Category: Community Building

Where in Oxford is OCPJ this summer?

Post author By ocpjohio
Post date May 19, 2024

In a college town, it is tempting to think that everyone goes on vacation from the end of May to the beginning of September. War, voter suppression, lack of affordable housing, food insecurity, budget crises, transphobia, and White nationalism never take a break. So neither do we. OCPJ is skipping our Board meeting in June, but we will continue to participate in local community events, and partner with other groups in actions for justice. Here is where you’ll find us…

June 6, 7:00 pm, 118 W. High St, Meeting of the Police Community Relations and Review Commission, standing alongside the Oxford Branch of the NAACP. We will hear and comment on recommendations to City Council, following up on external review of OPD response to a November 18, 2023 Brick Street incident. We imagine a community conversation in the fall to address continuing concerns about use of force.

First and Third Tuesdays of the month at 7:30 pm, 118 W. High St., to give input to Oxford City Council on a proposed levy to increase property taxes for Oxford residents to erase the growing deficit in funding of City EMS/Fire services.

June 20, 6:30 pm, Uptown Park for Enjoy Oxford!’s first Pride Picnic. The evening’s performance is by Miami University Steel Band. We will be sharing a table with Welcoming and Affirming faith communities, and will have buttons, stickers, information about oppressive bills currently being considered in the Ohio State Legislature, and small rainbow fruit skewers, since it’s a picnic!

June 24, 5:00-7:00 pm, 104 E. Church St., monthly meeting of Oxford Area Solutions for Housing (OASH), community-based planning to prevent homelessness and fill resource gaps for those who are unhoused in the Oxford area.

July 9, we will support Oxford Area Solutions for Housing (OASH) in their presentation at the weekly luncheon of the Kiwanis Club of Oxford, Ohio.

August 2, 6:00-10:00 pm, Red Brick Friday “Books on the Bricks”. We will display and read children’s picture books that have been challenged and banned around the country. Frequently, these books focus on experiences of BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ characters.

Everyday action–so many possibilities–just to name a few–volunteering at the Talawanda Oxford Pantry and Social Services (TOPSS) or Thread Up Oxford; tending the pollinator garden at the Oxford Community Park; or writing postcards with members of Defending Democracy, a bipartisan sub-group of the Butler County Progressive PAC.

Bread not Bombs Returns!

Post author By ocpjohio
Post date December 9, 2022

Bread not Bombs is back after a two-year pandemic hiatus. On Saturday, December 3, 2022, 75 members of the community gathered in the undercroft of Holy Trinity Episcopal Church with Oxford Citizens for Peace and Justice (OCPJ). Thirty-seven volunteers, organized by long-time OCPJ member Ann Geddes, made it possible for us to share a homemade meal of beans and rice, enjoy the music of Judy and Warren Waldron and the drumming of OGADE, and appreciate the activism of two winners of the annually awarded Peace and Justice Awards.

OCPJ recognized Oxford’s Vice-Mayor Chantel Raghu with one of our annual Peace and Justice Awards. A second award went to Shana Rosenberg, who is a member of two of the City of Oxford’s Commissions, the Housing Advisory and the Planning Commissions, and founder of Thread up Oxford. Although they each make unique contributions, both Chantel and Shana work within the structure of City government AND outside of that structure to address basic survival needs—food, clothing and shelter—of vulnerable, really all, members of the community, through sustainable practices that keep food waste or fabrics out of landfills. They work seemingly tirelessly, contributing their time, energy and homes to redistributing resources, working in solidarity with those living in poverty.

The first Bread not Bombs dinner happened in 1986, organized by OCPJ’s co-founder and first Director, Linda Musmeci Kimball. This year’s BnB program, emceed by Board President Barbara Ann Caruso and Facilitator Ann Fuehrer, included Linda’s recounting of OCPJ’s beginning in 1979 and early years; a scrapbook of many of the photos Linda kept over the years was shared with attendees. Long-time OCPJ member Kathy McMahon-Klosterman gave a moving tribute to co-founder Jane Strippel, who died at the end of October 2022. Children enjoyed doing crafts and exploring picture books on Iran, Ukraine, and citizen movements for peace and justice. We sold buttons, stickers, peace calendars and other merchandise at our Peace Market. Flyers and displays provided education and calls to action on homelessness and environmental justice in Oxford.

If you’d like more information about OCPJ and how to join; OCPJ trifold brochures, buttons or stickers; or if you’d like to become more actively involved, including joining the Board of OCPJ, contact Ann at facilitator@ocpjohio.org

Photos provided by Mary Rezaian and Margarette Beckwith.

Board President Barbara Ann Caruso

Shana Rosenberg, Ann Fuehrer, Linda Musmeci Kimball

Judy and Warren Waldron enjoying a break from playing

Blog Community Building Racial Justice

Welcome, Freedom Summer Conference folks!

Post author By ocpjohio
Post date October 11, 2014

October 2014. Though Oxford Citizens for Peace and Justice (OCPJ) wasn’t around in 1964 during the Mississippi Summer Project, a number of our current and former members were around and/or very much involved. For example, the stories of Rick Momeyer and Jane Strippel are included in the book Finding Freedom: Memorializing the Voices of Freedom Summer, edited by Jacqueline Johnson. Our Bloom Peace Education Fund is named after Mel and Rosie Bloom, who were key players in the Friends of the Mississippi Summer Project that originated in Oxford. Roland Duersken, who worked with organizers and in a Freedom School in Mississippi, recently donated his personal collection of writings and photos to the Freedom Summer Archives at Miami University and spoke on a panel with other donors to the collection about his experiences at a reception last Friday evening. These items are currently on exhibit in King Library on the Miami Oxford campus.

OCPJ members have also been involved in the planning and realization of the conferences commemorating and celebrating anniversaries of Freedom Summer over the years, as well as the 50th Anniversary Conference taking place over the next few days. They are also part of plenary sessions and panels. Fighting against injustice is part of our personal, and collective, DNA.

This year we were proud to be involved in hosting representatives from the Highlander Center in New Market, TN last February to raise awareness both of Highlander’s role in Freedom Summer and its current campaigns on human rights and environmental justice under the theme “The Unfinished Business of Freedom Summer.”

We also donated audio and VHS tapes from our archives to Miami University. These included tapes of the Freedom Singers in 1964, and from a 1989 program called “Alternative Visions of Racial Justice: Upon the 25^th Anniversary of the Mississippi Summer Project.” These include “Mississippi Summer Project Revisited,” an address given by Dick Gregory.

You can find out more about us at our conference display table, and from our Take Back Democracy brochure and flier included in registration packets and on information tables.