Posted by Robert Weir, District Leader
Department of Peace District Leader in Michigan’s 6th Congressional District

The Kalamazoo City Commission, Monday night, unanimously adopted a resolution to support the Department of Peace and Nonviolence legislation. The Commissioners had previously decided to place the resolution on the "Consent" part of their agenda along with five other items. Therefore, the resolution passed without discussion among the Commissioners.

At the end of the meeting, Commissioner Don Cooney expressed his pleasure that the Commission had adopted the resolution.

I spoke during the "Citizen Comment" section of the meeting and thanked the Commissioners for their decision. A copy of my remarks appears below.

Thank you to the five DoP members who attended the meeting tonight and the approximately ten who attended two weeks ago. Thank you to all who were there in spirit and who offered support and prayers in other ways.

Thank you to the DoP members who each telephoned one City Commissioner last week to ask if they had any questions or concerns about the DoP campaign or legislation: Lea Kunze, Joe and Linda Mills, David Macleod, Marianne Orr, Karen Chadwick, Marilyn Eccles, Deb Killarney and Harold Ballen.

Adoption of this resolution is a significant accomplishment for our DoP campaign because the wording of the resolution requires the City to send a copy of the resolution to 6th District Congressman Fred Upton and U.S. Senators Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow. Adoption of the resolution tells our representatives in Washington, D.C., that the largest city in Southwest Michigan and a major city within the entire state wants a Department of Peace.

Now, if you, in your community, wants to take the lead and ask your city commission, county commission, township board, tribal council, school or university, fraternal or civic organization, political party group, or any other organization to adopt a similar resolution, I will be glad to coach you and to offer advice about how to submit a resolution to those entities.

The more we make a statement about the Department of Peace and Nonviolence to our representatives in Washington, the more likely they will begin to listen to this voice of peace from their constituents -- both individual citizens and communities.

Here are the comments I spoke at tonight's meeting.

October 15, 2007

Mayor McKinney, Vice Mayor Hopewell, Kalamazoo City Commissioners,

Thank you very much for your decision to adopt the resolution before you that expresses your support for the Department of Peace and Nonviolence legislation that is currently before the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington, D.C.

Through your decision, you are exercising your Constitutional right and expressing your governmental voice as a constituent community to legislators at the federal level who are making decisions that impact our Kalamazoo economy and the quality of life for people in our community.

You are stating, in effect, that you want our federal government to do more to establish the paradigm of peace through understanding within our nation and our world, which also includes our communities where individual citizens live.

Again I thank you for your decision. We, as citizens of this country, must address our representatives in Washington. We must ask them to legislate policy that moves our priorities away from war and violence and death and toward peace and prosperity.

A brochure from the American Friends Service Committee, the Quakers, that I acquired recently states that one day of the Iraq War – just one day – costs $720 million. The brochure asks, How would you spend that much money?

Then it offers suggestions. For the cost of just one day of war in Iraq, the United States could:

• Build 84 new elementary schools.
• Hire 12,500 elementary school teachers.
• Place 95,000 children in a school Head Start program.
• Provide free school lunches for over 1,000,000 children.
• Construct 6,500 homes for families.
• Equip 1,250,000 homes with renewable electricity.
• Pay for the healthcare of over 163,000 people.
• Provide healthcare for 423,000 children.
• Grant four-year scholarships to 35,000 college students.
• And, I might add, probably a multitude of recreation, youth employment and bus improvement programs like those discussed by others at this meeting tonight.

And the cost of violence within our nation is even higher. While the War in Iraq has cost $460 billion in 5.5 years, the World Health Organization has determined that the cost of violence within our country far exceeds that at a rate of $300 billion per year. That’s $300 billion with a “ b ”—per year.

Plus, of course, there is the cost of human life and grief and suffering, which cannot be measured in dollars.

Here in Kalamazoo, ten young people have died due to street violence in 2007. According to yesterday’s Kalamazoo Gazette, that’s the highest city violence toll in 13 years.

It is clear that we, as a nation, must transform from violence to peace through understanding. We must learn to talk with each other rather than shooting, knifing or beating each other.

It is about these issues that you, through your adoption of the Department of Peace and Nonviolence resolution, have spoken out to Washington. You have said, “ Please change your thinking. Please alter our national priorities. Please vote to make this Department of Peace and Nonviolence concept a reality. Please do what you can to reduce the tragedy and the cost of violence internationally and within our community. ”

As you know, the resolution that you adopted tonight includes two “ THEREFORE ” clauses that indicate your intention to send a copy of this resolution to our 6th District Congressman Fred Upton and to U.S. Senators Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow. I will be glad to assist your City Clerk, Scott Borling, in any way he might wish in order to facilitate that process.

I want to publicly thank Scott and his staff for explaining to me the process through which our Department of Peace campaign submitted the proposal you adopted.

And, once again, I want to thank you for adopting this resolution.

Our Department of Peace and Nonviolence campaign in Southwest Michigan now has over 550 members. More than half of these people live in the greater Kalamazoo area.

On behalf of all of them, we thank you. We thank you. We thank each and everyone of you.

Good night.

The City of Kalamazoo is the 27th governmental unit in the United States to adopt a Department of Peace and Nonviolence resolution. Five of these are in Michigan: Hamtramck (the first city in the nation), Detroit, Lansing, and the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians. Resolutions are currently being considered by Grand Rapids and Manistee County.