The Department of P.E.A.C.E.
brings together activists, artists, leaders, and organizations
to create an irresistible force for social good.
P.E.A.C.E.
The Department of Peace is building a national INFORMATION center that presents issues and arguments in plain talk.
How do we BEST deal with:
• Gun control
• A woman’s rights
• Citizens United
• Voters Rights
• Income inequality
and a host of other issues
Info and mobilization are at the core of any solution. The DOP is the Information and Mobilization hub we need.
DOP presents strategies and best practices for achieving justice (justice defined as what’s fair to most people).
It is a Think Tank that offers an alternative to the many corporate think tanks whose primary objective is profits regardless of human or environmental costs.
It is a network and resource hub for activists and artists where they can connect to advance one another’s socially beneficial agendas. It IS a place where the SOCIAL inspires social justice.”
If YOU think we need it, JOIN US. Please help get word out. Thanks
1. POLITICS
Politics includes voter *motivation, education, registration and mobilization in order to develop a more informed and more involved electorate. As Thomas Jefferson said at our founding, a well-informed electorate is the only way a democracy can long endure.
Politics includes the criminal justice system. A motivated, involved and informed minority community will of necessity substantially decrease inequities in the US criminal justice system. A motivated educated and involved electorate will naturally produce more empathetic, socially conscious, quality candidates and decrease jaded machine candidates whose primary interests may not be the welfare of the people.
Amir Khan and Sally Bagshaw are the chief advisors for the Political arm of DOP.
*After years of disenfranchisement, the African American community must first be re-motivated to drink deeply from the well of political involvement. The DOP is uniquely qualified to provide that motivation.
2. ECONOMICS
Economics focus on "job-training", referral, job-readiness, and small business support. This is done in cooperation with politics, Too often activists try mitigating systemic problems at the level of the leaf or branch, leaving the root intact to produce more problems in the future. This strategy while sincere betrays one not fully appreciating how interconnected most issues are. To attack the economic crisis in America outside of a political context is naïve at best. Moreover, politics will be strengthened with a proper economic focus.
Dr. Meredith Rosenthal and Patty Lewis are DOP economic advisors.
3. ACADEMICS
There are few career criminals who earn $40,000 a year or more. There are few career criminals who have bachelor, master’s, or doctorate degrees, also. Like economics, education is a key to upward mobility and the self-esteem it engenders. The DOP cites education as its central objective. The DOP recognizes education as a life-long process. We start with the youth but our goal is to educate the entire community.
DOP also understands that the greatest education comes outside the classroom. The arts, social activities, mind-expanding games, and sports like chess and sculling; travel; foreign language, and many things enhance the classroom experience. Academics are at the center of politics, economics, culture, and the environment.
Dr. Cornel West and Dr. Keith Benson are advisors for education
4. CULTURE
Culture is everything – especially things intergenerational: food, clothes, hair, entertainment, art, religion language and more make up culture. The DOP appreciates that most cultures have good and less than good features. Therefore DOP simply highlights the best practices from all cultures and encourages culture borrowing for all. While Culture is the broadest and complex category of the 5 – a trusted place where best practices can be shared is invaluable. The DOP offers health ideas (with disclaimers) food discussions, art critics, religious dialog, fashion, and more. Not only is this great information, if one is to live their best life – it offers a light diversion from the other more serious subjects and allows people to just have a good time while visiting the Department of Peace.
Brian Turner (Small College, “Player of the Year”) and Tim Merrill head Culture.
5. ENVIRONMENT
The environment takes activists full-circle. No one individual can do much to stem the tide of doom that looms over the planet. However, through politics, we have the power to compel the government to act in the interests of the planet as opposed to big business. A unified electorate urban, suburban and rural can elect those who are independent, visionary, and caring enough to pass green legislation, and when necessary subsidize individual homes and small businesses in order to get the planet to acceptable levels as quickly as possible. There will be little need for economics, academics, and culture if our environment fails. Scientists are almost unanimous that climate change unchecked will result in incalculable disasters. Yet if we act, and act decisively we can make significant positive differences to save our planet.
These areas, Politics, Economics, Academics, Culture, and Environment working together are fingers on a hand closing together to make a greater impact on our world.