The Kairos Center is hosting a panel on militarism as part of End the War on the Poor: Confronting Militarism and the War Economy, A Convening at @PeoplesForumNYC If you cant make it, follow along our live tweeting here.
@PeoplesForumNYC “Movements begins with the telling of untold stories” and “storytelling is the beginning of how we organize ourselves” - Shailly Gupta-Barnes introducing the panel in the context of building a movement against militarism
@PeoplesForumNYC "Career day was Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard at my high school." - Jose Vasquez, Executive Director of Common Defense one of the panelists on his path into the military
@PeoplesForumNYC "The US has been on a warpath since its inception...In the midst of all this war and suffering there is resistance and hope." - Jose Vasquez on how he is "working to tip the scales of justice" towards peace.
@PeoplesForumNYC "The part of the [partially closed] base that was redeveloped...boasted 4000 jobs but the single largest employer is the federal prison hospital." - Lindsay Koshgarian, Program Director of the National Priorities Project, on the effects of militarism in her old town.
Pauline Pisno performs Capital G and invites the audience to think about “what are some new ways that we can get involved in this cultural shift?” 
"I joined the military so I didn't have to kill or get killed." - Huggy Bear introducing his poem on militarism based on his experiences.
"We are experiencing a direct and increasingly violent and lawless war on the most visible manifestation of poverty: homelessness" - Anthony Prince with the Natl. Union of the Homeless, on recent news of another police raid of a homeless camp in California.
"Not only are these children carrying a price tag over them but they're being exposed to toxic contamination...[that causes health problems] like cancer and kidney failure." - Guadalupe de la Cruz on immigrant detention centers near superfund sites in her hometown.
"Its hard to talk about my experience without talking about the experience of millions of immigrants who have been forced to be here." - Claudia de la Cruz, Executive Director of @PeoplesForumNYC on her story as a child of immigrants forced to leave the Dominican Republic.
“A warrior understands that we fight to make a stand, no matter the injustice we might see. I’m telling you that’s nothing but that truth. I’ll be the best warrior I can be.” - Adam Cox and Charon Hribar performing a song before the q and a.
"I believe what it is that the #PoorPeoplesCampaign is asking us to do is to remember where we come from, where we are going, and what we are for." - Trinny Rodriguez on how part of militarization is "to make us feel that we don't count."
Shailly Gupta-Barnes closes out by reminding us with the quote we began with, "stories are where we begin," noting that this is just the beginning and that "we are not connected to this conversation for a bigger fight...a charge that comes out of the deepest faith traditions."
