Leonard Ellis
President of the Board
President@DallasPeaceCenter.org
Len (Leonard) Ellis has been a member of the Dallas Peace Center for eight years and a board member since 2003. He has served as Secretary, and co-chair of the Peacemaker Awards Dinner for two years. Len is employed full time as an electrical engineer, and also serves in the community. He is founder and co-director of Peace and Justice Center-Arlington, and board member of Unity Church of Arlington. He is an active member of Veterans For Peace, and has been nominated and accepted as an Ambassador For Peace by the International Federation for World Peace. Len has also been recognized and honored by the Foundation For Pluralism for his efforts in promoting peace. After the 9-11 tragedy, Len traveled to New York City, collected and brought back ashes from the World Trade Center to create the first physical memorial in Texas.
Elaine Emmert
Secretary of the Board
Secretary@DallasPeaceCenter.org
Reza Badiee
Treasurer of the Board
Treasurer@DallasPeaceCenter.org
Rev. Diane Baker
One of Diane’s earliest mentors was 1999 Peacemaker of the Year Rev. Frank Mabee, whom she met in college in 1964. She was influenced by the way Mabee stalwartly stood up to threats and scare tactics as he advanced the Civil Rights movement in Oklahoma.
In 1966, Baker and her brother traveled to California to work beside
members of what would soon be the United Farm Workers of America.
Several years later, when she was working with a church in Claremont, Calif., she took the youth group to La Paz, a center that Cesar Chavez had developed to minister to the healthcare needs of UFW members. While they were there, Chavez showed up and sat with the junior high students talking to them at length and listening to them intently. Baker has shown the same interest and joy in interacting with children, both at home and in other countries. While on a Pastors for Peace journey to Chiapas, she was such a favorite among the local children that they would wake her up saying, “Princesa Diana, juegue con nosotros!” (Princess Diana, play with us!) In 2001, Baker was jailed overnight, along with Rev. Jesse Jackson, when she protested thedeath penalty in Oklahoma. When they were released the next morning Baker, in dire need of her medications, was told that they could not be found. She said, “Jesse said, ‘I’m about to go out there and talk to a mob of reporters. Find her medicine or I will tell them about how you lost it.’ ” The medicine was promptly found. Baker has continued to be willing to go jail for her beliefs. She has committed civil disobedience in Oklahoma, Texas and Washington D.C. against the illegal detonations and use of depleted uranium in Vieques, Puerto Rico. In 2005 she was arrested twice in D.C. protesting the Iraq War and the Military Commissions
Act. Although Baker will unhesitatingly work outside “the system,” she also does serious work using accepted avenues of influence. She has been an activist and organizer with RESULTS since 1985, working to influence legislation through letters, phones calls and visits to congressional representatives. Her occupation is that of a hospice chaplain, providing spiritual and physical comfort as people come to the end of life. She has counseled survivors of the Oklahoma City bombing, the first Post Office massacre and hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
Baker said that she is greatly aided by the souls and spirits of peacemakers she has met and worked with – she has traveled to Cuba with Rev. Lucius Walker and attended the School of the Americas protests originated by Fr. Roy Bourgeois – and those who work for peace and justice in Dallas are greatly aided by the soul and spirit of Diane Baker. In 2006 she was recognized as the Peacemaker of the Year by the Dallas Peace Center.
Sidney Burkins Jr.
“I believe it is a person’s duty to serve in the betterment of all, regardless of their ethnicity or economic status. Volunteerism is a part of who I am; giving back when life has given you so much promotes continuous benediction. My professional career has afforded me many opportunities and life skills of which I pledge to share in fulfilling the mission of the Dallas Peace Center.”
Mehry Cornett
Bob Dawson
Bob Dawson is a lawyer in Dallas, Texas, practicing civil litigation. He has a bachelor’s degree from The University of Texas at Austin in the Plan II Honors Program and a law degree from The University of Michigan. In addition to his involvement with the Dallas Peace Center, he is on the boards of Northaven United Methodist Church, Ten Thousand Villages—Dallas, Inc., Christ’s Foundry, and Foundry Projects, Inc. He has a son, Geoffrey, a daughter, Ellie, and a dachshund, Bremen. He is engaged to be married.
Rob Evans
Mike Ghouse
Mike Ghouse is a Speaker, Thinker and a Writer. He is president of the Foundation for Pluralism and is a frequent guest on talk radio and local television network discussing interfaith, political and civic issues. He is the founding president of World Muslim Congress with a simple theme: Good for Muslims and good for the world. His comments, news analysis and columns can be found on the Websites and Blogs listed at his personal website www.MikeGhouse.net. Mike is a Dallasite for nearly three decades and Carrollton is his home town.
Zakee Id Deen
J Kendel Johnson
J Kendel Johnson is a Texas State Coordinator for The Peace Alliance, the national organization spearheading the campaign for a U.S. Department of Peace and Nonviolence, and a facilitator and continuing student of Nonviolent Communication, a philosophy and practical set of interpersonal skills developed by Dr. Marshall Rosenberg. J is also a freelance TV producer and musician, the father of two grown sons and lives east of White Rock Lake in Dallas with his partner, David Howard.
Roger Kallenberg
Roger Kallenberg was born September 15, 1944 in New York City and was moved to Dallas in March, 1947. Roger got his B.A. in philosophy Lafayette College in Easton, PA, 1966. After attending a series of college debates between a very old Norman Thomas and a very young William F. Buckley, and after reading Thoreau, Gandhi, Machiavelli, Victor Frankl, Jane Jacobs, and Sol Alinsky, civic activism became his ethic. The Viet Nam war protests and civil rights marches provided the practice. Roger became a women’s rights advocate on September 25, 1968 with the birth of his daughter Lisa, reinforced in 1970, by daughter Karma.
