CCPJ Report on Activities from May 2024 to April 2025

"For more than forty years, CCPJ has worked to promote peace, protect our environment, reduce violence, and urge leaders to resolve conflicts with justice for the people in the middle. We ask each of you to take part in these efforts as a message to those with the power to act."

Each year we prepare a report, an Annual Letter, describing the activities of the Charlottesville Center for Peace and Justice (CCPJ) over the past twelve months. It is impossible to describe how cataclysmic those months have been. But, describe them we must to evaluate our efforts and to plan future events.

In this letter each year, we thank you for your needed support. We will depend on that support in the coming months, which will determine the fate of our democracy. Bringing advocates together has been the goal of the Charlottesville Center for Peace and Justice since its beginning in January of 1983. Your help is essential to these efforts.

In May and June 2024, we continued our effort to end the war in Gaza with a letter to President Biden. As before, the response did not signify any change in U.S. policy. On May 4 members displayed the CCPJ banner, earth flags, and peace signs in the Batesville Parade. On June 4 we held our first in person Community Gathering since 2019.

Over 50 participants enjoyed a potluck supper followed by “Breakout Tables” discussions on the theme “Outreach Beyond the Choir”. Randomly assigning people to tables helped them meet and discuss the topics with people from other groups. On June 22, members joined with the Charlottesville Coalition for Gun Violence Prevention at an “ASK Day” (“Asking Saves Kids”) event on the Downtown Mall, to encourage safe storage of firearms in homes.

On July 14 we gathered at the Friends Meeting House for the Annual Meeting. There we elected four members to the CCPJ Board, received the treasurer’s report, and discussed finding a youth member for the board. On August 3, CCPJ members commemorated the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by setting up an eight-panel display showing the history and effects of the atomic bombs used in 1945 and the catastrophic destruction a modern nuclear weapon would cause. Members noted that many passers-by did not know about the threat of nuclear weapons.

In September we again set up the CCPJ sign at the intersection of Hydraulic Rd. and the Route 250 By-pass, urging people to vote by quoting John Lewis’ statement, “The VOTE is the most powerful nonviolent tool we have.” Again, this year, CCPJ co-sponsored a celebration of the Day of Democracy with local chapters of the Sierra Club, the League

of Women Voters, Charlottesville NOW, United Nations Association, UVA Students for Equity and Reform, and others.

The event took place on September 14 in Market Street Park. The speakers included state legislators, local officials, and activists, all of whom expressed the urgent need to defend democracy in the U.S., but there were few passers-by and they did not feel the same urgency. On Sunday, September 15, members of CCPJ tabled as part of the Veg Fest at IX Park. Many people browsed through the displays and accepted buttons from CCPJ. Over the weekend, we also gave away fifty copies of the U.S. Constitution.

In our October 6 meeting, with the war in Gaza one year old and negotiations for a ceasefire stalled, members expressed a need to call again for the Biden administration to support a UN Security Council resolution to invoke Chapter 7 of the UN Charter and establish a UN protectorate in Gaza. In letters to the Daily Progress, President

Biden, and Senators Warner and Kaine, members wrote that the UN resolution must include a directive for an immediate end of all hostilities, the appointment of a UN envoy to oversee the release of hostages and prisoners, the withdrawal of Israeli forces, massive humanitarian relief, and the establishment of a civilian Palestinian government.

At the November 10 meeting the election of Donald Trump on November 5 dominated our discussion with several questions. Who voted for Trump and why? Who is most threatened by the Trump presidency? With whom can we work? How can we help? We recognized the need to collaborate with other organizations and to get our messages to people in rural areas. In order to continue our normal efforts, despite the results of the election, members planned the annual No War Toys campaign. We also learned about the success of the Activists’ Guide and some changes being made to that website. CCPJ has supported the Activist Guide since its inception.

In December, as part of our No War Toys campaign, members set up our sign calling on people to “Choose Gifts that Create Joy and Peace, Dignity and Compassion.” We also purchased radio time to broadcast the same creative gifts message on several local radio stations. On December 7 we held signs at the entrance to Walmart’s parking lot urging people to buy creative gifts, not war toys. In our monthly meeting we discussed what we could do in response to Trump’s soon to begin second presidency.

We decided to reach out to several organizations regarding collaboration. Our outreach went especially to organizations working with migrants and refugees. Members noted that Indivisible Charlottesville held an organizational meeting at the main library in November, which more than 200 people attended. In collaboration with the Charlottesville Coalition for Gun Violence Prevention, members of CCPJ met with state legislators about addressing gun violence. Members also voted to co-sponsor with the local Friends Meeting a vigil to take place on January 11 on the Downtown Mall to remember all the victims of the war in Gaza.

