Center on Conscience & War

Joan Broadfield, Secretary

Joan Broadfield grew up in a Quaker circle, migrated briefly to the Episcopal Church, and is part of a religiously eclectic larger family circle. She and her spouse joined Friends in the 1970s. It was a time when life was handing the couple some tough circumstances, including an unexpected draft of Ed into the army due to the war in Vietnam. It was this circumstance—forced military service in a family that included a child (in 1968)—that convinced Joan such service was not in the best interests of the country, of the people, and of world peace. A committed pacifist, active and trained in mediation and bias awareness, Joan has been engaged in a broad spectrum of peace issues. She has a degree in teaching music, serves on Friends General Conference central committee, and is active in her meeting and community.

Taj Johnson, Vice Chair

Thomas ‘Taj’ Johnson is Director of SkyValley Tai Ji, VisionQuest Travel and JB Productions, LLC. He also currently serves as the Program Chair for the MLK Jr. Commemoration Committee of Bowie, Inc. In that latter capacity, he strives within that organization to bring fresh perspective and relevancy to the committee’s goals of celebrating diversity and promoting the entirety of Dr. Martin Luther King’s message and his concept of ‘The Beloved Community’. Taj’s work with Sky Valley Tai Ji within the Washington DC area and VisionQuest Travel in Negril, Jamaica provides an opportunity for participants to experience Ignatian Spirituality as practiced within Chinese Neijia (Internal Art Studies) and Traditional African Culture; objectively cultivate harmony within 5 major areas of human consciousness: Physical, Intellectual, Emotional, Energetic and Spiritual.

An outgrowth of his foundational work with Dr. Nianzu and Peggy Li, Dr. Lee Guo Tin and his advancing Taoist work with Wudang Master Xiao Ling Liu; Taj has integrated these Eastern Traditions with the hermeneutic tradition as practiced both within his Afri/Carribean lineage and Chinese Neijia. In addition to his formal study of Economics, Physics and Music (BA 1981) at the University of Vermont; his postgraduate work includes Comparative Religious Studies with Dr.Yosef ben-Jochanan, Political History with Professor John Henrik Clarke, Trends in Cultural Development with Runoko Rashidi and Wayne Chandler and Melanin research with Carol Barnes.

While nurturing deep roots within the greater meditative community, Taj is an advocate of using meditation sessions to focus the mind, fine-tune energies in preparation for dynamic and effective actions; nurturing respect of nature and others as a world community while focusing on the vastness of nature and spiritual/cultural diversity.

As a Healer and Unifier, Taj seeks to dialog within communities that historically maintain what W.E.B. DuBois identified as “double consciousness” with regard to American patriotism; to hopefully move closer to the realization of “The Beloved Community” of Josiah Royce and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Taj lives in Prince George’s County Maryland with his wife of nearly 20 years, Jeannie and their cat, Ariel.

E. James Lieberman
Jewish Peace Fellowship

E. James (Jim) Lieberman represents the Jewish Peace Fellowship on the CCW board as of 2007. He is Emeritus Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at George Washington University School of Medicine. Moved by pacifist ideas after summer travel through Europe in 1954 (at 19), he applied for CO status on graduating medical school but it was never acted on and he served in the US Public Health Service at NIMH (1963-70), taking part in demonstrations against Polaris Submarines (Groton) and Germ Warfare (Ft. Detrick). He was influenced by reading Gandhi and by meeting Milton Mayer, Rabbi Abraham Cronbach, Ammon Hennacy, Bradford Lyttle, Murray Polner and other activists. He is the author of Acts of Will: The Life and Work of Otto Rank, and is a former president of Esperanto-USA. Hobbies include playing the cello, chess, and swimming. Married to Carol, he has two children, two step-children and five grandchildren.

Camilo Mejía

Camilo Mejía is an Army conscientious objector (CO) and was the first soldier to refuse to return to the war in Iraq.  He is the former chair of the board of directors for Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) and author of the book Road to Ar Ramadi: The Private Rebellion of Staff Sergeant Mejia and was featured in the film Soldiers of Conscience.

Dallas Wisehaupt, Chair

Dallas Wisehaupt is a Systems Administrator at a small company in San Francisco, CA. He is also a former officer of the United States Army. While living and travelling extensively outside of the US, Dallas observed the world as a single community and came to the realization that he could no longer participate in acts of war. With the assistance of the CCW he was discharged from the army in July 2007. He currently lives in San Francisco, CA with his wife and twin son and daughter.

Jo Ann Zimmerman

Jo Ann Zimmerman is a long-time educator and Friend. She attended Swarthmore College, where she became acquainted with Quaker values and education, then attained her Masters degree in Education from Arcadia University. Through the 1980s, she attended Doylestown Monthly Meeting, and now attends at Old Haverford Monthly Meeting, where she serves on the Peace Committee. Jo Ann has taught secondary school in the Delaware Valley for many years, most recently at Delaware Valley Friends School, and currently teaches at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. As founder and President of the Board of Penn Army of None, a Philadelphia-based counter recruitment organization, Jo Ann works with school counselors, parents, students, and community groups to help young people find nonmilitary options for college financing, career development, and community service. She also serves as News Editor for Friends Journal.