– Oxford Citizens for Peace & Justice

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Our mission is to educate and act locally to recruit and organize a citizens’ movement with the sustained political power to construct a world of peace with social, economic, and environmental justice. Our geographic home is Oxford, Ohio (the home of Miami University).

Our office and resource center is located at 16 S. Campus Avenue, Oxford, OH 45056 (upstairs in the front of the Interfaith Center). You can contact our facilitator, Ann Fuehrer, at facilitator@ocpjohio.org, for information.

Memberships and donations are the main source of support for the Peace and Justice Resource Center and for many OCPJ activities. Your financial support and participation are critical to OCPJ’s efforts to further peace and justice through education and action. Please consider joining or making a donation to OCPJ and/or the Bloom Peace Education Fund. Renew or join now, and participate–because… well, quite simply, we need you.

RECENT PROJECTS:

*August 2, 2024

Letter-to-the-Editor for the Oxford Free Press

“Oxford Citizens for Peace and Justice reading challenged books at Books on the Bricks”

Submitted by Barbara Ann Caruso, Board President, and Ann Fuehrer, Facilitator, Oxford Citizens for Peace and Justic

For the second year, members of Oxford Citizens for Peace and Justice (OCPJ) will be part of the August 2^nd Red Brick Friday Books on the Bricks. OCPJ’s focus at the event will be on exhibiting and reading aloud books that have been banned or challenged somewhere in the United States. In 2023, the American Library Association (ALA) documented the highest number of titles targeted for censorship since ALA began compiling data more than 20 years ago. 4,240 unique titles were challenged last year, up from 2,571 targeted in 2022. Common reasons given for challenging the availability of children’s, teen and adult books are LGBTQIA+ themes, being sexually explicit, or advocating for racial justice. Some of the challenged books are authored by Nobel, National Book Award, and Pulitzer Prize winners.

In a June 13, 2024 Oxford Free Press story, Taylor Stumbaugh identified the important efforts of Oxford Area PFLAG, the Talawanda School District, and Oxford Lane Library to maintain titles locally from a wide variety of authors and perspectives. We support the choices being made by local decision-makers. These efforts are increasingly necessary, because of bills making their way through the Ohio state legislature: House Bills 556 and 662, both of which are opposed by the Ohio Federation of Teachers. These bills would limit the decision-making power of teachers and librarians, and prohibit display and discussion of materials deemed obscene or harmful to juveniles. Stumbaugh quoted local resident Megan Kuykendoll, who is a professor, parent, and PFLAG officer. Kuykendoll, according to Stumbaugh, doesn’t want her kids to live in a community where public libraries’ shelves are devoid of queer identities and LGBTQ representation. ALA statistics show that the #1 challenged book in 2023 was Gender Queer, by Maia Kobabe. It has been challenged because of LGBTQIA+ content, and it has been deemed to be sexually explicit.

Come join us uptown on August 2^nd at 6:00 pm to see which of your childhood favorites have been challenged or banned, consider yourself lucky to have had access to them growing up, and join activism to keep them available now! For more information about OCPJ, visit our website at ocpjohio.org, or email facilitator@ocpjohio.org.

*FREEDOM TO LEARN AND READ!

BOOKS SHOULD BE READ, NOT BANNED!

August 2024 Oxford Citizens for Peace and Justice facilitator@ocpjohio.org

If you want to check out examples of children’s picture and chapter books, identified as challenged, for a variety of reasons, by the American Library Association, or by Hannah Natanson in an article in the July 12, 2023 issue of The Washington Post, check out these. They are all available in the Lane Library system:

Allan, Nicholas Where Willy Went biology of sex

Brannen, Sarah S. Uncle Bobby’s Wedding LGBTQIA+ content

Browne, Mahogany L. Woke: A young poet’s call to justice anti-racism

Curtis, Christopher Paul The Watsons go to Birmingham—1963. Black history

Gale, Heather. Ho’onani: Hula Warrior. Challenge traditional gender roles

George, Jean Craighead Julie of the Wolves. Socialist, communist, evolutionary, anti-family

Hanford, Martin Where’s Waldo? Topless female

Harris, Robie. It’s perfectly normal: Changing bodies, growing up, sex, and sexual health biology of sex

Harris, Robie It’s so amazing!: A book about eggs, sperm, birth, babies and families biology of sex

Kellogg, Steven. Pinkerton, Behave! Violent image

Kendi, Ibram X Antiracist Baby. Anti-racism

L’Engle, Madeleine A wrinkle in time. Nature of presentation of religious content

Love, Jessica. Julian is a mermaid. Challenge traditional gender roles

Lowry, Lois. The Giver. Adult content

Lukoff, Kyle. When Aidan became a brother. LGBTQIA+ content

Merriam, Eve. Halloween ABC. Demonic content, promotion of violence

Neal, DeShanna. My rainbow. LGBTQIA+ content

Newman, Leslea. Heather has two mommies. LGBTQIA+ content

Parr, Todd. The Family Book. LGBTQIA+ content

Paterson, Katherine. The Great Gilly Hopkins. Profane language

Polacco, Patricia. In our mothers’ house. LGBTQIA+ content

Richardson, Justin. And tango makes three. LGBTQIA+ content

Rodgers, Mary. Freaky Friday. Advocacy of violence

Sendak, Maurice. In the night kitchen. Portrayal of child nudity

Silverstein, Shel. A light in the attic. Advocacy of violence

Smith, Jeff. Bone adventures. Violence, racism, political viewpoint

Thorn, Theresa. It feels good to be yourself. Challenge traditional gender roles

*ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE

Spring 2024 ILR. “Climate crises and environmental justice: Who is left out in the cold?”

The theme for this year’s Altman lecture series at Miami is “Environmental Justice.” The title of the March 19 lecture is provocative: Julie Sze, of the University of California, Davis, “Climate Justice as Freedom.” In this ILR class, Ann Fuehrer, Facilitator, Oxford Citizens for Peace and Justice, invites students and guest speakers to discuss: What is environmental justice? How is environmental justice threatened by climate crises? What are threats to environmental justice in Oxford–how are climate changes related to homelessness? Does Oxford’s Climate Action Plan address justice? Is EarthFest about justice? In Sze’s lecture title, freedom from/to what?

April 3: Course overview, frameworks of Intersectional Environmentalism and Environmental Justice, Under Western Eyes.

Ann Fuehrer & Barbara Ann Caruso

April 10: Environmental justice and sustainable development

Naaborle Sackeyfio

April 17: City of Oxford Climate Action Plan

David Prytherch

April 24: Local, individual and group activism

Peggy Branstrator & Carla Blackmar Rice

May 1: Reflections on the course and EarthFest—where now?

Ann Fuehrer & Barbara Ann Caruso

Resources:

Before April 10: The Intersectional History of Environmentalism, Video, with Leah Thomas

Before April 17: Towards a Sustainable, Resilient Future: A Climate Action Plan for Oxford, Ohio

“Environmental Justice”, the 2023-2024 John W. Altman Program in the Humanitie

April 18 lecture: “Black Ecofeminism and Abolitionist Ecology”, Jennifer James, Assoc Prof of English, George Washington University, 5:00 pm in Shriver Center Heritage Room
April 19 lecture: “Everything is going to have to be put back”: Responsibility and repair in the Anthropocene, Michelle Neely, Assoc. Prof of English, Connecticut College, 1:00 pm in Shriver Center Heritage Room

April 20 festival: Earth Fest, Uptown Park, 11 am-2 pm

*FREEDOM TO LEARN AND READ!

BOOKS SHOULD BE READ, NOT BANNED!