2024 HPJC Peacemaker Awards Ceremony

The Houston Peace & Justice Center is excited to announce the Peacemaker Awardees who we will recognize at our annual Peacemaker Awards Ceremony on Nov. 10, and encourage you to make your reservations soon for this event – which is also the primary fundraiser for the year, for all of HPJC’s activities.

Photo credit for the Three Amigos: The Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston

Peacemaker Awardees

We’re doing something a bit different this year for the National Peacemaker Award. Instead of being giving on one person, we will give it posthumously to three outstanding individuals who were leaders in three different faiths and who worked individually and collectively for more than 50 years to make major strides in social justice and more. They are the “Three Amigos of Houston” — Rev. William A. Lawson, Archbishop Joseph A. Fiorenza, and Rabbi Samuel E. Karff. Accepting the award on their behalf will be family members of Rev. Lawson and Rabbi Karff, and one of the Dominican Sisters for Archbishop Fiorenza. Details are below.

Local Peacemaker Awardees this year are Dr. John Theis, the Death Row Angels of Houston, Barry Klein, and Laisha Harris. More on each of them is below as well.

Reserve your Seats for the Ceremony

Seats for the ceremony are limited, and ticket prices go up as we get closer to the event, so please make your reservations today. Here’s the registration link: https://form.jotform.com/hpjc/hpjc-peacemaker-awards-2024

The Awards Ceremony is not just a fun event, that recognizes some outstanding people and organizations. It’s also HPJC’s primary fundraiser for the year, that helps to cover expenses for our varied programs, including Peace Camp Houston.

Ticket prices:

• $80 per person through Oct. 10
• $90 Oct. 11-20
• $100 after Oct. 20

Food, Drinks, Location

We will not have a full dinner, but there will be plenty of food and drinks for all – another reason we need everyone to reserve seats in advance, so we’ll know how much food and how many chairs and tables will be needed.

The Ceremony will be Sunday afternoon, Nov. 10 (after the general elections) at the Dominican Sisters of Houston Spirituality Center Meeting Room, 6501 Almeda Rd, Houston 77021. This is the same location of last year and we are thrilled that the Sisters are providing this venue for us again. This is just east of Hermann Park, north of Holcomb Blvd. There is plenty of free parking. Doors open at 2 pm, with food/ drinks/ reception starting then, with the program starting around 45 minutes later. Pre-registration is required!

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Peacemaker Awardee Details

National Peacemaker Award – to be given posthumously to the “Three Amigos of Houston”:

The three faith leaders Reverend William A. Lawson (Baptist), Archbishop Joseph A. Fiorenza (Catholic) and Rabbi Samuel E. Karff (Jewish) are all now deceased, but they joined forces for more than 50 years to help make Houston a better place to live. The coverage of the recent death of Reverend Bill Lawson highlighted some of their work together.

Longtime Houston faith and civil rights leaders Rabbi Samuel Karff of Congregation Beth Israel, and Reverend William Lawson, Pastor Emeritus of Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church in Houston, and Archbishop Emeritus Joseph A. Fiorenza of the archdiocese of Galveston Houston were affectionately called the “Three Amigos” for their lengthy experience of working together to end injustices and to “respect thy neighbor”

Much of the group’s efforts led to long-lasting systemic change for good as a early result of their friendship and a shared interest in trying to bring justice for all in our city and our state and our country.

Together, the “Three Amigos” were a mighty force. They united their formidable powers to champion the causes that were important to them. In the mid 1980’s during Houston’s economic downturn, the Three Amigos, along with other local clergy, banded together to form the Campaign for the Homeless, which exists today as the Coalition for the Homeless. They were also leading voices in the Anti-Defamation League’s Coalition for Mutual Respect since its inception twenty-five years ago. Additionally, they worked for numerous other city causes including juvenile justice reform, geriatric health care needs, and distribution of funding for low-income victims of Hurricane Harvey. The beautiful Plaza of Respect at the Interfaith Ministries building in downtown Houston is dedicated to all three of them. It is a lasting legacy of their love of each other, this city and humanity.

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Rev. William A. Lawson

Rev. William A. “Bill” Lawson (1928–2024) was born in St. Louis, but made his home in Houston as a young man when he accepted a professorship at Texas Southern University. Within a few years of his 1955 arrival in the city, he became one of its civil rights leaders. He listened to his students at the historically Black Texas Southern, who were inspired by lunch counter sit-ins elsewhere in the country: They wanted to mount their own in an effort to desegregate Houston. Drawn into the movement by their passion, Lawson became an important voice for peaceful integration there.  

