International Day of Non-Violence
Imagine – Avril Lavigne
(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding – Keb’ Mo’
Peace Train – People Get Ready – Abraham Jam
The Green Fields of France – Dropkick Murphys
Give Peace A Chance – Aerosmith Feat. Sierra Leone’s Refugee All-Stars
Down By the Riverside – Sister Rosetta Tharpe
Peace Train/Isitimela Sokuthula – Dolly Parton, feat. Ladysmith Black Mambazo
Ahimsa – The Antlers
Nonviolence – Cha$e D’Amico
Pacifist’s Lament – Ani DiFranco
Turn! Turn! Turn!- Pete Seeger
Blowin’ In The Wind – Bob Dylan
Weary Mothers – Joan Baez
Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream – Simon & Garfunkel
Let Us All Come Together – Sweet Honey In the Rock
Peter – David LaMotte
Where Have All The Flowers Gone – Dolores Keane, Tommy Sands & Vedran Smailovic
Christmas In The Trenches – John McCutcheon
And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda – Eric Bogle
People Get Ready – The Blind Boys Of Alabama
Peace And Power – Joanne Shenandoah
Peace Is the Way – Jim & Jean Strathdee
Category Archives: Human Rights
2 October 2025
Filed under Current Events, Human Rights, Music, playlist, United Nations
Say no to violence
From the United Nations:
The International Day of Non-Violence is observed on 2 October, the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi, leader of the Indian independence movement and pioneer of the philosophy and strategy of non-violence.
According to General Assembly resolution A/RES/61/271 of 15 June 2007, which established the commemoration, the International Day is an occasion to “disseminate the message of non-violence, including through education and public awareness”. The resolution reaffirms “the universal relevance of the principle of non-violence” and the desire “to secure a culture of peace, tolerance, understanding and non-violence”.
Introducing the resolution in the General Assembly on behalf of 140 co-sponsors, India’s Minister of State for External Affairs, Mr. Anand Sharma, said that the wide and diverse sponsorship of the resolution was a reflection of the universal respect for Mahatma Gandhi and of the enduring relevance of his philosophy. Quoting the late leader’s own words, he said: “Non-violence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind. It is mightier than the mightiest weapon of destruction devised by the ingenuity of man”.
Filed under Current Events, Human Rights, United Nations
30 September 2025
30 September is observed in Canada as The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, colloquially known as Orange Shirt Day. It is a day of memorial to recognize the atrocities and generational impact committed on First Nations peoples by the Canadian Indian residential school system. It has expanded in the United State as a day to remember the atrocities and generational impact inflicted by the U.S. boarding school system on Indigenous peoples. The Indigenous peoples of Australia had a similar experience.
Lost Souls – Tom Jackson Lost Souls
Residential School Song (Indian Boarding School Song) – Cheryl Bear
Child of the Government – Jayli Wolf
BEFORE – A Tribe Called Red, feat. Joseph Boyden
Apatapasiq – Mike Bern
Battlefields – Twin Flames
Savage Mob – Snotty Nose Rez Kids, feat. Nooky & Birdz
open window – nêhiyawak
Took the Children Away – Archie Roach, Australian Art Orchestra, Paul Grabowsky & Ruby Hunter (the Australian Indigenous experience)
Take Me Home – Indian City
Spirit Horses – Annie Humphrey
The Land of the Blind – Ira Provost
Why Us – N’we Jinan Artists
500 Years – Rhonda Head
Residential School – Jerry Alfred & The Medicine Beat
Cut My Hair – Digging Roots
Residential School – Chris Pierce
For Our Children – Bryan Akipa
Filed under Albuquerque, Antiracism, Current Events, Human Rights, Music, playlist
16 September 2025
Mexican Independence; Death of Victor Jara; B.B. King Birthday;
Himno Nacional Mexicano – Banda de Genaro Nuñez & Banda Estudiantil del Estado de Jalisco
Me Gustan los Estudiantes – Tita Parra
El Pueblo Unido Jamàs Serà Vencido – Inti-Illimani
México Lindo – Vicente Fernández
Viva Mexico – Mariachi Veracruz
Mi Ciudad – Lola Beltrán
Pisagua 1973 – Los Miserables
Victor Jara’s Hands – Calexico
Victor Jara – Arlo Guthrie
15 de Septiembre – José Alfredo Jiménez
Estadio Chile – Pete Seeger
Manifiesto – Victor Jara
Juan Sin Tierra – Ska-P
Back Against the Wall – Hogni
It Could Have Been Me – Holly Near
Washington Bullets – The Clash
On My Word Of Honor – B.B. King
You’ve Been An Angel – B.B. King
Blind Love – B.B. King
Filed under Albuquerque, Human Rights, Music, New Mexico, playlist
On the Feast of San Augustinito at the Pueblo of Isleta, September 3, 2025
The drums beat,
the people continue.
The rattles shake,
the people continue.
The bells jingle,
the people continue.
The dancers move,
the people continue.
The singers chant,
the people continue.
Out of the past,
the people continue.
In the present,
the people continue.
Into the future,
the people continue.
