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US Peace Memorial Foundation |
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
B. ABOUT THE US PEACE REGISTRY
B.1 How will U.S. peace
efforts be recognized?
Personal and organizational peace and antiwar activities by
Americans are recognized by the US
Peace Registry and US Peace Prize.
Potential registrants provide behaviorally specific
biographical information, with supporting documentation, which is reviewed by
Foundation staff. Those reviewed and fully vetted are recommended to the
Board of Directors for approval. An
electronic edition of the US Peace Registry will eventually be
accessible at the memorial.
B.2 How can I become
listed in the US
Peace Registry?
Individuals or organizations wishing to be listed in the Registry are asked to provide specific
examples of their antiwar and peace activism with related brief biographical
information and supporting documentation (see individual application
and organization application
for requirements). That information will
be reviewed by US Peace Registry editors and the Foundation's Board of
Directors.
We do not want this
to become an onerous task or for you to feel that your listing must be
comprehensive. Just include whatever
information is readily available to you or a sampling of your actions. Additional action/behaviors can be included
at a later date. The US
Peace Registry will always be a work in progress and an approved
listing can be updated or revised at any time.
B.3 Can I nominate
a person or organization to be recognized by the US Peace Registry?
Only Founding
Members can nominate an individual or organization to be recognized
by the US Peace Registry. Be
sure to provide contact information for the nominee so that they can be
notified. Self-nominations will be
considered by provide the information requested in the individual application or the organization application.
B.4 How does one update
or revise one's own entry in US
Peace Registry?
If there are revisions, go to US Peace Registry and copy your current entry. Paste it
into a new Word document and use track changes or otherwise highlight the words or URLs that
have been added or deleted. Because of the verification and Board approval
process, we don’t have the volunteer resources to compare a current online
version with a revised version to determine what exactly has been amended. We welcome additions and corrections and ask that they be sent to Registry@USPeaceMemorial.org.
A volunteer assistant editor
will make it consistent with our style. We'll let you know when the
revised listing is ready for your review online.
B.5 Some seemingly undeserving people are listed in the US
Peace Registry because... (a variety of reasons listed).
We do not judge the entire life of those listed in the US Peace Registry,
or the consistency of their behavior. We
accept and applaud significant antiwar/peace contributions that they have had
the courage to make. For example, many registrants have participated in
or supported US invasions, but at some point they
decided to publicly oppose a particular war.
Many citizens are reluctant to speak out against a US war
because those who do so are often labeled “un-American”, “antimilitary”, and
“unpatriotic”, and can suffer reprisals. Our goal is to demonstrate that
advocating for peaceful solutions to international problems, or taking action
against one or more wars, is an honorable and socially acceptable activity.
If we can change the culture in this small way, more people will feel
comfortable speaking out and the government will be challenged more frequently
when it threatens, invades, or occupies other countries.
Although we are anxious to honor consistent and significant
peace leadership, the US
Peace Registry will help achieve the desired cultural change
by honoring the millions of thoughtful and committed Americans who have
taken a public antiwar stand at some point in their life. We are
identifying a broad range of peace and antiwar activities in a continuum from participating in a single
action to devoting one's entire adult life to peace and opposing war. We
recognize a person who, for example, simply published a letter to the editor of
their hometown newspaper opposing the invasion of Panama, even if they didn't
speak out against the 30+ other US invasions since the end of WW II.
Any public antiwar act is important enough to recognize,
because it demonstrates some level of courage and establishes that citizens are
capable of attempting to stop the bloodshed. We will be successful if we
increase the number of citizens willing to engage in such behavior.
B.6 I am uncomfortable
with some of the organizations listed in the Registry.
Don't you use any judgment in selecting which groups and individuals to
include?
We try to be nonjudgmental about who belongs in the US Peace Registry
as long as the person or organization has engaged in significant antiwar
activities that are nonviolent. Even if they break laws, the Foundation
will document their actions. We know that many Americans who actively
oppose war have multiple detractors. Certainly
every one of the US Peace Prize winners www.uspeacememorial.org/PEACEPRIZE.htm
has been condemned by others. We don't evaluate the
effectiveness, legality, political correctness, motivation, or appropriateness
of nonviolent antiwar actions.
B.7 Braggadocio is
a big turn off to many antiwar people.
Convince me that the US Peace Registry isn’t about self-promotion.
Braggadocio and self-promotion
couldn't be farther from our motivation.
The intent of the US Peace
Registry is to write a living history, document human
behavior, and identify role models for US peace activities. The US Peace Registry will help Americans understand some options for
action against war. The specific
behaviors listed in each record are intended to provide ideas and
guidance. Role models are listed to
inspire Americans to speak out for peace and to work to end the hatred,
ignorance, greed, and intolerance that lead to war. We are documenting specific actions that
Americans have used to oppose war. We
suspect that in the final analysis we will have listed several hundred discrete
antiwar behaviors. The people and
organizations included in the US Peace
Registry are not braggarts or
self-promoters, but role models for other Americans. Their activities are behaviors that others
can use as models for action, now and in the future.
The US Peace Memorial will make it
clear to Americans that opposing war is honorable and socially acceptable, and
that our nation has a long history of courageous citizens who have opposed
wars. A national monument to peacemakers
can change our cultural mindset so that it will no longer be acceptable to
label those who speak out against war as un-American, antimilitary, traitorous,
or unpatriotic. We hope the memorial
will decrease the barriers that citizens must overcome before they speak out
against a war.
The military honors its heroes and
reinforces warrior behavior with medals, promotions, ceremonies, and
monuments. This has resulted in a
country that recognizes contributions to war and the sacrifices of the
military. People who make valiant
efforts to maintain global peace should also be honored. The US Peace Memorial Foundation is
attempting to balance the picture so that more Americans will know that
peacemaking is an honorable endeavor.
The current wars won't be our last
and future generations need to know how thoughtful individuals have promoted
peace. If those in the peace movement
are concerned that speaking about their actions to promote peace will be seen
as bragging, they may be missing an opportunity to document their
contributions. We at the Foundation
think it is important to catalogue these activities in order to educate people,
stimulate conversations, and lead to positive interventions for peace. Please help us to get that message across.
US Peace Memorial Foundation, Inc. is a
tax-exempt 501(c)(3) public charity.
Donations to the Foundation are tax deductible to the extent
provided by law.
Florida registration #: CH20094. A COPY OF THE OFFICIAL REGISTRATION AND
FINANCIAL INFORMATION MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE FLORIDA DIVISION OF CONSUMER
SERVICES BY CALLING TOLL-FREE (800-435-7352) WITHIN THE STATE.
REGISTRATION DOES NOT IMPLY ENDORSEMENT, APPROVAL, OR RECOMMENDATION BY THE
STATE.
Copyright 2005-2020, US Peace Memorial
Foundation, Inc.