Longtime peace activist Houser visits

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February 27, 2003
By NICOLE STRICKER
Sentinel correspondent

As a conscientious objector during World War II, George Houser launched what would become a lifetime of cutting-edge social activism.
He went to prison in 1940 for refusing to register for the draft. He spent the ’40s promoting civil rights through nonviolence. And by 1951, he had taken on apartheid in South Africa, nearly 30 years before the issue entered the national consciousness.
Houser, now in his mid-80s, will recount these experiences during a two week visit to Santa Cruz.
“It’s a chance for people to really interact with one of the true mentors and wise people in the non-violence movement,” said Scott Kennedy, co-founder of the Resource Center for Nonviolence, which sponsored the visit.
During his years advocating African liberation, Houser befriended Kenneth Kaunda, who would later become the first president of Zambia. Known as the “Gandhi of Africa,” Kaunda led the country’s struggle for independence. Kaunda will visit Santa Cruz during Houser’s stay and both men will appear publicly Monday.
A graduate of Berkeley High School and the University of Denver, Houser attended graduate school at New York’s Union Theological Seminary. After two years, escalating world war derailed his religious studies.
In 1940, Houser went to prison for neglecting to sign up for the draft. Although the 24-year-old seminary student was exempt from military duty, Houser and seven of his classmates refused to register in protest of the Selective Service Act.
“We would not accept our ministerial exemption,” Houser said. “Our objection was to a peacetime draft that included military action.”
Houser served nearly 10 months of his one-year-and-one-day sentence in federal prison, and was released for good behavior. A few months later, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and the United States entered World War II.
But by then, Houser had become interested in race relations and civil rights.
“Here was something on our home front that we could deal with through the non-violent method,” Houser said.
In 1946 he co-founded the Congress of Racial Equality. One year later, he helped organize the first Freedom Ride into the South. By the time the civil rights movement was in full swing, Houser had again redirected his energies.
In 1955, he left the Fellowship of Reconciliation and became executive director of the American Committee on Africa, a nongovernmental organization working for freedom and equality in Africa.
Through this he met Kaunda, and when he later became president of Zambia, Houser was a guest at the celebration.
Houser’s life and work have been featured in several PBS documentaries including “The Good War and Those Who Refused to Fight It” and “You Don’t Have to Ride Jim Crow.”
Houser’s Santa Cruz speaking engagements will touch on his past and current peace efforts.
“There will undoubtedly be some discussion of questions around Iraq,” Houser said. “I am among those that oppose President Bush. ... The U.S. is really imposing its position at the U.N. and, in effect, trying to bypass the U.N.”
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Contact Nicole Stricker at nstricker (at) santa-cruz.com.
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If you go
WHAT: An Evening with George Houser. The activist for peace and equal rights here and in Africa will speak about his experiences.
WHEN: 7:30-9 p.m. today.
WHERE: Darling House Bed and Breakfast, 314 West Cliff Drive, Santa Cruz.
COST: Donation requested.
For a list of Santa Cruz events at which Houser will be through March 10, Checkwww.rcnv.org or call 423-1626.