In 1973, Roger earned an MA in Urban Studies at UT-Arlington, began working with the
Greater Dallas Community Relations Commission, and began teaching government and
history part-time at El Centro and Richland Colleges. Frustrated that his students remembered so little from high school, in 1995, he went back to see what he could do. Roger ended his working career at W.H. Adamson High School in May, 2007 and is still recovering.
Ernest McMillan
Mr. Ernest McMillan was born in Dallas, Texas, and is a veteran human
rights activist with a history of working through the 60's in Mississippi,
Alabama, and Georgia with the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee. Mr. McMillan conceived and implemented the Fifth Ward Enrichment Program (FWEP) in June 1984 as a department of the Urban Affairs Corporation. FWEP became a free standing agency of June 1, 1996 with Mr. McMillan as the executive director. FWEP is a school-housed, community based primary prevention program. It is designed to pre-empt negative environmental influences and promote the positive development of high-risk, inner-city boys. FWEP has served as an effective support and intervention system for young African-American and Hispanic males. He received an Associate of Arts degree in History and Government at Brazos Junior College in Texas and has completed further study in history, government, and political science at Morehouse College in Atlanta, UT Arlington, and the University of Houston at Clear Lake City, Texas.He has extensive experience in counseling of both youth and adults. Additionally, he hasworked successfully in management positions involved with the delivery of social services, organizing and planning resources, and coordinating activities to meet specific objectives.
Mr. McMillan initiated the first Drug Prevention Program for African-American youth in Houston in 1981. He has developed support systems for ex-offenders and drug abusers as founder of People United for Justice for Prisoners in Dallas, Texas, and as an outpatient counselor for the Alternative Drug Abuse Program of VGS, Houston, Texas. Mr. McMillan also served as project manager for three years at the Communities-In-School program in the Wesley Elementary school, Houston.
Valley Reed
Dr. Asma Salam
Asma Salam, MD is currently finishing her Masters in Public Health in Epidemiology at the University of North Texas Health Science Center (UNTHSC) School of Public Health in Fort Worth Texas. Previously she worked as Assistant Director and project manager at Cooper institute and beside other departmental duties she helped developed survey questioners for the surveillance of Women Injuries study (WIN). She has worked as clinical research coordinator at the national Osteopathic Research Center (ORC), where she spent 100% of her time coordinating ORC clinical research trials in an effort to help establish the statistically significant and beneficial role of OMM in pregnancy and low back pain, pneumonia in elderly, congestive obstructive pulmonary disease, low back pain, and carpal tunnel syndrome.
Dr. Salam’s interests include promoting health and disease prevention through community education and knowledge dissemination and increasing the public’s awareness of domestic violence, poverty, and disaster preparedness. She has significantly contributed in the self paced training CD-Rom on Disaster preparedness that is distributed all over the states and in Europe, Africa, India and other countries. Before joining the University, Dr. Salam was involved in clinical cardiology research at Henry Ford Heart and Vascular Research Institute in Detroit Michigan. She has also served in fundraising committee and coordinating special events for Osteopathic Health System of Texas (OHST) at Fort Worth, Texas. She has organized summer program and other social activities for refugee children. She is a strong advocate of education, research and human rights. She has served on Council on American Islamic Relations Board and currently serving as a member of Board of Directors for Dallas Peace Center and Peace Ambassador with Universal Peace Federation.
Dr. Salam has a passion for increasing the understanding about Islam and Muslims. She has served as a panelist in Temple Emanuel and Unity Church and has spoken at other interfaith community events. She is the founder and President of Islamic Association of University of Health Science Center where she is currently working on her thesis project on Infant Mortality.
Elizabeth Villafranca
In 2006, Elizabeth Villafranca became involved in working to defeat the controversial “immigration ordinance” in Farmers Branch. She played a leading role in the petition drive that successfully placed this measure on the May 12 ballot. Elizabeth now campaigns actively against the ordinance, speaking to legislators, business leaders and community volunteers.
As a community advocate, Elizabeth has become one of the central figures in the local and statewide debate over immigration reform and the positive steps that must be taken to address this important political and social issue. Charlie and Danna Pyke, who worked with her on the recall of Ordinance 2903, said, “Elizabeth saw an issue of injustice that she thought was extremely important, and the way she presented herself in the community was always one of a peacemaker. She was repeatedly attacked and would not take personal offense.”
Elizabeth was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. She has lived in Dallas since 1994 and has been married for ten years. The Villafrancas own two Mexican restaurants called Cuquita’s; one is in North Dallas and the other is in Farmers Branch. Elizabeth is active at theCathedral of Guadalupe in Dallas where she sings in the choir. Elizabeth loves to travel and spend time with her family. She is a devoted wife and home schooling mother of one daughter. Her daughter also was active throughout the “immigration ordinance” community and campaign work. In 2007 she was recognized as the Peacemaker of the Year by the Dallas Peace Center.
Lynn Walters
Lynn Walters is an active member of the Cathedral of Hope and a board member of Hope for Peace and Justice. In addition, Lynn volunteers regularly at Justice for Our Neighbors (immigration law clinic); serves as an election judge in her precinct; and is a member of the City of Irving Mayor’s Human Relations Committee. She has been a member Dallas Peace Center since 2003; is a graduate of the Damascus Road Anti-Racism Training program and a graduate of Just Faith program at St. Rita’s Catholic Church. She also spends time with her husband, Scott, and two children, Hannah and Nathaniel.