Filed under Antiracism, Current Events, Friends, Human Rights, Music, New Mexico, Prayer
Gaza 5K walk/run – Virtually
I’m fundraising for UNRWA USA by participating in the Gaza 5K walk/run VIRTUALLY on or about Sunday, October 12th, 2025. I’d like to walk in person in New York, but I will be in Albuquerque.
I choose to show my solidarity with Palestine refugees by committing myself to raising money for UNRWA mental health services. The trauma of the crisis and the stress of living under blockade, unable to leave the Gaza Strip, has left thousands of refugees, particularly children, in need of psychosocial support.
The situation may seem hopeless, but by providing counseling through UNRWA, we can support their mental health, help them cope with their traumas, and improve their quality of life even slightly during this assault on their homes and lives.
Though I know I can’t change the world for every refugee, with your support, I intend to reach as many children as possible.
If you share my commitment to bettering the mental health of Palestine refugee children, please donate to my Gaza 5K walk.
Proceeds will go directly to UNRWA mental health services and counselors–refugees themselves–in the Gaza Strip. NOTE – this fundraiser does not raise funds for immediate food needs. There are other ways to do this. This fundraiser helps to provide mental health services.
Thank you for supporting me to show Palestine refugees that Americans care and for giving what you can!
Filed under Albuquerque, Current Events, Exercise, Human Rights
A prayer in a world where children know hunger
God who makes and loves each child,
forgive me for wasting food
in a world where children starve,
where children experience malnutrition,
where children go hungry,
in too many places,
including places near my home.
Forgive me, God.
Help me do better
by making wiser choices
about what I eat,
how much I eat,
where my food is produced.
Help me do better
by supporting organizations
that share food with children (and adults) in need,
that address root causes of hunger,
that work to end conflict,
that enable people to feed themselves,
that challenge our impact upon creation
which affect food production.
Help me do better
by demanding action
from individuals and organizations
that shape policies
which result in hunger
and which work to end hunger.
Forgive me, God.
Help me do better.
In the name of Jesus
who fed the hungry and welcomed children.
Amen.
Filed under Current Events, Food, Human Rights, Prayer
12 September 2025 – Death of Steve Biko
Death of Steve Biko.
Steve Biko – Beenie Man
Biko – Peter Gabriel
Steve Biko (Stir It Up) – A Tribe Called Quest
Biko’s Kindred Lament – Steel Pulse
Prisoner – Lucky Dube
Kazet – Mahlathini & Mahotella Queens
Not Yet Uhuru – Letta Mbulu
Tomorrow Nation – O’ Yaba
Hellfire – African Jazz Pioneers
Unfinished Story – Stimela
Biko Drum – Christy Moore
Asimbonanga / Biko – Wouter Kellerman & Soweto Gospel Choir Symphonic, feat. KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic & Angélique Kidjo
The Death Of Stephen Biko – Tom Paxton
Tribute to Steve Biko – Tappa Zukie
Nkosi Sikelel ‘IAfrica – Ladysmith Black Mambazo
Filed under Albuquerque, Antiracism, Human Rights, Music, New Mexico, playlist
1 September 2025
Labor Day.
9 To 5 – Dolly Parton
Workin’ At The Carwash Blues – Jim Croce
The Hands That Built America – U2
Bracero – Phil Ochs
She Works Hard For the Money – Donna Summer
Worker’s Song – Dropkick Murphys
Livin’ On a Prayer – Bon Jovi
Mr. President – Randy Newman
Working Class Hero – Green Day
Working Man – Imagine Dragons
Working On The Highway – Bruce Springsteen
Joe Hill – Paul Robeson
There Is Power in a Union – John McCutcheon
Las Madres Cansadas – Joan Baez
We’Re Still Here – Si Kahn
Which Side Are You On – Natalie Merchant
Bread and Roses – Judy Collins
Three Miles Down – Gil Scott-Heron
More Than a Paycheck – Sweet Honey In the Rock
Ship In The Sky – Woody Guthrie
Solidarity Forever – Pete Seeger
Filed under Albuquerque, Current Events, Exercise, Human Rights, Music, New Mexico, playlist
23 August 2025
International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition.
Sacco and Vanzetti Execution.
Change Gonna Come – Otis Redding
This Little Light of Mine – Fannie Lou Hamer
Freedom – Charles Mingus
Freedom Highway – Rhiannon Giddons
Freedom Road – The Blind Boys of Alabama
Freedom – Richie Havens
Woke up This Morning with My Mind Stayed on Freedom – Congregation of Brown Chapel
Go Down, Moses – Paul Robeson
Get off the Track! – Anne Enslow & Ridley Enslow (feat. Jacqueline Schwab & Linda Russell)
Slavery Days – Burning Spear
Slave Driver – Our Native Daughters
Steal Aawy – The Princely Players
There Is a Balm in Gilead – The Florida A&M University Concert Choir
Free at Last – Kim & Reggie Harris
Oh Freedom – Mary D Williams
Freedom Now – Sweet Honey in the Rock
The Ballad of Sacco & Vanzetti – Joan Baez
Sacco’s Letter to His Son – Magpie
Filed under Death Penalty, Human Rights, Music, New Mexico, playlist, United Nations
