Jack Healey - A Life in Art and Activism

I’ve followed the work of Jack Healey for years and years and years. Former Amnesty International Director. “Mr. Human Rights.” That Guy. And I was that kid. The one on that summer afternoon, glued to MTV and the Conspiracy of Hope Tour. And these were my boyz: The Police, U2, Peter Gabriel. Throw in some Miles, some Third World, and my Man in Black, Lou Reed. A kind of Get-Off-Your-Ass Festival - complete with Martha Quinn… The music got me there, but the message of Hope - and just as importantly, of Fight - has remained.

This past year, Jack Healey published his sensational memoir, "Create Your Future". In it, he details his life of activism, alongside all from Muhammad Ali to Joe Strummer to Aung San Suu Kyi. It’s the story of one life mission, but a directive to us all. It’s the Collective. Jack is the MEANS, and he has been from day one...

Jack congratulations on a terrific memoir and your life of impact. Let's start at the beginning: It seems that your parents - and your mother in particular - had a great influence on you. What were these first lessons on Justice?

Well both my mom and dad came from coal mining country, I mean hard coal, deep shaft coal. And from an all Irish community that had been severely oppressed by either the coal companies or by the justice system. And for the most part, my grandparents were Gaelic speakers, [who] were more severely oppressed people than English speaking people.

[Soon after] my mom and dad moved to Pittsburgh in 1923, the KKK marched on our part of town called Irish Town, and the Irish met them, de-robed them, killed their leader, and [generally] beat the shit out of them. All of that set a tone of you have to pay attention the the issues of justice.

My dad went from an uneducated mine worker to head of the steel mill when he was killed in 1942. We had done well We had 11 children and had gotten through the depression, but as soon as he died, we fell like a rock, and went five or six years without income. My mom did everything she could to survive. She always used her faith and her rosary.

Also it seemed that she was very insistent on getting her way. She had incredible perseverance.

In that quietude of hers was an immense force. We never misbehaved around her. We respected her. She never said much, so you paid attention when she did say something. She was wise enough to say to me, “Either you’re going to prison, or military school, or the seminary.”

I chose the seminary.

It seems that in terms of world vision, that was the door opening.

It really [was]. You know, for all our Catholicism and its limitations, it does teach you to look up not down, and I think it was really good for me. [Even though] I was dyslexic, those priests somehow figured out that I was smart enough. So it was a blessing for me. I was learning about Franciscanism and the peace movement, I get to DC in 1962, I’m hearing Rabbi Heschel and Dorothy Day and these great people, I loved all this.

Were you invigorated by these stories? Did it open up a new world to you?

There were forces that went along with it. There was Freedom Now, and Dr. King was there along with the others. It was like an awakening. [And] Kennedy was president. I was Irish Catholic, so that was great. And we had Pope John the XXIII, who was a liberal, so I got into liberation theology and really liked it and believed in it.

Father James Groppi was a big influence on you.

A number of us from the seminary would get together regularly and drive from Pittsburgh to Milwaukee throughout the night to join Groppi marching. To me, he was the epitome of the priest worker - moving to embrace theology [as quintessentially an] interest in the poor, the civil rights movement, and [generally] the way things should be done. I liked Jimmy and I knew him well til [the day] he died.

He was your mentor?

Yes, very much so. And he was very close to Fannie Lou Hamer. That was our connection, the three of us really liked one another. There wasn’t anything to it but sweetness, and you don’t have many times in your life where that happens. I also got to know [comedian/activist] Dick Gregory, because he used to lead Groppi’s marches.

I always felt that the Civil Rights Movement left Fannie Lou Hamer behind and never gave her the attention she deserved. Apart from Rosa Parks and Dr. King, I [thought] she was a star. ...God, amazing people.

Were you aware that you were part of a zeitgeist of a moment in our nation's history?

I think we were. I always felt that those people were the basis of the civil rights ..and anti-war movement[s]. With Vietnam, it wasn’t that we knew about Ho Chi Minh, but that we knew there had been too many wars - too many fucking wars - and it had to stop. I think it was the fermentation of the… peace movement that has existed [ever] since.

What do you think of our new pope?

I’ve waited 50 years, and it finally came around. Liberation theology, at its heart, really believes that the church is only as good as its connection to the poor. If that connection is real, then the church is good.

Your walks with the American Freedom from Hunger Foundation were really the beginning of your activism and leadership. How did that set the tone for what came after?

