Grafton Peace Pagoda
87 Crandall Road
Petersburg, NY 12138
(518) 658-9301
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: March 10, 2000
Contact: Naomi Jaffe (518) 272-0501
Petersburg, NY, March 10 - On Monday, Jun Yasuda, a Japanese Buddhist nun living at the Grafton Peace Pagoda in rural Rensselaer County, will begin a 600-mile walk from Boston to southwestern Pennsylvania in support of alternatives to imprisonment, ending the death penalty, and a new trial for Pennsylvania Death Row prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal. She has issued an invitation to those who share her concerns to join her for all or any part of her walk.
The walk will begin with a vigil at Norfolk Prison in Massachusetts on March 12th, and end on April 24th at S.C.I. Greene prison in Pennsylvania, where Jamal and nearly 200 other prisoners are on Death Row. Ms. Yasuda will cross parts of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, stopping for prayer vigils at prisons along the way.
"All living things are sacred," said Ms. Yasuda, explaining the purpose of the walk. "Punishment is no solution; putting people in cages is no solution; more killing is no solution. These things happen because of fear. We believe in taking care of each other in a human way, with compassion."
Ms. Yasuda is a veteran of thousands of miles of prayer walks. Her saffron robes and haunting, soft Buddhist drum beat are a regular feature of protests, marches and vigils in upstate New York, where she lives, and in other parts of the country, where she regularly travels, often on foot, to help bring non-violent solutions to social crises. The Grafton Peace Pagoda, a Buddhist dome on rocky farmland in the foothills of the Berkshires, is also the site of prayers, vigils and gatherings in support of a more just and peaceful society.
[posted 3/27/00]
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