In 1981 the United Nations General Assembly declared September 21 as International Day of Peace as a day devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace through observing 24 hours of non-violence & cease-fire. Its 2020 peace day theme –“Shaping Peace Together” — encourages the spreading of peace & compassion – kindness & hope in the face of on-going wars, the global pandemic, poverty, & racism. Standing together with CCPM on Sept. 21 against war; violence; inequality; & discrimination. 

CHESTER COUNTY PEACE MOVEMENT HELD ITS ANNUAL CELEBRATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PEACE

MONDAY,  SEPTEMBER 21, 2020

6:30 – 7:30 pm 

Historic Chester County Court House (portico side) 

High Street and Market Street

Downtown West Chester, Pennsylvania

CCPM demonstrated the International Day of Peace 2020 theme “Shaping Peace Together” with the following guest speakers: Kyle Boyer (educator/minister/social justice advocate); Melissa Robbins (activist organizer / Philadelphia); Abdul Mughese (Islamic Society of Chester County); Kyle Hudson (producer&host WCHE 1520 AM/creator Time Machine Tours/creative director Crimson Planet Media);Carrie Pizzillo-Stare (LGBTQ Equality Alliance of Chester County); RNydea Graves (Coatesville City Council/Chester County Stands Up); Kevin Patrick Kelly (Chester County Peace Movement); and CCPMs first Annual Anne Moore Peace Award Recpient – Rich Mollica “

 “It is certain that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have.” James Baldwin (1972) 

ABDUL MUGHEES CHAUDHRI, PRESIDENT OF THE ISLAMIC SOCIETY OF CHESTER COUNTY (HIS COMMENTS ARE PRESENTED AT THE CONCLUSION OF THIS POSTING)

COMMENTS MADE BY ABDUL MUGHEES CHAUDHRI

Bismillah Ar Rehman ar Rahim 

I begin in the name of God most gracious most merciful 

My Name is Abdul Mughees Chaudhri, I am part of the Islamic Society of Chester County.

I think we all know what PEACE is – 

No conflict, no war, everything coexisting in perfect harmony and freedom.

Looking at the world today, do we think we have peace, Yemen, Syria, Ukraine, North Korea, Libya. 

Forget rest of the world, do we have peace here at home? With everything that is happening around us sure does not feel that way. 

So why is that? And there are a lot of reasons for it and everyone will give you one that might seem more relevant then the last reason and there is a long list and various perspective based on the way people look at it. 

As part of the masjid and the interfaith activities, over the years I have had the pleasure of listening to and participating in various events related to peace, where it has become very clear to ME why we struggle with peace in this world.

It’s establishment of Justice, and while studying Quran I have read various verses where it’s a direct command from God. My belief and faith were further strengthened by the fact that Islam is not the only Abrahamic faith where God commands justice, we can see it very clearly when we read:

What does God require of you? Only to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. (Micah 6:8)

“ ‘Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly – Leviticus 19:15

“all his ways are justice” (Deuteronomy 32:4)

O you who have believed, be persistently standing firm for God, witnesses in justice, and do not let the hatred of a people prevent you from being just. Be just; that is nearer to righteousness. And fear God; indeed, God is Acquainted with what you do.

(Quran 5:8)

So, what do we do?

Each and everyone one of us regardless of our faith is responsible for establishment of Justice and I have not found anyone yet from any religion or even a person who does not follow any religion to disagree that yes we should work to establish Justice.

It’s not the responsibility of someone else if you want peace, you have to work towards it, and it all starts with thinking about it and giving it priority and taking steps whatever those steps might be whatever way you can contribute whether it’s giving your time or contributing your dollars towards causes that support justice and if you think it’s the responsibility of the Govt to establish Peace and justice – then you still have the most important role to play if you will elect people who do not think Justice matters then you can forget about peace. You must work towards electing people who share the same values of Equality Justice and peace as you do and that is the most important task we can do towards establishment of peace at home and rest of the world. 

So, in conclusion I ask each one of us to think about Peace to think about ways you can help establish justice to attain peace. Because thoughts lead to actions and actions lead to results. 

Thank You 

COMMENTS BY CARRIE PIZZILLO-STARE

Prior to Friday my speech would have taken you more through who we are, introduced you to what we do, and what peace means to us. But then as the sun was setting on Friday evening the news broke that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had died. She was my hero, and a national treasure. My previous speech no longer felt right, so I started over. 

 Hi, my name is Carrie Pizzillo-Stare and I serve on the board of LGBT Equality Alliance of Chester County. Our organization envisions a safe, supportive environment for the youth and adult LGBTQ+ community in and around Chester County. We aim to remove barriers of communication between Chester County LGBTQ+ residents and the greater community. Rather than create a community center, it is our focus to unify the greater community so that all LGBTQ+ community members feel at home and supported in their living environments. 

We as a nation knew 2020 would be a challenging year, simply because it’s a Presidential election year. What we didn’t know is that we would be faced with the worst pandemic since the Spanish Flu in 1918. We have been faced with even sharper increases in racial violence and the deaths of too many black men, black women, black trans women. It feels like our heroes: Kobe Bryant, John Lewis, Chadwick Boseman, the Notorious RBG are being stolen from us. 

Writing a speech about peace this year was difficult, especially for me after Friday. Until I remembered the theme of today’s International Day of Peace: Shaping Peace Together. Together through talking, together through listening, together through education, together through equality. When we remember that we are all human beings trying to get through this thing called life in the best way we know how, when we remember that our neighbors might have different opinions than us, when we remember how to talk to each other respectfully, when we remember that we need to educate people about why black lives matter, about why LGBTQ+ equality is important, why equity for all is important, about how we can have different backgrounds but still come together through love, compassion, kindness, and hope. 

Too often we have been distracted by that which divides us. We can learn from each other. And we can learn from the legacies of those that have left us. Congressman John Lewis and the Notorious RBG taught us to make good trouble and to fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you. If conservative stalwart Justice Antonin Scalia and liberal lion Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg can be best friends, well, then there is hope that the rest of us can shape peace together.