Persians have a saying “You fall ass backwards into the honey” and that was my first job. Essentially, the job was to take something which was hardly there with a lot of young kids and to nationalize it. We blew it open. We raised 15 million dollars, which now is equivalent to about $45 million for world hunger. We were in 350 cities. It had a profound affect on many many people and it [turned] me from ex-priest... into national leader.

Did you recognize it as an ambition? Was it second nature to you?

I knew what to do. Almost all of my people raising the money were somewhere between 13 and 16. They felt like they were a part of something bigger. We had 105,000 walkers in Chicago, 100,000 in Buffalo, 40,000 in Madison. I could keep going on the numbers...

Do you think that you have also an inner marketing sensibility?

You know how some Irish are easy lawyers and priests? I’m easy with this. Like when I get the job at Amnesty [International] I knew what to do. Ain't bragging about it. If you put a crowd out on the street and ask me to organize them, I’ll get them in order.

I [made my way] to Africa for two reasons I wanted to be a Peace Corps director, and I wanted to fight Apartheid. I knew that if I could be in the belly of South Africa, I could do [just] that.

So I get there, and probably the two most important people in the movement beside Mandela are my neighbors, Phyllis Naidoo, the political organizer of the ANC, and Chris Hani, the second most important man in the African National Congress movement… [Phyllis] had a profound influence on the movement. Chris, [as ANC] military leader, was executed right after independence. He would have been prime minister. The force of those two personalities...

There was a rondavel (house) across the street with Father John, a radical priest and a good friend of mine. [One day], he and Phyllis received a package. They cut the string, and the bomb blows up, taking Father John’s balls off, and caught Phyllis in the back and blew out her eardrum. My nurse lived next to them, and she called me, and we got the [medical supplies they needed].

Chris loved me being an ex priest because he was trained as a Catholic kid, which was rare. Phyllis was more secular. Both of them had to sleep in different places every night because people were always trying to blow them up. For me, it was like being in Paris in the ‘30s. I loved it. I was the right age. So we had this Anti-Apartheid group.

Were you using your role in the Peace Corps - that government structure - to get your foot in the door of the Anti-Apartheid movement?

Sure was (laughs). They probably tried to fire me 50 times. I was the only one.. on the Embassy “team” doing anything! They wouldn’t go… hang out with locals. They would stay in their compounds and were [basically] irrelevant. Whereas I was down there every night talking shit with Phyllis or whoever. We became a community, and they knew that.

What do you think your reputation was within the Peace Corps? What do you think they said about you?

In diplomatic language they would have said “[We’ve got] a troublesome director here, we’d like to get rid of him.” From an Ambassador, they want no surprises. I was full of surprises.

I took maybe ten volunteers down to a human rights conference in Cape Town, and they went crazy. They said this was not Peace Corps activity. This is a political activity. I was saying “No, we’re learning how to live here, My kids cross the border every day.” On every vacation, our kids were in South Africa. How do you [manage] is the question? [Now] maybe if you’re white, you could stay in cheap hotels, but if you were black or minority, you had a whole different experience. I would always tell the Chinese kids to tell people they were Japanese because Chinese was considered black and Japanese was considered white. What a weird way to live.

As you grew tired of the bureaucracy in the Peace Corps. What made Amnesty look like an appealing next step?

Prior to that interview, there was a guy by the name of David Saggaf who was on a mission from London to look at Lesotho and the government through the eyes of the refugees. They sent him to see me, and he really familiarized me with London and filled me in. And I saw how the [Basotho] lined up to see him... putting themselves in danger to get in that line. I had the fire in me from fighting apartheid, particularly enraged by the American [lack of] response. So I came to that job with an impassioned push. I was ready to do something for Africa, and I [drew from] the Basotho and their courage.

I remember reading that it was a very conscious choice for you to use music to get young people involved. You had a vision and you ran with it.

It was a repeat of Freedom from Hunger. How do you mobilize nationally? I did it once, I’m going to nationalize it again. How do you do that? What’s the fastest, best way?

So my first trip was to go see Bill Graham in San Francisco. That was 1981 and... he was like dealing with a hurricane. The hurricane never left him, and you never left the hurricane if you were with him. You didn’t know what the fuck would happen. So explosive.

And the Holocaust was back there in a terrible way, [Graham’s mother had placed him in a Berlin orphanage to survive the Holocaust]. So I confronted him.“If you’re not connected to human rights, then I don’t know what the fuck’s wrong with you!” I was confronting his own dilemma.

