Andrew Rice Visits Brownwood Texas

Andrew Rice Visits Brownwood & Speaks to Brownwood Human Rights Committee
Peace activist plans B'wood speech stop

By Kim Garrett -- Brownwood Bulletin

When Andrew Rice considers the wartime fate of ordinary men, women and children in Iraq, his own heart aches.

Rice, 29, lost his brother, David, a 31-year-old investment banker, when the World Trade Center was attacked on Sept. 11, 2001. And in the retaliatory words of the American government, he sees the pain of his own family's story multiplied again and again.
Rice will visit Brownwood this week to speak to residents about his and other peace activists' work. Hosted by the Brownwood Human Rights Committee, Rice will speak at 6 p.m. Monday at Steve's Market and Deli, 110 East Chandler Street.
Rice is not a pacifist, but he believes warfare never cured the kind of ills America now faces. His belief has changed the course of his life, moving him to Texas, closer to his roots, and into work with Peaceful Tomorrows, a group of families working for peace who lost loved ones in 9/11.
Having grown up in Oklahoma, Rice was looking to move closer to his roots and find meaningful work when he moved to Austin to work on the Fundamentalism Education Project with Texas Freedom Network. Next stop was Houston, where he still lives, working as an organizer for Peaceful Tomorrows.
The former theology student and journalist has drawn on the peaceful tenets of the Christian religion and the American nation's democratic basis to fuel his arguments against full-scale war in the Middle East, against Middle Eastern peoples. Losing David pushed him further in the direction of finding peaceful solutions.
His words have brought mixed reactions. Some listeners feel the peace activists are naive. But "many, many people ... really believe [going to war against Iraq is] probably going to make us less safe," Rice said.
Rice and his family spent the first anniversary in New York City, visiting "The Pit" at Ground Zero and attending services at the church David attended. It was "very powerful," Rice said, "moving, emotional."
And the emotions only reinforced what he already felt -- that though he wants the members of al Qaeda brought to justice, it should only be through just means.
For information on Peaceful Tomorrows, log onto:
http://www.peacefultomorrows.org/.

source: http://www.brownwoodbulletin.com/articles/2002/12/15/news/news02.prt
Media Coverage 2001–2002
Peaceful Tomorrows in the news media

December 15, 2002
Peace activist plans B'wood speech stop
Brownwood Bulletin

source: http://www.peacefultomorrows.org/inthenews2001-2002.htm