March 2007 Newsletter

If you were among the crowd gathered to hear Sister Helen Prejean at the CCDBR gathering on March 15, you know how brilliantly she and defense attorney Tom Breen inspired us to deepen our understanding of the moral and constitutional horrors of the death penalty. We are proud to have brought Sister Helen, a writer and spokesperson of world prominence on this issue, to Chicago under our auspices. The diverse audience, including college students, Night Ministry homeless teenagers, church people and secular civil libertarians, offered CCDBR a chance to build its membership base and outreach; and we intend to build on this success.

As part of the expansion of our audience, we are opening the first part of our board meeting on Tuesday, March 27, to all supporters who wish to attend – both those who have already become members and others who might be interested. The program, to be held at our office, will consist of two half-hour briefings — as described above.

After some fits and starts, our “Acting Free” program will be launched in September at Senn High School, where we will join Pegasus Theater in developing and producing student plays on the theme of civil liberties.

We are also pursuing our concerns about participation by the Boeing Corporation, headquartered in Chicago, in “rendition” torture flights. Boeing has responded non-committally to our initial inquiry; and we will be taking further steps to cast light on this operation.

We are most grateful for the financial support so many of you have offered recently; and we need and welcome more of the same!

Sincerely,
Bob Clarke