How many years had you known him?

None. None! He started roaring and screaming. (laughs)

You’re saying he was pissed off?

Oh God, was he ever. He wanted to kill me! He was screaming, “Are you saying I’m emotionally disturbed?!” and I said, “Oh yeah you’re emotionally disturbed. If you’re not connected to human rights, I don’t know what the fuck’s wrong with you!”

He just screamed “You get the talent, I’ll do the damn show!” I said “Bill that’s a contract.” and he goes “I know what a fucking contract is Healey.” That was the end of that conversation.

What was the next step?

I think it was the winter of ‘84 my secretary comes to me and says “Jack, we have a $10,000 donation from a band called U2 and two tickets. I said “Oh that’s nice” I didn’t know who they were. She said “I know them from Europe. Can I take the tickets to go see them with my boyfriend?” I said “Sure, and If you see them, thank them [for me].”

Anyway [her boyfriend] wasn’t able to go so she says “Come on, come with me.”

So there we are at Radio City, and it’s nice. [Now] I’m no critic of music, but their talent was more than obvious (laughs). I’m like holy shit, I’ve never seen anything like this. It wasn’t like I’m the genius figuring out the talent of these guys, right? But what really convinced me was that they had a picture in the background of Dr. King and also Chief Joseph, who I love from the Oregon fight.. I love those two guys… So I go, “Well, this is my band…”

Then the next summer - would’ve been in the summer of ‘85 - I’ve got a meeting with Amnesty in Finland so I see I can stop in Dublin [for] a day. So I arrive I get on the phone and call Sean MacBride, one of the founders, because I wanted his approval of my plan. I’m looking for a mechanism to go national and I want the founder’s blessing.. [plus], I always wanted to meet him. He’s Irish history.

...And he [proceeds to tell] me everything and I’m deep in Irish History and I’m hearing it from the fountain. I’m flying so high when I leave there I figure “Fuck it, if I get this band, good, even if I don’t, fuck ‘em, I’m ready to go. I’ve got the blessing, I’m on fire.”

[So I go to U2’s office] and Paul McGuinness is at the top of the steps… Bono’s back that way - I didn’t know who he was at the time... I come in and [McGuinness says] “What would you want?” and I said “I need your band for two weeks anywhere in the world.” and he look[s] at me like “huh?”. So Bono walks over and [before he can say anything], I say to him “Are you really Irish?” He goes “ I think so” (laughs) so we hugged and I said “I need your band for two weeks, anywhere in the world - would you do that?” and he says “Yeah” And so I say “Bill Graham says I need it typed up!” (laughs), So I’m out in eight minutes. This all happened in eight minutes.. I call Bill from the airport and I say “Bill, I’ve got U2” - “You son of a bitch, do you have it in writing?” I say “I’ve got it in my pocket! It’s typed up!”

“You son of a bitch we’ve got them! We can do it!”

So, I fly to Finland for the meeting of Amnesty. I tell everybody “We’re changing, we’re bringing the young people back!”

Now who’s idea was it to do several cities?

That was my idea. If you look at my career, you’ll see long campaigns like walks are 28 miles,

Conspiracy of Hope is ten days, Human Rights Now! is six weeks, the Aung San Suu Kyi campaign is 30 days in a row. I believe you have got to do consciousness raising not fund raising. You fund raise off [that] consciousness.

You raised the awareness of the brand.

We became the charity of choice. I always believed that if you raise consciousness and take your time, then you raise a fortune.

What were your impressions of Bono and the Conspiracy of Hope* tour participants in terms of their commitment? Not just to these shows but around these issues.

I think this was the genius of Bill Graham and Bono - the recruitment process for that tour. Bono recruited Peter Gabriel and Lou Reed. I recruited U2. I recruited Sting. What we did was draw on who we thought were ethical, serious people.

The adults in the room if you will.

Oh yeah, absolutely. Very much so.. [U2] have obviously kept to their commitment - I was always impressed by them. You know me well enough that I always think everyone should be like John Lennon and Bob Marley- not just in the music but in their character and determination.. Peter [Gabriel] started his own organization eventually, Sting did too in Brazil.

Yet still, given the scale of the Conspiracy of Hope tour, there had to be competitive egos at play… probably almost nightly.

