2025 Peace & Justice Conference unites activists for change
News Story by Caleb McGever | FāVS News
On March 15, the Peace and Justice Action League of Spokane (PJALS) will host its annual Peace & Justice Action Conference. This year’s theme is “Empowered Together: Collective Action for a Just Future.” The conference will be held at the Spokane Central Library from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and registration is open to anyone.
The conference provides participants from all around the Inland Northwest with opportunities to network, learn valuable skills and educate themselves to face today’s social justice issues. The event includes 16 workshops and a keynote speech titled “Bring Back Your People: Ten Ways Regular Folks Can Put a Dent in White Christian Nationalism.”
Who should come?
“Anybody who is willing to really listen and really wrestle with the many things that we are struggling with as a country and as a world right now,” said keynote speaker Aaron Scott, a church worker and leader with the Poor People’s Campaign.
The event has four workshop tracks: “Organizing: A Science & An Art,” “Current Issues and Ways Forward,” “Racial Justice: Dismantling Systems, Building Power” and “Sustaining Ourselves, Sustaining Our Movement.” The workshops are led by a variety of academics and activists.
Different workshops within each track topics like protest organization, recruitment strategies, legal rights when interacting with immigration enforcement and using race-class analysis for policy change.
Liz Moore, executive director of PJALS, said that the workshops provide grassroots leadership development and education for action while also creating a space for networking and connection.
“This event is for people who are considering what it might mean to become an activist, or to be to be more active,” said Moore. “This event is for people who have been active in the community, or active and paying attention to what’s happening in Congress and what’s coming out of the White House, and for people who want to think about how they can use their energy most effectively to make the changes they want to see.”
There will also be a workshop called “Countering White Christian Nationalism” led by Scott, who’s keynote speech is on the same topic. Scott said that the speech is about resisting white Christian nationalism and learning how to communicate with its supporters.
“I really think of it as us, just as regular people, really deciding together what kind of country we want to be and what kind of country we want to live in. And I think what’s at stake is pretty clear right now,” Scott said.
“I’m a Christian, and I think Christians in particular have a responsibility in this moment when we really are seeing our tradition weaponized. Against vulnerable people. That’s a really deep betrayal of Christian values to see Christianity used to justify violence, to justify scapegoating immigrant people, to justify deepening poverty and inequality,” Scott said.
Moore emphasized the timeliness of Scott’s message not just to Christians, but to everybody because of the way it is used in politics and culture.
“We can see that nationally in terms of how the anti-choice and anti-trans and anti-woman agendas are being moved at the national level under the cloak of some kind of claim of divine authority and divine righteousness, in terms of advancing those harmful agendas,” Moore said.
Despite the heavy topics that will make up the day’s discussion, Moore said that every year the Peace and Justice Action Conference ultimately becomes a time of hope and community for everyone involved.
“People tell us that it really charges up their activist batteries,” she said. “This is an event that helps you feel hopeful because you’re present with like-minded folks and people who also have kind of a fire in the belly for justice, and that’s really energizing and necessary to feel that sense of connection and community with each other as we do this work.”
Registration cost is $70 for general public and $50 for members of PJALS and co-sponsoring groups. There is also a $20 “living lightly” category for financially-strained participants. If cost is a barrier, participants are encouraged to reach out to Shantell Jackson at sjackson@pjals.org.
To register or find more information, check out the 2025 Peace & Justice Action Conference event page.
