Letter to council from David Hazen

This letter was sent Dec. 2, 2013 to Eugene city officials from peace activist David Hazen.

Dear Mayor and City Councilors,

I have been alerted to the intention of the EPD to evict the occupants of Whoville on December 20, and I am asking you to redirect and postpone this action toward a more compassionate result. I am ready to move mountains to make Eugene a compassionate city. Would you like to meet for tea and talk, and if so what times work for you?

I am asking you to consider the importance of healing the past traumatic experiences of our economic refugees and not adding more trauma. I am asking you to consider the evidence that a capacity exists among the wounded, disenfranchised peoples within Eugene to unite into a self-healing community.

I wish to convert this apparent conflict between the city and the economic refugees in our midst into a model of cooperative learning and problem-solving at the deepest root level. I am certain that the expertise and resources to do this are available here and now.

Recently, my mentor and president of the National Peace Academy, Dot Maver, alerted me to the leading edge of community peace-building, which is to re-frame the process as a public health challenge, to become a trauma-informed community. This is a link to a one-page summary of an excellent 30-page description of a public health approach to healing trauma. I hope it helps you understand where I’m headed.

The City of Tarpon Springs is taking steps to become a “trauma informed community.” Robin Saenger — former Vice Mayor of Tarpon Springs – and Dr. Andrea Blanch — Senior Consultant with the National Center on Trauma Informed Care talk about what that means and how we can all be a part of this movement in this video (11 minutes). See below.

Gratefully,

David Hazen

Imagineer, Eugene Peace Team

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ej5cECdoAP8

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