At the January 5 meeting, the first in 2025, members agreed to individually sign a petition urging President Joe Biden to authorize the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution. Members noted that Virginia’s ratifying the ERA on January 15, 2020, met the requirement that three-quarters of the states ratify the amendment to make it part of the Constitution. Members reported that outreach to other organizations had been difficult, but that Beloved Community Cville planned to hold on 1/22/25 via Zoom a workshop on resistance titled “We Won’t Go Back”.

On the very cold evening of January 11, members of CCPJ joined in the Friends Meeting vigil to mourn the loss of all victims of the war in Gaza, both Palestinians and Israelis. Music along with some readings about the Friends’ effort to promote peace in the region were followed by a moment of silence and the lighting of safe LED candles.

In the February 2 meeting, just thirteen days after Donald Trump’s Inauguration, members recognized the critical need for resistance to President’s Trump agenda. The flood of Executive Orders including the firing of eighteen Inspectors General, the firing of Department of Justice lawyers, the purging of FBI agents, the usurping of Congressional authority to establish departments and to set the budget, all quickly revealed the Trump

administration’s effort to concentrate power in the office of the presidency. CCPJ members began drafting a message to ask everyone on our e-mail list to take three actions. First, spread the word about the danger posed by the Trump administration. Second, where legal standing exists, join the lawsuits in process. Third, contact Senators Warner and Kaine to urge them to slow down every procedure in the Senate. Members discussed what they learned in the 1/22 resistance workshop held by Beloved Community Cville. Members voted to donate $500 to Welcoming Greater Charlottesville to support their Iftar (the end of Ramadan dinner) for area Muslims.

By the March 9 CCPJ meeting Indivisible Charlottesville had organized two local rallies in February to protest against fascism, which several hundred people, including CCPJ members, attended holding signs condemning the authoritarian actions by Donald Trump and Elon Musk and supporting our democracy. After Donald Trump’s ambush

of Ukraine’s President Zelensky, Indivisible organized a Support Ukraine Rally where several hundred people protested in front of the Federal Building. On 3/7 protestors marched the length of the Downtown Mall to Stand Up for Science. People were protesting in rallies like these around the nation.

In the March 9 meeting, members decided that creating competing events ourselves was not as helpful as supporting events created by such other groups as local chapters of the United Nations Association, International Rescue Committee, Legal Aid Justice Center,

Friends Meeting, and also Beloved Community Cville. In the meeting, members planned for Earth Month, April, including setting up our Save the Planet sign, radio announcements, and tabling on the Downtown Mall, all these actions despite the Trump administration’s attack on environmental protection including addressing climate change.

Members also discussed Trump’s on-going efforts to eliminate Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, fact-based science, actual history, and other forms of free thought and expression. Members expressed the need to protest in demonstrations, letters to the editor, calls to members of Congress, and ordinary conversations. Members also

voted to provide the Activists’ Guide with funds to cover its annual costs.

In April, CCPJ members put up our Save the Planet sign with the additional message, “Now More Than Ever”. Local radio stations broadcast a new PSA that called out Trump’s attempts to erase science and urged people to cut

emissions. On April 26, members tabled on the Downtown Mall and gave away 50 dogwood seedlings. Members of the Sierra Club and Cville100 tabled with us. In our meeting, we began to plan a Community Gathering and heard a report on a Friends Committee on National Legislation Zoom call with Senator Kaine’s staff on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

On April 5, Hands Off rallies were held around the nation including in Charlottesville, where more than 4,000 people protested the actions by Donald Trump and Elon Musk. This protest indicated the scale of opposition to Trump. CCPJ members reported on voicing their concerns to Rep. John McGuire’s staff in Lynchburg. Members also reported on an “Empty Chair” town hall where 1,000 people presented questions to an absent Rep. McGuire.

The past twelve months leave us in the middle of a struggle between the authoritarian Trump administration and people trying to save our democracy itself. At no other time in our history has a president sought total control of our nation. This is also a struggle between basic human values of honesty, mutual respect, compassion, and dignity against the fear, hate, greed, and cruelty that drive authoritarian forces. For more than forty years, CCPJ has worked to promote peace, protect our environment, reduce violence, and urge leaders to resolve conflicts with justice for the people in the middle. We ask each of you to take part in these efforts as a message to those with the power to act.

We, therefore, invite you to participate in our virtual or in-person monthly meetings and in activities like those above. (See "Contact" page.)