Butte activist receives first state-level Amnesty International award

By Barbara LaBoe of The Montana Standard - 12/10/2004

Mary Kay Craig stands near the peace cairn in what will soon become the Butte-Silver Bow Peace Park at the corner of Broadway and Washington streets. Craig will be honored Friday night by Amnesty International for her many social justice accomplishments, including helping plan the cairn with the Taking Action for Peaceful Solutions group.

Butte's Mary Kay Craig, a tireless peace and human rights activist, will be honored Friday with a state-level Amnesty International award.

Craig will receive the Montana Human Rights Award, which state Amnesty International members plan to present annually to honor Montanans who work with the group. Organizers said there's no one better than Craig to receive the inaugural award.

"She's very enthusiastic and has lots of energy," said Eve Malo of Dillon, an Amnesty International member who has known Craig for several years. "I've never seen her depressed. She's always up and really eager to be involved."

"The one thing about Mary Kay is she's never afraid to be the first person out there," said fellow activist Marian Jensen of Butte, who has known Craig through various events since moving here in 1999.

"She's a wonderful person and very brave to take on all the work that she does in the political climate that we are in this country today," said another social activist, Noorjahan Parwana of Butte, who has known Craig for eight years. "This award is a recognition of a lifetime achievement and recognition of selfless concern for others."

Craig, a bit embarrassed by all the attention, said hundreds of others also have worked on the programs and missions close to her heart, but said she's glad to see the work and the causes being recognized.

For Craig, 62, working for social justice is both a calling and a full-time occupation. When she received her public policy degree in 1999, Craig and her husband George Waring sat down and decided her work was valuable enough to forgo a second salary. Waring is a professor at Montana Tech while Craig works on everything from entering a peace float in the Fourth of July Parade and campaign finance reform to speaking out against violent video games.

Prior to returning to her hometown, Craig worked in advertising and marketing both on her own and with large corporations. She returned to Butte in 1990, and met Waring, whom she married in 1996, while organizing supporters concerned about the rising water level in the Berkeley Pit.

Craig and Waring both belong to the Sisters of Charity's Blessed Virgin Mary group that works with the nuns for social change. They also helped organize Butte's Taking Action for Peaceful Solutions, which has organized everything from peace vigils to the peace cairn effort at Broadway and Washington. The group recently won approval from the Butte-Silver Bow Council of Commissioners to make the lot a peace park.

Craig's activism dates to her childhood, when at the age of 10 she handed out leaflets at Park and Main for the retail clerks union. Since then she's been involved in causes ranging from ending the death penalty to environmental justice. She's held picket signs and considered civil disobedience acts, but also was surprised this summer on the peace float at how just reminding others about the importance of peace can bring people together.

Craig says she keeps going, despite the long hours and hard work, because "you always have to have hope."

Jensen said that's exactly what this award will give others.

"I've seen her tired and feeling like only a handful of people support her and yet she kept going," Jensen said. "And this gives her recognition for that effort and I'm hopeful it will inspire other people, young people, to see that one person working alone or in a small group can make a difference."

Reporter Barbara LaBoe may be reached via e-mail at barbara.laboe@mtstandard.com or by telephone at 496-5519.