Commentaries
A Return to the Roots of Mother's Day
By Len Ellis
May 14, 2023
As we recognize and celebrate Mother’s Day, let us first remember and honor Julia Ward Howe. Julia Ward Howe was heartbroken and distressed seeing the ravages of the American Civil War. She wrote “The Battle Hymn of The Republic” as a way to express her anguish and outrage, and saw this was not enough to bring about change. I see her as one of the first feminists, striving to make equality of the sexes a reality. A true visionary, she also saw that peace, the end of war as a way to resolve conflict, was equally as important.
In 1870, the Franco-Prussian war erupted, and Julia Ward Howe began to organize women, her goal to petition Congress to end all wars. A true activist, she took her campaign international, issuing a “Manifesto For Peace” at conferences in Paris and London. In 1872 she put forth and promoted the idea of a “Mother’s Day For Peace” to be celebrated on June 2 each year, and in 1873 women in 18 U.S. cities made this a reality.
Anna Jarvis was another trailblazer during the Civil War, establishing and organizing “Mother’s Work Days.” Julia Ward Howe was directly influenced by Jarvis’ tireless work and activism. Jarvis’ daughter, also named Anna, motivated by her mother’s and Howe’s work for equality and peace, established the first “Mother’s Day” celebration in West Virginia in 1907. Through Jarvis’ activism, by 1912, 45 states had official declarations, and in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson signed the celebration into law.
Within a few years, Jarvis became disappointed with the increasing commercialization of Mother’s Day. In keeping with the intentions of peace and equality and justice, the original purpose of Howe and Jarvis, I invite you to look beyond the ‘feel-good’ façade and ask yourself “how can I honor the work of these visionary and brave women? What can I do to promote peace and equality?” I encourage you to look in the mirror and affirm “Peace Begins With ME!” and then go out into the world and make a difference.
I want to point out that both Howe and Jarvis saw the power in organizing people toward a common goal. While we each have power as individuals, when we come together in a focused purpose, our energy and effect is multiplied many times over. Looking at the peace movement, I believe Howe was the first to put forth an organized effort to end war. Compare this to the thousands of years that humans have used violence and war to address conflict, we’re just now coming into our own as a force for peace. This is why it is so important to support peace-oriented organizations, both financially and physically, to keep the momentum going, to add to the consciousness of peace and nonviolence. As I requested previously, ask yourself how you can get involved, how you can support your local or national peace efforts. Know in your heart – Peace Begins with ME!
A Mexican Mother’s Search for Justice
by José Espericueta
In early October, Lucía Díaz, founder of Colectivo Solecito, and Dr. Matt Hone, an independent researcher, came to Dallas from Veracruz, Mexico to talk about the thousands of disappeared victims of the country’s ongoing drug violence. The particular event that I helped to organize was in collaboration with Doctors Nils Ackerman and Pedro Gonzalez Corona from the University of Texas at Dallas’s Holocaust Studies Center. It was hosted by the University of Dallas and funded in part by the Dallas Peace and Justice Center.
Lucía told the painful story of the disappearance of her son. In 2013, her son Guillermo, a popular DJ with no connection to the drug cartels in Veracruz, was kidnapped and then disappeared. What makes this all the more heartbreaking is noting that Lucia’s wounds have yet to heal because she knows nothing about his whereabouts. Moreover, she has received little help from law enforcement or government officials. The work to find Guillermo has been undertaken by Lucía and mothers like her because this is not just her story, but that of thousands of other mothers whose children have also disappeared throughout Mexico, most of whom are innocent victims of the country’s drug violence.
Rough estimates put the number of disappeared around 40,000. But this number is likely far greater simply because family members are too scared to reach out to police that may be both corrupt and intertwined with powerful drug cartels. Lucía has left her job as a university professor to form Colectivo Solecito (“Little Sun Collective”) and work with other mothers who are searching for information regarding their children. Much of this work involves following tips, digging for mass graves, and providing a support network for the families of those disappeared. They do work that the police refuse to do, risking their own lives in a search for both justice and closure.
