Longtime social activist honored
Judith Austin Rantala is named Hawaii Peacemaker
A woman who has been involved in local social-justice causes for 40 years has been named 2006 Hawaii Peacemaker by the Church of the Crossroads.
The church's annual Martin Luther King Jr. celebration at 6:30 p.m. Monday will honor Judith Austin Rantala, president of the Hawaii Coalition Against Legalized Gambling. The church marks the King holiday each year by selecting a person who exemplifies the peace and justice ideals of the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, who was slain in 1968. The Monday service at 1212 University Ave. is open to the public.
"I don't consider myself a peaceful person; I think of people who are gentle and are not so much in your face. Sometimes speaking out is a peaceful act," said Rantala, whose activism dates back to her 1960s opposition to the Vietnam War. "I just get very upset at injustice."
Her current activities include the Family Promise project, through which a coalition of churches will commit to housing homeless families and helping them find jobs, schooling and homes.
"Helping people to see what's really going on around them is one of the things that motivates me," Rantala said. She said people might have forgotten that the increase in homelessness dates back to a reduction in federal funding for mental-health programs. "Half of the street people need to be in mental therapy; it's not available anymore.
"I've been privileged ... just by accident of birth, that I haven't encountered the misfortunes others have. It gives me the responsibility to share it, to do what I can to make it possible for people to have health, something to eat, a good life. Each person has a right to a good job, a place to live, not to be harassed.
"It relates to my faith; I think it's what we're meant to do," said Rantala, who has been involved in Church of the Crossroads' social action and women's concerns committees. "We have to make choices: Do I get involved or do I walk away? There are so many selfish people who don't think about anything but themselves and money -- and these days, more money. I think my choices lie on the side of an equal and better life for everybody.
"I am as concerned for the people of Africa as for the people forced to live on the beaches," said Rantala.
Rantala worked with YWCA branches on the mainland before coming to Hawaii in 1961 as director of the University YWCA. When University of Hawaii students sought her counsel during campus protests against military presence during the Vietnam War, she joined them in a 1968 Bachman Hall sit-in. The Church of the Crossroads provided sanctuary for conscientious objectors, and in 1969, Rantala blocked FBI agents from seizing church records, according to a church announcement.
Rantala wrote a book about her experience living in Laos from 1971 to 1975 while her husband, John, worked for the U.S. Agency for International Development. She worked with an assistance agency here to help Laotian refugees adjust to American life.
She joined the cause of churches who oppose legalizing casinos and lotteries because "there are so many bad spinoffs," she said. "For every problem we have in Hawaii, it would just bring us more grief."