Lawson joined meetings of Houston business leaders as they discussed the sit-ins and considered whether and how to desegregate the city. Lawson advised the officials as they came to a consensus to quietly remove “whites only” signs and other symbols of segregation, effectively ushering in integration with little fanfare. The stealth tactic worked, and Houston’s 1960 integration was notably peaceful. 

In 1962, Lawson founded Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church, a prominent faith community in Houston that he went on to lead for more than 40 years. The following year, King came to Houston and preached at Wheeler Avenue Baptist. It marked the beginning of a friendship between the two activists, as well as a working relationship in which Lawson established a Houston office of King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference. 

Earning the nickname “Houston’s Pastor,” Lawson remained an important figure in the city throughout his life. Among his many efforts of service, he helped establish the first African-American studies program at the University of Houston, worked to get out the vote, and sponsored the city’s largest troop of Boy Scouts. 

The above bio is from legacy.com

Accepting the award on behalf of Rev. Lawson, telling everyone about him, and answering questions will be one of his family members (TBD).

Archbishop Joseph A. Fiorenza

Archbishop Joseph A. Fiorenza (1931-2022) was was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He was the seventh bishop and the first archbishop of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston in Texas, serving from 1985 to 2006. He previously served as bishop of the Diocese of San Angelo in Texas from 1979 to 1984.

About the Archbishop, Rev. William Lawson shared the following message with the Archdocese following Fiorenza’ shared this message to the Archdiocese’s death:

“My friendship with Archbishop Joseph A. Fiorenza was a genuine one. I respect his title, but to me, he was always “Joe.” He shared my values to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and that we should love our neighbor as ourselves” (Luke 10:27). His leadership among the Catholic Bishops of America, and even his extraordinary involvement in the construction and planning of the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, are a testament to his skills of collaboration. In service to our faiths and shared values, Joe and I, along with the late Rabbi Samuel Karff, did our best to humbly answer the call in Isaiah (1:17) to do good, seek justice, and defend the oppressed. We worked to de-segregate Houston’s schools and businesses, created alliances to provide solutions for Houston’s homeless, committed to increase Harris County’s responsiveness to the legal needs of the indigent and even labored to create a vision for age-friendly care which supports seniors who need geriatric services. Joe spoke in a quiet voice, but he was a strong presence wherever he went. My prayers are with the Fiorenza family and the many persons who, like me, loved him. I will always miss him.”

Accepting the award on behalf of the Archbishop, telling everyone about him, and answering questions will be Maureen O’Connell, OP, who founded Angela House in 2001 to serve women coming out of incarceration. She also served as Chicago police officer and police chaplain; 16 years as a clinical social worker serving children and families who had experienced physical and sexual abuse in Houston and as Victim’s Assistance Coordinator for the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. Sister Maureen has also served as Director of the Secretariat for Social Concerns in the Archdiocese of Galveston Houston since January 2020. She is a Dominican Sister of Adrian, Michigan, and has lived and ministered with the Houston Dominican Sisters. Both are Catholic religious community known for their commitment to social justice.

