9/12/2023

My Dear Friend & POTUS, JRB,

            The highlight of my day yesterday was meeting 4-month-old, Cora, the daughter of a doctoral student. She stared at the Fijian Tapa bark print on my wall for a long time before turning her attention on me. Then she made the most cheerful noise. It made me smile for the rest of the day.

            Welcome back! It looks like your trip was a success, even if John Bolton (JRB) opined in the WP today that the 2023 G-20 was “evanescent” & all it produced was “rivers of deathless prose.” Clearly, JRB has mastered the art of obfuscating by employing big words & incomprehensible phrases.

            What do you make of the latest news from Burma? Is it a good thing that Sai Phyo Aung, a 22-year-old junta soldier, received 5 million Kyat for surrendering to the Karen Army with his gun & ammo? Should we be happy that H&M & Zara have pulled out of Burma due to "widespread worker abuse, unpaid wages & forced salary reductions, as well as union intimidation?” Will the unrest caused by this loss of income among the young women who work in those garment factories help us reach the tipping point in Burma that will topple the junta? I hope so.

            Did you see the piece in the NYT about Bayard Rustin (BR) celebrating his “intellectual fearlessness” & “resistance to party dogma?” I was thrilled to see BR’s quote about his “stand against injustice” & how it came from his “Quaker upbringing” which instilled in him “the concept of a single human family & the belief that all members of that family are equal.” I hope when you show the BHO’s upcoming film about him at the WH you invite some Quakers to join you.

            BYBS,