A year ago last week was not the only time there was a plot to take over the Capitol. A somewhat similar scheme was aimed at Franklin Roosevelt, to keep him from acting as president. It was stopped by, of all people, a retired general of Quaker heritage. There are many eerie and unsettling echoes … Continue reading A Prequel to 1/6/2021: Was This When a Fighting Quaker Saved FDR and America??
Since January 6, 2021, many American Quakers (& others) have waited anxiously to see whether a new civil war is soon to break out. As the first anniversary of the attempted coup approaches, the question of what Quakers can or should do in response to such a calamity lingers, as well it should. I don’t … Continue reading Quakers: From Peace to Civil War (Again?)
A few days ago, a post on a Quaker Facebook group asked what the Quaker position was on dealing with insurrection. An excellent and, er, disturbingly timely question. To which, of course, there is not a single Quaker answer. To my mind, the best way to approach it is to look at live examples in … Continue reading Insurrection, Civil War & Quaker Dilemmas
Philadelphia civil rights attorney Mark Schwartz has issued an open letter to the federal attorney for Washington DC, in the matter of potential charges in the wake of the U.S. Capitol invasion of January 6. The letter is below, as I believe his recommendations are timely and should be part of the discussion of legal … Continue reading Should Felony Murder charges be lodged against the January 6 Instigators?
Mark Schwartz is a civil rights attorney and a friend of this blog. He was the attorney for two women teachers at Friends Central School, who were fired in 2017 after inviting a Palestinian-Quaker pacifist professor from Swarthmore College to speak at the school — a case reported on in depth here. Now Schwartz has … Continue reading Guest Post: A Call for “Felony Murder” Charges for Capitol Invasion Deaths