Separate, But Equal...

“Separate, but equal” has proven itself to be a flawed concept yet we still stick to the idea that we can do better apart then we can by working together. It is hard for us to see ourselves as one people. Example: In a recent conversation with a friend we were talking about our families when the term “my people” came up, as in “my people” do things this way, or “my people” do things that way. Well, being me, I said to him, “You are 'my people', right”, and he said back, “yea, I guess our families could have mixed in the past”. Well, I tell you he missed my point completely.

My friend and I live in the same city, shop at the same stores, eat at the same restaurants, go to the same church, and yet he had a slight problem grasping the idea that he was “my people”, because of our differing skin colors, and yes there was more to the conversation.


The Inland Empire has it's share of culture and religious based community action groups. We have the NAACP, the Latino Network, the Inland Empire Indonesian Group of the SDA, the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals (ACE), American Muslim Task Force, the UU Social Justice Committee, and more. We have opportunities to work together or to stay in our little self contained groups, limiting progress.



It has been over 100 years sense Mahatma Gandhi launched the nonviolent resistance movement, or the "Satyagraha." The date was September 11th, 1906. He spoke in front of over 3,000 Indians that gathered at a theater in Johannesburg, South Africa. Gandhi organized a strategy of nonviolent resistance to oppose racist policies. Satyagraha was born and since then, it has been adopted by different groups around the world to resist social injustice and oppression.

Gandhi again used it in India to win independence from the British. The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. used it in the United States to oppose segregation, and Nelson Mandela used it in South Africa to help end apartheid. Neither Gandhi, King, nor Mandela worked wholly within one group. I think Hitler worked wholly within one group.

It is important that we educate ourselves on the history of what works, and try to brush off what does not work when it comes to building an amalgamated community and society.

The organization Friends Across The Line (FatL) will be teaming up with the Inland Communities Fellowship of Reconciliation (ICFOR) to co-sponsor the Fourth Annual Interfaith Event of Hope ~ “THE OTHER 9/11”

On that day we will commemorate Gandhi’s first nonviolent action on 9/11/1906, remind ourselves that ACTIVE NONVIOLENCE works, and view a short film about Gandhi’s ideas of Satyagraha.

In the past this is normally done at Riverside’s Gandhi Statue, but it is currently inaccessible due to mall reconstruction and upgrades. So this year we will gather at the Universalist Unitarian Church, 3657 Lemon Street at Mission Inn Avenue on September 11, 2009 between 7-8pm. For more information on this event contact: 951-682-5364, or redwoodgirl@sbcglobal.net.


In accordance with it's goals and beliefs of having groups and individuals of differing backgrounds, races, religions, and cultures come together to cross the line FatL will be hosting a lecture entitled Learning Salaam, Making Peace: Dialogues In Life. This is part of a series on living in peace within a multi-cultural world. The lecture will be conducted by two people who got their start in different countries, different religions, and different upbringing, yet have come to the same conclusions. It will be presented By Dr. Muhamad Ali and Samantha Wilson. It will be held on Wednesday, September 30th, 2009 between 6:30 PM &7 :45 PM, at the Riverside Public Library (Main Branch),3581 Mission Inn Avenue, Riverside, CA 92501.


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