Peace Before Pigskin — Immigrant Advocate, Muslim Rights Group Receive Peace Awards

DALLAS, Texas Note to the board of directors of the Dallas Peace Center:

Next time, please schedule your annual Peacemaker of the Year awards dinner to avoid when the Dallas Cowboys play.

True, it was almost a fluke that the National Football League gave “America’s Team” back-to-back Thursday night games at home nonetheless.

But still, it is bad form to cross schedule for no other reason than making football fans choose between peace and the pigskin.

Aware of their plight, the 2007 Peacemaker of the Year award recipient stepped up to show appreciation for the diehard peacenik Cowboy fan minority in attendance at the Grand Ballroom of the Double Tree Hotel in Dallas.

“On a really important note for Cowboy fans, it’s halftime. The score is 27 to 17. Cowboys,” said a sympathetic Elizabeth Villafranca. “I know this was a huge sacrifice for many of you who are Cowboy fans. I applaud you and thank you so much for being out here.”

In the end, the Cowboys defeated Green Bay, 37-27, to secure home field advantage in the playoffs after a 10-year losing streak and to be the first team in franchise history to have an 11-1 record.

Last Thursday night was also filled with firsts for the peace and justice community in North Texas.

Villafranca became the very first Latina Peacemaker of the Year award recipient.

(Her seven-year-old daughter, Natalie, also received another first, a silver locket with a picture of her mother.)

Villafranca took it upon herself to stand up to an ordinance that restricted the residence of undocumented workers in Farmer’s Branch back in 2006.

DPC Board President Delia Castillo in her introduction said Villafranca’s humility, her family’s participation, and ability to motivate “accidental activists” in her community caught the attention of the board.

“We were impressed that her grassroots work inspired others to become informed and participate in a non-violent, democratic way to take action and to embrace different communities,” she said.

Villafranca is currently fighting for compassionate interdependence among those in her community.

“I think whether you are Jewish, Muslim, or Christian, we are all children of God. That makes us all brothers and sisters,” said Villafranca to applause. “We need to love each other, even though it’s not always easy to love the people right next to us. It’s real easy to love people in Africa and Honduras faraway where we can’t see them.”

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, Dallas-Fort Worth chapter (CAIR-DFW) was the first organization to receive the Peacemaking Organization of the Year award.

(Co-founder of the Crawford Peace House, Hadi Jawad, back in 2005 was the first Muslim to ever be awarded a POY.)

This organization was formed in the early 1990s to advocate on behalf of the Muslim community in the United States and Canada and promote peace and justice in their communities.

“‘Islam’ means ‘enter into peace,’ and no one else understands the meaning of peace more than Muslims,” said Dr. Asma Salam, the DPC board member who presented CAIR-DFW’s award.