Well, there was the battle between U2 and the Police during the tour... Remember in Atlanta the Police reunited. Up until then it was just Sting. So they reunited, they closed the show, and they didn't tell me that they were switching the lineup. So I went to [Police band manager] Miles Copeland and said, “You can’t do this. I choose who closes, and the closing band is U2.” He says, “well sit down in this chair,” and I say, “you can take your chair and shove it up your ass. You’re fucking going to listen to me!” We got in a war, Miles and I. He was a good fighter, by the way, a fair fighter too. I said, “[U2] started this and I want them closing because they deserve it.”

So we flew up to Chicago from Atlanta we’re on the plane and Sting says to me “Jack, I hear you’re going to kick the Police off the tour” I said “I want to talk to you about this.” He said, “Jack, you don’t need to. Let me tell you, I’m here for you and I’m here for Amnesty. You just let me know what to do. I’ll fall in line.” I went back to my seat, and I thought what a guy…

So, in Chicago we had a day off and the boys [U2] come to me [and] said, “We heard you’re fighting for us.” And I said, “I’m not fighting for you. You started [this project]. I want you to finish.” They said “Please Jack, we’re happy to fall behind the Police. We respect them. ...Besides, we’ll burn the stage, anyway...”

But [The Police] closed the show, and that’s why they [symbolically] handed off the guitar...

A truly epic tour finishing with that grand finale at Giant's Stadium...

...So we move ahead to Human Rights Now!** tour in 1988. Now you’re on a world tour on a global stage. Do you feel like you were better? Did you have a better idea of what you were doing?

We were better because we had the best coordinators and the best roadies in the world with us. We had Bill Graham and George Travis - although they didn’t like each other much, so that had to be sorted out. I was really more of a phantom director because George Travis knows how to do a world tour, and I don’t.

In terms of the money, we got $200k from Amnesty which we used up in no time. Then Peter Gabriel gave us another quarter million himself and that really got us going. Then I got [sponsorship from] Reebok. Inside Amnesty, that was a massive fight. They’re probably still arguing about it.

This time you had Bruce Springsteen as a headliner.

Yes, he’s so damn smart, and man does he show up on time and work!

I remember I was talking with Springsteen once where he said, “Jack, how about the death penalty? I don’t know how I feel about it.”

And I said, “That’s legitimate, but let me put it to you this way. If you and your saxophone player Clemens were in a bar together and someone was killed, and you two were accused of murder, what do you think would happen?”

And he said, “Ah, now I understand.” It was that fast.

Does Human Rights Now! still hold as the biggest most ambitious production for these issues?

Oh I think it’s the biggest non-profit [event] ever. I don’t think the press ever got it, I think we should have won the Nobel that year. It tripled the membership for Amnesty worldwide. Japan [who had averaged] one thousand volunteers every year, they had eight thousand the next day. In Japan that’s massive - people don’t join [these] organizations.

Harvard did a study that named the Human Rights Now! tour as the most efficient tour ever. Everybody made money or broke even on a tour that hit five continents.

The Lawyers Community for Human Rights changed their name to Human Rights First. The Robert F Kennedy [Memorial] changed to [include the words] Human Rights as well. It had a profound influence, and it gave spirit to the Human Rights movement... It was the biggest and baddest thing ever.

At the end of the Human Rights Now! tour, you talk in your book about having this moment of reflection. Can you talk about that?

It was a very profound moment. I had purposely gotten up early and went to the stadium with nobody around. I wanted to go there, walk in the pitch and appreciate what was happening. We were going to be live all across Latin America on the issue of human rights which had just torn this continent up.

I get out of the car, and Imagine comes on, and I just fucking started weeping like crazy. I don’t know where it came from. I said to myself “You little shitty kid from Pittsburgh, how the fuck did this ever happen?”

When you do these big tours, you have to make sure to appreciate them, otherwise it can breeze right by you... I walked out on the stadium where all those people had been killed and tortured. Music [had] washed that stadium of all that blood.

Alright, Human Rights Action Center, in many ways is really your baby. Amnesty had become almost unwieldy - you were on TV all the time and far from the actual work on the ground. Did Human Rights Action Center give that back to you?

Yeah, it [brought] me back to [my experience in] Lesotho. It gave me back the feeling of really fighting, really being in the battle for Human Rights. Not just the practitioner of the administration. It’s a real difference.

I also had preached all my life that one person can do something by themselves, and I wanted to prove that. I set out to use money more effectively than ever before. I’ve done three albums, I was the creative director of the Aung San Suu Kyi campaign and the creative director of the Leonard Peltier campaign. I know these people personally.

