Social Justice

They gathered in the shadow of the Cathedral Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul, Philadelphia's main Catholic church, in an amen chorus of support for nuns. "For Sister Marie Timothy, who assured me I didn't have an attitude problem and that I was a strong woman in the making," said a school nurse. "For Sister Evelyn, who put my feet on the path of demonstrating in Washington in 1972," said a baby boomer. "To Sister Mary Paul, for teaching us the mysteries of sex in middle school!"

With a boom box hanging from one shoulder, an old mailbag with his possessions slung over the other shoulder and a walking stick in hand, Junebug Jabbo Jones strolls onto the stage at the Painted Bride Art Center. The bearded, middle-age black man is dressed in denim overalls topped by a sport coat. A red bandanna is tied around his throat, and a brand new trilby hat sits jauntily on his head. He looks like an odd mixture of working man, tramp and sport. Junebug is the creation of actor John O'Neal, the star and only performer in Don't Start Me to Talkin' or I'll Tell You Everything I Know: Sayings From the Life and Writings of Junebug Jabbo Jones.

The vice-presidential candidacy of Sen. Joe Lieberman, an Orthodox Jew, should evoke alarm, not celebration, in the American Jewish community. As admirable as his religious views may be to many fellow believers, Jewish and Gentile alike, what really defines Lieberman is his repudiation of the Jewish tradition of secular humanism and support for social and economic justice. Since arriving in the United States in large numbers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the vast majority of Jews have been secular humanists who have championed public education and social insurance programs for the sick, poor, disabled and elderly.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's easy slide to victory in the Brazilian election this Sunday may be prevented by the disillusioned people in the social movements who originally put him in power. "We may vote for Sen. Heloisa Helena in the first round of the election," said Marcus Arruda from the Institute for Policy Alternatives. That could prevent Lula from getting more than 50 percent of the vote and force him into a runoff on Oct. 29. Heloisa Helena Lima de Moraes is a former member of Lula's Workers' Party.

African American Women and Religion By Bettye Collier-Thomas Alfred A. Knopf. 695 pp. $37.50 Reviewed by Marla Frederick Bettye Collier-Thomas' Jesus, Jobs and Justice is a tour de force for the study of women and religion. It navigates within and beyond the walls of institutional religion to delineate the tremendous contributions of African American women of faith to the larger American project. Collier-Thomas, professor of history at Temple University, makes the convincing argument that it was, indeed, the amazing networks of organizations that women developed in the 1920s and '30s that laid the foundation for the success of the civil rights movement.

CAIRO — In Tahrir Square, the only reminders of last year's Arab Spring are a handful of tattered tents and the hawkers who sell leftover trinkets from the revolution. Many secular Egyptians who once demanded democracy now fear that they ousted a secular autocracy only to see it replaced with an Islamic one — ushered in by the ballot. Yet the liberals, leftists, and moderate Muslims who organized the revolt failed to do the one thing that would block an Islamist victory — unite around a single candidate for the presidency in the first round of elections on Wednesday and Thursday.

Caroline "Cary" Isard, 91, of Drexel Hill, an advocate for social justice, died of pneumonia at Delaware County Memorial Hospital on Wednesday, Dec. 1. Her husband of 68 years, Walter Isard, died Nov. 6. In 1956, Mrs. Isard and her husband, an economist who had just joined the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania, moved to Drexel Hill. The corner property with seven bedrooms had plenty of room for their large family and a history appropriate for the new owners, who were Quaker civil rights activists.

Charles Coates Walker, 83, of Cheyney, an advocate for peace and social justice, died of complications of diabetes July 11 at Barclay Friends Nursing Home in West Chester. In 1991, after more than 50 years as a peace activist, Mr. Walker traveled to India to receive the Jamnalal Bajaj Foundation Award, which recognizes those who promote the nonviolent ideals of Mahatma Gandhi. During World War II, Mr. Walker, a Quaker and conscientious objector, went to jail rather than fight.

George Tamaccio, 62, a man of conviction who loved this country and Philadelphia yet chose a prison term instead of fighting in Vietnam, died Dec. 21 of lymphoma at Vancouver General Hospital in British Columbia. Mr. Tamaccio moved to Vancouver Island in 2005 after decades as an activist in Philadelphia-area political, environmental and social justice causes, such as opposing nuclear energy and overdevelopment, and advocating clean water and urban housing. A longtime resident of West Mount Airy, Mr. Tamaccio was a sought-after political consultant who got out the vote through door-to-door canvassing of thousands of households, and was a leader for decades in citizen-action groups seeking to change government policies.

