(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
 . . . . . . . . . .



Amnesty International [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags']

Date: 2023-02-13  

There may be groups here on Daily Kos that work to support Amnesty International. If so, I’ve never noticed and I’ve been here for 17 years. It took talking to a candidate, Terrence Walker, running for the Virginia Assembly, for me to learn what Amnesty International is about.

For one thing, I found out they were founded in 1961. I thought they had been around forever. Perhaps the fact that I was 5 when they started influenced me.

Terrence Walker worked for Amnesty International for 3 or 4 years. Working at the Richmond office he was able to travel home on the weekends to see and spend time with his family.

I might have been surprised that Terrence had worked for Amnesty International. I mean when I read this below, I think college professor.

Terrence is a native Philadelphian and grew up in a section of the city that was known as the "Badlands" because of poverty, crime, and limited economic opportunities. With love and support from his family, friends, and his single mother, Terrence became one of the first in his family to earn a B.A. from the University of Maryland College Park for political science and a Master's degree from Howard University School of Divinity in Washington, DC. www.dailykos.com/...

I recently had the honor of speaking to Terrence’s mother, Mrs. Johnnie Walker. She talked to me about Terrence growing up and supporting him through school and life. One of the stories that stands out is about how involved Terrence was with the world around him, even as a kid.

Every day when I left for work there would be 2 or 3 newspapers outside our door, Mrs. Walker said. I would pick them up and put them in front of the neighbor's door, because I didn’t get the paper. One day the newspaper man showed up to collect. I told him to go across the hall, that he was at the wrong door. He insisted he was at the right house, and it turned out he was, those were Terrence’s papers that he subscribed to and paid for. Mrs. Walker said he was about 12 at the time. He read the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Philadelphia Enquirer.

Terrence was on an Amnesty International administrative team that worked with students from Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, etc. These students would be working on issues such as the death penalty, environment, human rights, honor killings and disappearings.

The students would work lobbying legislators, ambassadors, economic, political, and grassroots groups. Terrence helped orient the students and gave them a snapshot of how Amnesty International works. He taught them their ABC’s.

A = Accurate, B= Brief, C = Courteous.

Those skills can be useful in a lot of places and will serve Terrence well in the Virginia Assembly. I noticed that Amnesty International does huge letter writing campaigns. That sounds like something Daily Kos could get behind and support just the way we’ve been supporting Terrence Walker!

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/2/13/2151894/-Amnesty-International

Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/