Was there ever a time where you felt like “Oh. what have I done?”

Oh my God, yeah. Many a day. When I left Amnesty I was no longer that person, so it was humbling. Any transition like that is difficult, almost like a little divorce. The transition from priesthood to layman, difficult. Leaving Lesotho, difficult. Leaving Amnesty, difficult.

On the flip side of that, when was that moment that you're more individual approach made you feel like “Yeah, this is my speed”?

There was a lawyer named Matt Burrows, former lawyer for Steve Jobs for music. He walked up to me in LA at some fucking opening, and he said “Jack Healey, I want to work for you.” I said “That’s easy. I don’t pay.”

And he’s been with me for 25 years. [Many such] people have reached out and helped me do things. They’re all friends, [and] I gather strength from them.

It reminds me of Father Groppi and Fannie Lou Hamer. You’re drawn to these small impactful teams that you bond with.

Yeah, Bob Patterson bicycles over to me one day while I’m sitting on my stoop and says “Hey, I want to do a concert series with you.” I said “Well I don’t do them anymore” and he talked me into it. We go see Adobe and they put up a million dollars. We did Five Days of Music, we got hit with 9/11 but every seat was already sold, so we continued six weeks after it. That’s an example of how I had to be talked back into that business.

Joe Strummer was one such creative partner...and friend

I had always wanted to do A Punk Look at Human Rights*** because I always felt that the Clash had lead the fight for Human Rights in England. I had respect for them. So I get to LA, and I meet Joe, and we just [click] like that...

So we did the album, and [on it], Joe sang a song called Generations, and at the very end of it he sings in my name. Oh, it just shocked the shit out of me!

And I thought “That’s my Nobel, thank you Joe.”

Amazing when the artists show you that respect…

I remember I did Seattle one day…Dave Matthews calls me and.. we do a press conference together... It was two or three classes there for the school system, and the teacher comes up, gets Dave and takes him down to meet the kids.

And Dave comes back and says ‘Hey Jack, they don’t wanna meet me they wanna meet the old guy’…(laughs)...he said “I can sing better but you talk better…”

And, of course, you don't limit your collaborations solely to musicians. You enlisted Hollywood A-Listers in your efforts for Burmese Stateswomen Aung San Suu Kyi.

See when you do a campaign [like] Aung San Suu Kyi, if Americans don’t know the face, they’ll never support her, so I got Shepard Fairey to do the poster. Then I go to Jim Carrey, and say “Jim, if Americans never learn how to say Aung San Suu Kyi, I’ll never win this campaign. I want you to solve this for me.” So now they see her, and they’re saying [her name].

..The Burma: It Can’t Wait**** campaign was 30 days. That’s how you do a campaign. You’ve got to learn who the good guy is and who the bad guy is. Bad guys; the military. Good; Aung San Suu Kyi.

The case of Native American activist and political prisoner Leonard Peltier has been very important to you and you continue your work on it today*****

I have since I took over at Amnesty...I knew when Amnesty called the trial back when it first occurred that he either needed a new trial or should be let out. There was enough evidence pretty quick. They had returned him from Canada and broke US law.

The Canadians thought the Americans had an eye witness who could identify him, but the woman had no idea what he even looked like - she recanted. So international law was broken. This all means a lot to me if I’m going into a fight. These are important facts.

This case also says something about staying with that fight for the long haul..

For sure. I think the long-haul fight goes back to Custer and his silly ass riding into a place he never should have been. Thats his problem. The people of the the Lakota Nation need not suffer for the rest of their time because this fool rode in there like that.

I always thought that was just gigantically unfair, and this trial is part of that unfairness.

Well, Leonard called me one day and said “Jack will you help me? I heard you’re awfully good at these things." I said “Leonard, I’ll tell you something. What I want to do is switch this to clemency. I want you to drop the warrior attitude. I want your people to drop the warrior attitude.” He was like “Holy shit! What?” This caused great commotion, but it was the only way I would take on the case.

The issue of clemency is… a supplicant position. A Warrior position is up here (gestures with hand). We’re goin’ down here…

We’re asking the President. He’s showing unusual sensitivity to Native American issues. We're gonna win this. Let’s get a victorious smile on our face. In order to win you need to have a pre-victorious mindset. [We] tell Leonard to start writing good things in prison. [To] walk with a light step...

What is the Latest?