James T. Ryan, of Lansdowne, 71, a labor educator and social justice activist, died of cancer Tuesday at home. For 26 years, Dr. Ryan was director of the Training and Upgrading Fund of District 1, Local 199C of the National Union of Hospital and Healthcare Employees, AFL-CIO. The fund was created in 1974 in a collective-bargaining agreement between the union and nine Philadelphia hospitals. Its purpose is to provide educational benefits to assist union members and the community to upgrade job skills and to keep pace with increasing technological demands.

CAIRO — In Tahrir Square, the only reminders of last year's Arab Spring are a handful of tattered tents and the hawkers who sell leftover trinkets from the revolution. Many secular Egyptians who once demanded democracy now fear that they ousted a secular autocracy only to see it replaced with an Islamic one — ushered in by the ballot. Yet the liberals, leftists, and moderate Muslims who organized the revolt failed to do the one thing that would block an Islamist victory — unite around a single candidate for the presidency in the first round of elections on Wednesday and Thursday.

H Fred Clark, 75, of Center City, a social activist who was one of a trio of Philadelphia scientists whose work on the rotavirus vaccine is credited with saving children's lives worldwide since 2006, died of complications from heart and Parkinson's diseases Saturday, April 28, at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center. The target of the vaccine was rotavirus, "a cause of fever, vomiting and diarrhea and dehydration in young children," said Dr. Paul Offit, who along with Dr. Stanley Plotkin, formed the trio.

For the second time this year, a group of Occupy Philly protesters have walked out of court free and clear after a Philadelphia judge on Thursday dismissed all charges against them. "I feel like this is a good day for the First Amendment and for the right of people to speak out against economic injustice," Dustin Slaughter, 32, said after leaving the courtroom at the city's Criminal Justice Center. The freelance journalist and photographer was one of 30 defendants on trial for obstruction of a highway, failure to disperse and conspiracy stemming from a protest sparked when police forced the Occupiers from their Dilworth Plaza encampment outside City Hall on Nov. 30. After hearing from the lone prosecution witness, police Capt.

In March 2011, a former Rider University professor went to Philadelphia International Airport to meet a woman and her 13-year-old daughter he had met in an online chat room. In reality, Austin Ayers Winther had been communicating with an undercover police officer from Boise, Idaho, who was posing as both the woman and her daughter, "Jen. " Winther arrived at the airport expecting to have sex with the pair at a nearby hotel. Instead, he was met by federal agents. Winther, 65, of West Mount Airy, was sentenced Friday to more than seven years in federal prison and 10 years of supervised release.

It was the third day in August in 1965 when the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. held street-corner rallies throughout Philadelphia. Thousands waited for hours to see him at 13th and Fitzwater Streets, in the heart of the notorious Hawthorne Square high-rises, a public-housing project that was like a vertical slum. King was planning his March on Washington, and Louise Hanible, 72, can recall his plea that day. "He said, 'If you can't run, walk. If you can't walk, crawl, but make it your business to be part of the March on Washington,' " Hanible said.

Elizabeth Catlett, 96, a sculptor and printmaker renowned for her dignified portrayals of African American and Mexican women who was barred from her home country for political activism, died Monday in Cuernavaca, Mexico, where she had lived since 1976. Born in Washington, D.C., Ms. Catlett moved to Mexico in 1946, became friends with great Mexican muralist Diego Rivera and others in his circle, and married Mexican artist Francisco Mora. She became known for her commitment to winning greater rights for black people, women and workers in the United States and her adopted country.

Melvin R. "Randy" Primas Jr., 62, the first African American mayor of Camden and a prominent force for decades in the city's economic recovery efforts, died Thursday, March 1. Mr. Primas, who had bone-marrow cancer, lived in Fort Mill, S.C., at the time of his death. A member of a prominent Camden family, Mr. Primas was first elected to City Council at age 23 and was elected mayor at 31. Affable and optimistic in a city beset by crime and poverty, Mr. Primas won the support of residents and business leaders as he tried to redevelop Camden's Delaware River waterfront and restore vitality to the city's neighborhoods.

Melvin R. "Randy" Primas Jr., 62, the first African American mayor of Camden and a prominent force for decades in the city's economic recovery efforts, died Thursday, March 1. Mr. Primas, who had bone-marrow cancer, lived in Fort Mill, S.C., at the time of his death. A member of a prominent Camden family, Mr. Primas was first elected to City Council at age 23 and was elected mayor at 31. Affable and optimistic in a city beset by crime and poverty, Mr. Primas won the support of residents and business leaders as he tried to redevelop Camden's Delaware River waterfront and restore vitality to the city's neighborhoods.