For the 21st time, the Interfaith Council of Franklin County and Traprock Center for Peace & Justice have honored teens from Franklin County for social justice accomplishments in their schools, churches or wider community.
In 2020 the traditional May timing met with Covid-19 restrictions and caution. Thus no special evening event was possible, as in years passed, when the students were honored with music and many friends and supporters at Greenfield Community College.
This year was different, as via zoom, twelve Franklin County students and two student groups, from the eighth through 12th grades, were honored on May 27. See media coverage here. And the full program is now available on YouTube, here.

MY TURN, Greenfield Recorder, June 2, 2021

By HIND MARI, ABED JARADAT, KAREN PFEIFFER, CLAUDIA LEFKO, SHERRILL HOGEN, CLARE OVERLANDER and SUZANNE CARLSON

The resurgent violence in Israel/ Palestine has created a humanitarian crisis that breaks our hearts and demands the attention of the U.S. government, as U.S. tax dollars — your constituents’ tax dollars, our tax dollars — fund the military aid that’s killing Palestinians, destroying their homes and other critical, life-sustaining infrastructure in Gaza. Israel is not “protecting itself ”; it’s an occupying force protecting its domination. It cannot, under international law, dominate Palestinians and then use the claim of self-defense in order to protect that domination. We know there have been deaths in Israel. We’re saddened by all loss of life, Israeli and Palestinian, but one must recognize the disproportionality: approximately 20 Palestinians to each Israeli...
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