Meet Jodie Evans: Peace Activist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jodie Evans and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jodie, what role has risk played in your life or career?
I ran away from home when I was 12, in 1966, there was no discussion about violence in the home in those days and all I knew was I would die if I stayed. So I ran into the unknown. It saved and made my life. Even though it was out of the frying pan into the fire. What it taught me was it was worse to stay in a bad situation that to leave it. That to risk was to be alive, to shrink back in fear was to miss life. The question is what are you risking? We don’t ask that question when fear keeps us from acting, from asking the clarifying questions or from exploring other options. Why don’t we see holding back as a greater risk? Like now we, as humans on this planet, are not taking the steps we need for real dangers, and instead keep creating more problems. Risk taking clarifies, exposes if there are real dangers ahead or behind and break us out of the boxes we keep building around ourselves in attempts to control and be safe when those are illusions. I was the director of administration in the Governor Jerry Brown’s cabinet in my early 20’s the youngest person on the CA Cabinet. We took what looked like risks everyday but instead it turned out to be leadership into a new way of being that affected not just the US but the world. I ran his presidential campaign on $100 a person so we could talk about money in politics; because it you don’t get money out of politics you have no chance at democracy. It was a campaign that captured all levels of culture, as it spoke the truth and made the powers that be so nervous, they had to destroy it with lies. It is understanding that if your life is committed to ending suffering and creating conditions for peace and justice, then you must be always taking risks, it is only then can you know what is real through the feed back, playing it safe makes you stupid as there is no feedback to make real decisions from. At CODEPINK there have been years where we disrupted Congress almost daily about ending war, violence, weapons sales and torture. For us the risk of being arrested, which happened often, was more important than staying silent and safe. And over the years it has proved to empower even more to take on the fight. Who creates the narrative wins and it takes risking being told you are crazy everyday until a few people wake up and realize they have been operating out of lies and have done that to stay safe and secure, while basically Rome is burning. We have watched the unraveling of the fabric of society since 9/11 because too many have acted from fears instead of risking what isn’t popular to do the right thing. I have a banner in my office, ‘I will not raise my child to kill another mothers child.’ The world would be a different place if that was how we raised our children but instead we are all sucking at the tit of the war economy which is destructive, oppressive and destructive, all while thinking we are good people. To see the truth and speak it is always a risk and without it we live in a lie. “The truth can set you free but first it will piss ’em off.” Gloria Steinem

