Montana. More than 147,000 square miles, the fourth largest state in the nation. Eight cities, 56 counties and nine Indian reservations. Eight hundred thousand people with a reputation for being individualists live in this Big Sky Country, which commands 13 hours to drive from the Canadian border in the northwest to the Wyoming border in the southeast. There is but one Congressman in the U.S. House of Representatives and one key advocate for the U.S. Department of Peace and Nonviolence.
 
“My biggest challenge is finding ways to reach the entire state to raise awareness about our campaign and to find supporters,” says Debi Strong, who assumed her dual roles as the Department of Peace state coordinator and district leader for that one statewide congressional district in September 2006.

Debi, who was born in New York City, then lived in Colorado for 30 years has been a Montana resident since 2001. She admits that some people in her new home state match the stereotype of military vigilantes and survivalists, but most often she observes what she describes as diverse political and ethical thinking. “Montanans are generally independent thinkers who like to be in charge of themselves, and they don’t want the government telling them what to do. They are people who feel strongly about their own rights, but the media tends to blow the ‘good ole boys’ image way out of proportion, just like they do with stories about grizzly bears,” she says.

When engaging people in conversation, Debi doesn’t try to anticipate the reaction she might receive. “When I start talking about peace, people tend to mix that up with not being allowed to own a gun or with losing property, or they think I’m talking about not supporting the troops,” she says. “So, I work on the precepts of nonviolent communication to open dialogue. I explain that the [Department of Peace] bill is not anti-military and that it relates to nonviolent conflict resolution and domestic issues like school bullying and prison recidivism rates. That’s the kind of information that opens people up and gives me more leeway. I emphasize these points in local news interviews, and I get a lot of feedback on the fact that the Department of Peace is pro peace, as opposed to anti-war, in the same tradition as Mother Teresa.”

Thanks to persistence as well as attention she derives from her “Peace Is Patriotic” button, people from peace, human rights and domestic violence organizations in university communities and the state capital of Helena are coming forward to assist her. “There are over 60 people on my list serve,” she reports. “Twenty-seven of them took part in our Walk for Peace in September 2006, and five others were in D.C. with me in February 2007 – a couple from Bozeman and three students from Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington, who are residents of Montana.”

Because of Montana’s size, the state’s group tries to meet monthly by phone. Debi speaks wherever and whenever she can to churches, political groups, rotary clubs and schools. Women’s groups have expressed interest in obtaining city council and state legislature resolutions to support the Department of Peace campaign. “Our goals are to get visible support from all 56 counties, all the Native American reservations, to involve more war veterans, and to keep engaging Representative Dennis Rehberg and his staff,” Debi says. “And to raise awareness and, of course, do some fundraising.”

Debi recognizes the challenge of connecting with Native American groups who tend to be conservative and difficult to reach, but Debi intends to keep reaching. “Representative Rehberg is supportive of Indian rights,” she says. “If I can find enough support on the reservations and get people in those areas to sign petitions and send post cards, I think he will take the Department of Peace and Nonviolence more seriously.”

Debi also finds hope in Montana’s history, which contains figures who embody both individualism and peace. One is Jeanette Rankin (1880-1973), who was the first woman elected to the U.S. Congress; that was in 1916, four years before women received the right to vote. In both World War I and World War II, she was the only representative in the House to vote against going to war; a peace center in Missoula is named after her. Montana’s two statues in the National Statuary Hall within the U.S. Capitol Building are of Rankin and of artist Charles Marion Russell (1864-1926). These two personages provide Debi, who describes herself as “an artist and a reluctant activist,” with inspiration.

Debi has used art to her advantage in her lobbying efforts with Congressman Rehberg. For example, when she met with the congressman’s deputy chief of staff in Washington, D.C., in February 2007, the discussion was short. “Just 12 minutes, but not hostile,” she describes it. But after that, an aide in the congressman’s office took Debi and other DoP lobbyists from Montana on a tour of the Capitol Building. To get there, they walked through the Cannon Tunnel where student art from around the nation was on display.

In 1982,” Debi explains, “Congress initiated an art competition, and each congressional district was allowed to place art, created by high school students, in the tunnel. We saw only one small piece from Montana. The aide said, ‘We don’t get much to choose from,’ and I said, ‘Let’s work on that.’” From that conversation, Debi initiated further communication that resulted in Congressman Rehberg’s staff sending invitations to all high schools in Montana. The winner of the competition will be flown to Washington, along with a parent or guardian. “This is the beginning of a dialogue,” Debi states.

And even though the office only received about 10 entries, a unique painting of Montana wildflowers from Olive, Montana, was chosen for this year’s piece.  Debi plans to do more follow up with the schools to increase participation.

The Department of Peace state coordinator’s matter-of-fact tone comes from her eclectic background, which also helps her assimilate in Montana. “I worked in law enforcement, both in the National Park Service and as a deputy sheriff for ten years, and ran a forensic lab before most people knew what a CSI [Crime Scene Investigation] was. These are valuable character references in Montana because they show that, when it comes to violence, I am not naive,” she says. In addition, Debi has been a research biologist, a ranch hand on a 5,000-acre cattle ranch, and an environmental educator and activist. In 1985, she founded The Douglas County Women’s Crisis Center in Colorado and has led retreats to help women write personal mission statements. Hers is, “To create, encourage and nurture a belief in the beauty and strength of diversity for humankind and all other living creatures.” So in addition to her DoP efforts, Debi tries to encourage the embracing of racial and ethnic diversity in a state that has little of each.

Debi is also the proud mother of a grown biological daughter and an adopted daughter from China, who attends elementary school and has inspired her to be a student of the Chinese language and former editor of a Chinese/American web site. Debi’s artwork, which is available through a Montana gallery and a California graphic arts firm, employs cut-out magazine letters, acrylic paint and brightly colored fibers to evoke thoughtful statements of peace and compassion.

Debi defines the Department of Peace campaign as a “basket that holds all my interests, teachers, heroes and goals together. Through this campaign, I truly feel that I am becoming the change I wish to see in the world, one little step at a time. It’s something that I can’t not do!”