Just last week a guy from England doing a documentary shows up with a huge number of cameras and says he wants to represent a balance of both side of the argument. I said “I hate balance,There’s no fucking thing as balance!”

You could put one line in there against Peltier, and that’s what’s remembered! And that one thing could convince our president not to do this.

If we had [true] balance here, he would have been out 20 years ago. What were the FBI doing on Native American property that day? Was that legitimate? Don’t walk away from that history.

Getting off in a more personal direction, you were married once and that didn’t last. You’ve been so committed to these issues, how has that affected relationships and friendships in your life?

Well, my first lady was not political. We paid the price for that. She didn’t understand all the travel and why I was busy all the time, not that I have any negativity about that. She has every right to have a husband who pays attention. I needed a political partner and she needed someone attentive.

My lady now is very political and supports everything and helps me understand and inspires me.

I want to finish with a couple notable quotes, including the one you use to close your memoir - from Fannie Lou Hamer “Keep on keeping on, don’t stop til you join me.” Why does that resonate with you?

She was a good friend and such a formidable force. I was at an Awards ceremony with her once and, at the end of dinner, she leaned over and took my hand and said “Jack, I’m dying. Don’t worry about me just keep on keeping on, and don’t stop til you join me.” She reminded me of my mother and what she went through after my father died. She never complained once. [My mother’s] faith carried her through, and it carried Fannie Lou also. I hope it does for me too.

And of course there is the formidable line “Impact is all that matters.” That says a lot about your entire life.

Yeah, If you set out to do something, then do it.

---

*Conspiracy of Hope

Bob Geldof, Bryan Adams, Howard Jones, Jackson Browne, Joan Armatrading, Joan Baez, John Eddie, Joni Mitchell, Little Steven & The Disciples of Soul, Lou Reed, Miles Davis, Peter Gabriel, Peter, Paul & Mary, Rubén Blades, Stanley Jordan, The Hooters, The Neville Brothers, The Police, Third World, U2

**Human Rights Now!

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Sting, Peter Gabriel, Tracy Chapman, Youssou N'Dour, Michel Jonasz, Hobo Blues Band, János Bródy, Claudio Baglioni, Guadalupe Urbina, k.d. lang, Michel Rivard, Daniel Lavoie, Joan Baez, Bono & The Edge, Roy Orbison, KODO, L. Shankar, Zakir Hussain, George Dalaras, Oliver Mtukudzi, Ilanga, Cde Chinx, Ismaël Isaac, Johnny Clegg, Milton Nascimento with Pat Metheny, Los Prisioneros, Markama, Inti Illimani, León Gieco, Charly García

***Generations I - A Punk Look At Human Rights

Electric Dog House, Red Aunts & Exene Cervernkova, Assorted Jelly Beans, Pennywise, Good Riddance, Me First & The Gimme Gimmes, Green Day, Lagwagon, John Doe Thing, Swamp Dogg Does Moon Dogg, The Vandals, Jilted John, Bad Brains, B.U.G.S., Fetish (5), Mr. T Experience, Pansy Division & Tr'e Cool, X - Members, DFL

****Burma: It Can’t Wait

Will Ferrell, Sarah Silverman, Jennifer Aniston, Woody Harrelson, James Cameron, Judd Apatow, William Baldwin, Hank Azaria, Michelle Krusiec, Tila Tequila, Kim Kardashian, Damian Marley, Sheryl Crow, Felicity Huffman, Ellen Page, Joseph Fiennes, Jason Schwartzman, Eddie Izzard, Jorja Fox,Eric Szmanda, Anjelica Huston, Famke Janssen, Sylvester Stallone, Steven Seagal, Norman Lear, Thich Naht Hahn, Brett Dennen, Matisyahu, Giovanni Ribisi,Diego Maradona, Mana, Julie Benz, Eva Longoria, Davood Roostaei, Jackson Browne, Wallace Langham, Jason Biggs, and Jenny Mollen.

*****Leonard Peltier: I Will Ask - Will You?

Art Smith, The Baker Twins, Bishop Desmond Tutu, Bonnie Raitt, Brad Jenkins, Carlos Santana, Chaske Spencer, Chris Eyre, Elena Grassel, Harry Belafonte, Irene Bedard, Jackson Browne, Joe Purdy, Judd Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, The Last Internationale (band), Lissie, Michael Moore, Pamela Anderson, Peter Coyote, Peter Gabriel, Q'orianka Kilcher, Robbie Robertson, Scatter Their Own, Tom Morello, Wes Studi