This week on “The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast,” I speak with my friend of 35 years, legendary folk singer Joan Baez. She’s a lifelong activist for peace, justice, civil and human rights, and an equally passionate believer in nonviolence. She has released over 30 albums, traveled the world singing for peace for over 60 years, published a great autobiography called “And a Voice to Sing With,” and recently published her first collection of poems, “When you see my mother, ask her to dance.” Joan performed Woodstock, opened Live Aid, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. PBS did a spectacular biography of her which I recommend called “How Sweet the Sound,” and she was featured recently in the Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown,” brilliantly played by actress Monica Barbaro. I’ve always thought she should be awarded the Nobel peace prize for all the great good she’s done in the world. She was a close friend of Dr. King; arrested for protesting the Vietnam war; went to Hanoi, and was bombed by the US. She has been against all our wars and injustices because she has a lifelong commitment to nonviolence. Listen as Joan reveals how her Quaker parents influenced her early childhood and the effect of living in Baghdad for a year and how a meeting with long time peace activist Ira Sandperl, and later hearing Dr. King speak at her high school, changed her life forever. Joan is surprisingly candid when it comes to sharing her own failings and how meditation has become a crucial part of her daily routine. When I asked her about founding “The Institute for the Study of Nonviolence” in the 1960s, she talked about the one hour requirement of sitting in silence each morning. “Many people had their first acquaintance with nonviolence through that experience of silence,” she says. Her honesty is disarming and reflects how many of us feel today. She also shares personal anecdotes about Dorothy Day, Thomas Merton, Dr. King and her experience with Vaclav Havel and the Czech Republic’s Velvet Revolution. Listen in as she quotes Gandhi and T.S. Elliot when encouraging me and all of us to be activists, and then reads me her new poem, “This Is Not Optimism.” As a fan of Joan Baez since the age of five, I was thrilled when we concluded by reading together her brilliant 1960s essay, “What Would You Do If," a dialogue about the threat of personal assault. Finally, when I ask her for any parting thoughts for our listeners, Joan breaks into song, singing the Civil Rights anthem, “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around”, guaranteed to give you chills! At 84, Joan Baez is still carrying her “shining light out into the shit storm,” as she puts it, and I feel blessed and grateful to know her even better from this podcast. Please share it with all your folk music loving, peace activist, and nonviolent Jesus following friends, and take heart once more! www.joanbaez.com
