The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) is the official NGO of the Society of Friends, better known as the Quakers. The Quakers, of course, have historically stood against war and spoke—and acted—in the name of non-violence. About a decade ago, a colleague and I—both graduates of Quaker schools—penned a piece in The Philadelphia Inquirer looking at how the AFSC had a troubling history of conflating politics with pacifism. Opposition to the Vietnam War is one thing; support and apologia for the Khmer Rouge against the backdrop of that regime’s genocide was another. Then there is the group’s cooperation with North Korea, perhaps the world’s most repressive regime. And, then there is a group’s participation in a gala dinner for notorious Holocaust denier Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and its casual embrace of anti-Semitism. The problem is not Quakerism in the least; it is that the organization propounding to represent their values has been hijacked by radicals.
The latest example? An essay regarding the ongoing violence in Baltimore that seemingly rationalizes and excuses violence. Is police brutality a problem? It could be. Does racism exist? Yes. Do African Americans in Baltimore feel marginalized? Yes. (Could the problem be big government policies and empty social justice rhetoric that excuses personal accountability? Well, that’s not a discussion that passes the AFSC’s political litmus test even if it is perfectly compatible with Quaker values). But none of that should be any excuse for an essay written against the backdrop of violence which is going to adversely impact Baltimore and its black population for years if not decades which directly or indirectly justifies that violence. That’s not smart. That’s not justice. And that’s not Quakerly.
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