCC-ENY)Velazquez, Nydia (Congresswoman)Veris Wealth PartnersVokashi: Eco-Living Compost ServiceWorld Can’t WaitWorld Fellowship Center16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
2022Thank You!