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
in 1970 I was a maid making $1.87 an hour, we were organized to fight for a living wage, Jane Fonda came and marched with us and we won. Seeing all that was wrong in the world with that taste of victory I set off to take on ‘the man’ with my life. So began a life of activism, and in the beginning I was very naiveve, but also very successful. We fought for 18 year olds to have the right to vote since they were dying in Vietnam for the country and we won, I was one of the first 18 year olds to vote. We worked to end the Vietnam war and it ended, but then that is because we were defeated by the North Vietnamese, but it did end. We fought to get those who had evaded the draft their rights back and won. I worked in Jerry Browns campaign for Governor, a long shot about a new spirit and we won. Winning is a good foundation. The world was in a transformation and I was swept forward by it. The the lessons got more real and the unveil of really how dark the structures were and how oppressive took a few years for me to fully grasp, and even as I think I see so much now, I am sure I am blind to even more. Running a presidential campaign will teach you a lot of lessons that will either depress you or set you on a course to change it. I took the course of change but it means looking in the belly of the beast everyday and not letting it take you down. For me success is not being co-opted by the status quo, not being sucked in by greed, or fear or becoming part of the manipulative structures and continuing to pull back the curtains on what is running the merry go round everyone is on. The first challenge is very few want to know the truth, much happier living out their ‘safe and happy’ lives while others live in desperation, oppression and poverty. Challenges are my over 100 arrests and yet no-one who has killed, maimed or destroyed entire countries has been arrested. One is actually now President. Biden has never had to account for his cheerleading us into the Iraq War when it was his job to be the check to the insanity of the Bush/Cheney White House. $7 trillion spent and over a million lives lost and 6 million refugees later no accountability. War is celebrated and peace is seen as weak instead of the only answer. . Challenges are that even knowing the costs fossil fuels are to live on the planet, our home, everyone keeps behaving in ways that will take us off a cliff. Or more recently that those in DC will create lies and fears around China, that there is no reason to hate or fear, which drives violence against Asians in the US and could take us to the brink of a nuclear war that is the end of life on earth. Challenges are the structures we live in that are violent, oppressive, patriarchal and extractive and yet smart people continue to think they are good people and all is well. The challenges are many, but to wake up everyday with a commitment to cultivate a local peace economy, knowing no matter what it will make those who join in more fulfilled and those around them more enriched, is bliss. That in the face of all that is dark being free to imagine new possibilities and explore them in community with others is profound and almost magical in its aliveness.. To watch the seeds of peace we plant grow within and around us, is priceless and life enriching. To be part of the CODEPINK team as daily we stand up against violence, war and imperialism is not an overcoming of challenges it is a recognition of them and a pivot to a new way of being.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Friends visiting is the best as it is when I give myself permission to taste the best of LA. First day it would be a morning drive from my place in the Venice Walk Streets up PCH to the Paseo Miramar hike. Two hours of walking to the top look out heavy breathing up most of it with breathtaking views of the ocean and the city. On the way back a stop at Cora’s on Ocean near Pico for a delicious late breakfast. from their get on the 10 for downtown, a view of the Frank Gehry Music Hall and a stroll through The Broad or The Geffen or MOCA depending who has the best show that week. dinner at Badmaash – a little bit of Bollywood meets pop art super fun and yummy. Day 2 we we would walk along Venice beach to the Venice Pier and back through the Venice canals. Stopping at Menotti’s for the best cup of coffee. Then a walk back to Gjelina Take Away for brunch and then a stroll down Abbott Kinney – snacking at The Farmers Daughter and Blue Star Donuts while we spend the afternoon shopping. Dinner that night is in the garden of Gjusta under the lights and their fabulous tree. Day 3 we take a break from the beach and head to Pasadena for the Huntington gardens and tea in the rose garden. Then hours in the fabulous collections at the Norton Simon Museum ending at the Japanese garden at Descanso and dinner upstairs at Cafe Santorini in Old Pasadena. Day 4: Bike down through Marina Del Rey, Manhattan beach, Hermosa Beach to Redondo Beach and back stopping for lunch at my friends on the Strand. Heading back so we ride into the sunset followed by dinner at outside at CAPO in Santa Monica. Day 5: LACMA, The Getty or The Hammer depending on where the best shows are followed by a visit to the Weisman Art Collection and a stroll on the UCLA campus. Finishing the night with dinner and Axe throwing at the House of Axe and a walk through Koreatown with some Karaoke to finish off the night. Day 6: Walk through the Venice walk streets to Superba for breakfast and then down Venice Blvd to the The Museum of Jurassic Technology which is an all day adventure into mystery and magic followed by dinner at Akasha’s and a play at The Actors Gang theater. Day 7: Visit friends in Santa Monica and walk on Ocean Ave over looking the beach to the end of the pier and on the way back walk through the Santa Monica 3rd St Promenade. finishing the night with dinner in our box and a concert at The Hollywood Bowl. Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
When I was 16 and very lost I read the book, The Art of Love by Erich Fromm, which I feel is the cornerstone of my life. It lead me to all of his books and later in life to spending many years with his best friend Ivan Illich. The clarity about being human both of them had was the tuning fork that I feel has made me resilient because of the grounding it is. I began working for Jerry Brown in 1973 in his first campaign for Governor, that was a stroke of luck and I would not be who I am without all I learned in our 20 years together. Eight years as Governor and 12 years in other political adventures. Jerry was always so supportive and gave me opportunities that were priceless. Because of Jerry, I met, worked with and learned from many whose voices are always in my brain and I can see in my daily choices their affect. Some of those are; Gloria Steinem, Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta, David Brower, Gregory Bateson, Ivan Illich, Joanna Macy, Roshi Joan Halifax, V (formerly Eve Ensler, Danny Glover, Vijay Prashad, Susan Griffin, MC Richards, Aqeela Sherrills, Jane Fonda & Tom Hayden. In the past 20 years my attention has been on peace and the other co-founder of CODEPINK with me, Medea Benjamin has been the most amazing, supportive and rockstar partner.. My husbands have always been huge support, love and encouragement as have my boys. I have a circle of friends some since high school who I can’t imagine life without. And all the peace activists I stand with everyday inspire me and make life rich. To have a day standing shoulder to shoulder with so many who put their lives on the line for peace and justice is a blessing.

Website: codepink.org

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heartofj

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jodie-evans-a7a27b/

Twitter: @msjodieevans

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jodie.evans.169/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/codepinkaction

Image Credits
The one of Jane and myself is from the New York Times, so maybe that won’t work. The rest are photos from my camera.