Rabbi Samuel E. Karff

Rabbi Samuel Egal Karff (1931-2020) was the son of two Israeli immigrants, Louis and Reba Karff, who were both Hebrew school teachers, and he grew up with a strong love of both Judaism and education. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from Harvard, and was ordained as a Reform Rabbi in 1956 from the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, Ohio where he also received a Doctorate in Hebrew Letters in 1962. Prior to starting his career as a congregational Rabbi, he served as an Air Force Chaplain both in the states and overseas. Rabbi Karff’s rabbinate took him first to Temple Beth Israel in Hartford, Connecticut. In 1963, Rabbi Karff’s career took him from Flint to the prestigious Reform congregation, Sinai Temple in Chicago’s Hyde Park. In addition to his rabbinic responsibilities, Rabbi Karff taught classes at the University of Chicago Divinity School and Notre Dame and became involved in social justice issues that he would champion the rest of his life. In 1974, Rabbi Karff accepted the position of senior Rabbi at Congregation Beth Israel, (Texas’s oldest synagogue) in Houston, Texas. During his twenty-four year tenure at Congregation Beth Israel, he founded the Shlenker School which continues to provide a rich Jewish and secular education for students from early childhood through fifth grade. The role of congregational rabbi is multi-faceted, and Rabbi Karff was uniquely gifted in all of the different areas. He was a phenomenal speaker and wove brilliant sermons together by blending biblical scholarship, contemporary literary fiction, current events and film. Each sermon was a profound collage that moved the congregation so much you could often hear their collective murmurs of awe after he finished speaking. He was also able to preach and teach to the youngest members of his congregation. But he was also the consummate spiritual guide as his own deep and abiding faith was both genuine and constant. Rabbi Karff was also a Rabbi’s Rabbi, leading his colleagues as the President of the Central Conference of American Rabbis from 1989-1991 and by sharing his experience of being called to the rabbinate in his memoir, For This You Were Created. While in Houston, Rabbi Karff found many ways to interact with the larger community outside the congregation. He taught in the Religion Department at Rice University and was actively involved with Interfaith Ministries. His social justice work, begun in Chicago, took on even deeper meaning, when he joined forces with Rev. William A. Lawson, Founding Pastor Emeritus Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church and Archbishop Emeritus Joseph Fiorenza of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston.

After becoming the Rabbi Emeritus of Congregation Beth Israel in 1999, Rabbi Karff embarked on new challenges in the Texas Medical Center. He founded the Health and Human Spirit Program–the precursor to the McGovern Center. He also co-created the Sacred Vocation Program (SVP) at the University of Texas Medical School and served as its co-director. SVP is a program which focuses on the relational aspects of being a physician; Rabbi Karff believed deeply that all members of a patient’s health care team— and all employees of health care institutions—were part of a sacred vocation because they had opportunities to make each person feel honored and nurtured. The Sacred Vocation Program is now incorporated into medical centers across the United States. He shared a very special bond with the other two thirds of the Three Amigos, Reverend Bill Lawson and Archbishop Emeritus Joseph Fiorenza. www.beth-israel.org

Accepting the award on behalf of the Rabbi will be Liz Seitz, who is one of his daughters.

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Local Peacemaker Awardees

Dr. John J. Theis

Dr. John J. Theis, Director of the Center for Civic Engagement for the Lone Star College System and professor of Political Science on the Kingwood Campus, introduced deliberative forums work to college campuses. He recently brought together a predominantly black church with a predominantly white church to discuss racial and social justice issues for several years now. He cofounded Occupy Kingwood where the group occupied a corner in Kingwood for 52 consecutive weeks. He works with teens engaging them in our current body politic and much more.

In an article titled “How Civic Engagement Spread across Six College Campuses”, author Maura Casey describes how Dr. Theis introduced deliberative forums work to college campuses. Here’s an excerpt: “He began looking for ways to give students more experience with democracy that went beyond voting. At the request of his department head at the college where he taught, Theis met with a group from Minnesota interested in civic engagement. One person from that group, Harry Boyte, talked about helping people identify issues in their community and getting young people involved. “I thought, ‘This is exactly the experience I want my students to have.’ So I told them, ‘I’m in. Political science doesn’t teach this stuff. Let’s figure out how to do this.’”

More information about his work using deliberative forums to get students involved in community affairs is at: https://www.nifi.org/en/read-about-dr-john-j-theis-and-his-work-students-how-civic-engagement-spread-across-six-college

Death Row Angels of Houston

Death Row Angels of Houston is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded by Dani Allen and Linda Snyder.  Their mission is to provide outreach to offenders and their families as well as to educate the public about the death penalty. 

Here is a list of activities they do:

• They correspond and personally visit  with 5-20 prison inmates every week with the goal of proving hope, love and peace which is often absent in the day to day life of the incarcerated. 
• They donate food, books, hygiene products and help replace old or broken personal items such as a winter coat, hot pot or radio. During visits Dani and Linda are able to purchase hot meals and cold drinks for the inmates. 
• Dani and Linda also reach out to the families of the inmates if needed offering guidance and support.  They host at their homes family members who travel to Texas to visit their loved ones in prison. They provide transportation to and from the airport and to and from the prisons. 
• They attend court hearings as support for the inmate. They stand outside the Huntsville Unit during every execution in protest. They attend rallies that support an inmate’s legal appeals and oppose the use of the death penalty. They write to elected officials to help inform and express concern over pending executions and new legislation.
• They fund an active Pacer account (Public Access to Court Electronic Records) in order to provide access to legal filings for inmates. 
• They use their social media pages to educate the public about prison conditions and the death penalty process as well as keep people updated with current events and news. 

