FOR-USA is thrilled to welcome Ariel Gold as executive director. Our fearless new leader, the first Jewish executive director in FOR-USA’s history, obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Policy Analysis and Management from Cornell University and her Master’s degree in Social Work from Binghamton University, State University of New York. Before joining FOR-USA, Ariel spent seven years with CODEPINK, serving as their national co-director and specializing in Middle East policy analysis. Until being deported and banned by Israel in 2018, she traveled once or twice a year to Palestine to work on the ground with the grassroots Palestinian nonviolent movement. You can learn more about Ariel in this interview in the new issue. She has an editorial on the following page.
This fall the Fellowship of Reconciliation has welcomed a pair of highly respected peace activists to our team. We are very excited to collaborate with these new consultant colleagues who are honing FOR’s program, communications and organizational strategic planning efforts.
Rev. Graylan Scott Hagler is lead adviser for our campaigns to combat Christian nationalism, white supremacy, and structural violence and oppression. Well known as a prophetic voice for oppressed communities of color in the U.S. as well as targeted populations internationally, he serves as co-chair of the D.C. Poor People’s Campaign and of the Black Homeownership Strike Task Force. Rev. Hagler has served congregations in Chicago, Boston and Washington D.C., and is pastor emeritus of Plymouth Congregational UCC in the nation’s capital following 30 years of service as its senior minister. Having long been involved in work to end wars and militarism, in 2016 Hagler led a transformative clergy witness delegation to Palestine, following which he received death threats back in the U.S. He was undeterred, saying, “Silence is not an option when your eyes have seen and your heart is filled with memories of Jim Crow, apartheid, discrimination and human beings’ inhumanity to other human beings.” In 2021, he co-organized efforts throughout the United Church of Christ to call on houses of worship, especially white-majority congregations, to declare themselves “White Supremacy-Free Spaces.” You can get to know Rev. Hagler’s voice through his recent article.
Christopher Smiley is FOR’s new social media specialist, drawing on his distinguished career of multimedia work. Smiley has worked as an editor, producer and director at several leading progressive organizations and media outlets, including Veterans For Peace, If Americans Knew, Afghanistan TV, and The Peace Report. He is an independent documentary filmmaker whose television and film projects have been distributed through diverse communications platforms, including social media accounts that Smiley has helped grow to hundreds of thousands of followers. With FOR now releasing dozens of videos and multimedia resources each year via our media channels, we are delighted to have Chris on board to focus and strengthen our messaging and distribution strategy.
We also pay special tribute to Bill McGarvey, another key member of our team. An award-winning media professional, McGarvey has consulted with FOR-USA since late 2019 on many facets of our communications and organizational strategy. Specializing in content that explores the intersections of religion and culture, McGarvey’s skills as a best-selling author, musician and filmmaker have advanced a wide range of FOR’s multimedia projects. He directed and produced a 30-minute documentary titled “#Occupy@10: An Oral History” in late 2021, which this year has received awards and honorable nominations from several international film festivals, including in Berlin, Cannes (France), Munich, and St. Petersburg (Russia)! Check out our YouTube page (@FellowshipUSA) to watch that celebrated short film and dozens of other videos McGarvey has edited and produced on behalf of FOR.