Mike Friend
Nobel Peace Prize winner Jody Williams, as well as four other guests, spoke on the impact an individual can make on social and political change Thursday night at the Ray and Mary Giles Symposium on Citizenship and Public Service at the University of Science an Arts of Oklahoma .
Williams is best known for her work with International Campaign to Ban Land mines (ICBL), where in 1997 an unprecedented 122 nations signed a treaty to ban the use of such “non-discriminating” death machines.
“I am passionate about getting rid of injustice. I’m no Mother Teresa either… I just have a righteous indignation for injustice,” Williams said.
Williams has lectured to scores of groups including the United Nations, the European Parliament and the Organization of African Unity.
Williams also spoke on several current issues including the economy, the Iraq War, the current administration, the allocation of money and government spending on war, and voting, which she emphasized the importance to do so.
Among the other guest speakers were civil rights protesters, a mayor from a town that has pledged to go green, a school teacher, and a food cooperative president.
Marilyn Luper Hildreth and her mother Clara Luper, who is said to be the mother of the Civil Rights Movement shared their story of the struggles of being “black in the 1950’s in Oklahoma”.
Hildreth was a fundamental figure in the August 1958 sit-in at the Katz Drug Store in Oklahoma City known as one of the first civil rights movements in the United States.
Hildreth said, “I once was asked what my greatest fear was… my greatest fear is to ask what would have happened had we not stood-up to sit down.”
Robert Waldrop, a fourth generation Oklahoman and president of the Oklahoma Food Cooperative, gave a more comical approach to the evening with his story of agricultural impacts and sustainability.
In 2004, Waldrop was awarded the “Green Shield Award” from the Oklahoma Sustainability Network for his lifelong pursuit of protecting the environment.
“Our customers can order (local farm-fresh produce) on line, and then pick it up at one of over 30 pick-up sites across the state. We’re not a threat to Wal-Mart yet, but they better watch out,” said Waldrop.
Amy Ingram, the assistant principal and a founding teacher for KIPP Reach College Preparatory in Oklahoma City, spoke on the many challenges of teaching inner-city children and the “many wonderful successes that have come with the opportunity to teach them to read and write”.
Ingram, also a former USAO alumni and recipient of the Kinder Excellence in Teaching Award as well as the Excellent Educator Award, after explaining the hardships of starting a new school with little-funding and no furniture said, “We taught those first few days on the front porch and floor…eventually we obtained furniture… but it’s not about the building or chairs, it’s about the learning that happens when you sit in those chairs and in that building.”
Bob Dixson, mayor of Greensburg, Kansas, told a story of an EF5 tornado that demolished their small community on May 4, 2007 leaving their town with an opportunity to go “green”.
Greensburg is currently in the process of filming a documentary, to be aired on the Discovery Channel, journaling the advancement from a small town of the past to a community of the future.
Professor Robert Edmondson, the service learning coordinator for USAO, also addressed the mass of student and citizen spectators, and spoke of the outstanding work being performed in the community by several organizations within the school.