Dani and Linda deserve recognition of their tireless efforts to help the men and women on death row as well as their families. Dani and Linda are the only people some of the inmates have. They bring a little bit of humanity into an inhumane system.  While registered as a non-profit organization, the group is still very small. All of the energy is spend doing to work rather than fundraising or marketing. The vast majority of funds come from their own pockets. 

Barry Klein

Barry Klein is a long-time Houston area activist. In 1969 he was a volunteer  with the campaign to set up a Pacifica station in Houston and later became a board member. Circa 1972 he stood on a Houston esplanade in front of an office building holding a homemade sign, saying “Dow Shall Not Kill”. 

Circa 1980, as an advocate for liberty and smaller government, he became a reformer on local issues. Over the succeeding years he pushed for expanding transit options such as jitneys, fought Metro’s plan to replace buses with rail, and opposed needless freeway expansion which induces sprawl.

Barry believes his most significant work is his defense of property rights with his opposition to zoning, a traditional tool of racial and economic segregation that was being pushed by leaders of upper income neighborhoods. This led to the creation of the Houston Property Rights Association in 1992 and a successful petition drive that put the final decision in the hands of voters. The result is that voters defeated a proposed zoning ordinance in 1993 and then, with a second vote, added an amendment to the Houston charter in January 1994 that guarantees voters an election any time a new ordinance is proposed, giving Houston residents a higher quality of property rights than all other major US cities.

In the course of the petition drive Barry was repeatedly interfered with by Houston police while gathering signatures or distributing flyers at public meetings. With help from pro-bono attorneys he was able sue the city and win a settlement agreement that reined in this aspect of police misconduct (HPD Circular, Sept 1993; “LAWFUL EXERCISE OF FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS TO DISTRIBUTE LEAFLETS AND GATHER PETITION SIGNATURES IN PUBLIC PLACES”)

In 2015 he worked with the HPJC Military and Foreign Policy working group to plan a conference on foreign policy reform. He recruited some Republican and Libertarian Party friends who oppose unconstitutional wars. The result is that the HPJC was able to create a trans-partisan committee that sponsored an event held at Texas Southern University in April 2015 titled, “PEACE OR WARS WITHOUT END? US Foreign Policy: A Conference to Explore Our Choices”. In the months after the conference, the committee continued to meet with several participants to plan a post conference followup. Thus the Foreign Policy Alliance (FPA), as an HPJC spinoff, was formed in 2016.

Barry has devised a novel approach to peacemaking by writing a 12 point strategy to “Make foreign policy a local issue.” Most important of the tactics is direct democracy. In this case, binding and non-binding ballot measures can be used at the local and state levels, similar to the Nuclear Freeze playbook in the 1980s. These initiatives set the stage for a series of treaties (Ronald Reagan, a hawk in his first term, became a dove in his second) between the US and USSR that made massive cuts in the nuclear arsenals of both nations. The websites of Ballotpedia and the Initiative and Referendum Institute offer details on direct democracy, and are covered comprehensively in Let the People Rule (2020), by professor John Matsusaka at the Univ. of Southern California.

Some of the tactics promoted by Barry appear on the Take Action page of ForeignPolicyAlliance.org, including use of home-based teach-ins to expand the antiwar movement, and direct democracy with initiative and referendum elections, and advisory votes. In recent years Barry has mailed dozens of packages, and sent hundreds of letters and emails to antiwar and anti-nuke activists around the country to alert them to the power of direct democracy and local ballot measures, with some financial assistance provided by FPA.

Laisha Harris

Laisha Harris moved to Texas in 2017 and taught 8^thgrade middle school girls before going to law school. Her students encouraged her to get back into the community and work towards the change that she so desperately wanted to see in the world. She then went to, and graduated from, Thurgood Marshall School of Law at Texas Southern University.

Currently, she serves as an Assistant Public Defender at the Harris County Public Defender’s Office. She is the author of “A Tale of Two Americas” and “Qualified Immunity: The Court’s Brain Child and a License to Kill,” published by The Bridge. She is also the creator/organizer of “Legal Bootcamp,” which is an interactive community program that breaks down how the government and law works for kids and nonlawyers.