A newly formed local chapter of a national group devoted to educating Americans about the United Nations hopes to inform Charlottesville residents about the United Nations and its relationship with the United States.
The Blue Ridge Chapter of the United Nations Association USA held its inaugural meeting Sunday at the Charlottesville Unitarian Universalist Church, featuring a speech by David Newsom, an expert on United States foreign policy and the American relationship with the United Nations.
Newsom's speech reflected the chapter's goals: Informing local citizens about the United Nations and emphasizing the positive roles it plays.
In his speech, Newsom, a former undersecretary of state for political affairs and former ambassador to Libya, Indonesia and the Philippines, discussed the history of the United Nations, critiques of both the United Nations and the United States by each other, and the beneficial roles that the United Nations plays both toward the world and the United States.
Newsom argued that despite problems between the United States and the United Nations, the United States has much more to gain from participating in the United Nations than it does by ignoring it.
"We can join the world and work to strengthen the primary international organization or we can turn our back on it. If we do, we will find, as we found in the case of Iraq, we are suddenly virtually alone in a dangerous world," Newsom said.
Beyond yesterday's inaugural event, the Blue Ridge Chapter hopes to continue its goals of "education and advocacy," according to Helen Reynolds, the chapter president.
The United Nations Association USA was founded in 1943 by Eleanor Roosevelt and today claims over 20,000 members participating in 175 local chapters.
Before the Blue Ridge Chapter was founded, the only other Virginia chapter was based in Hampton. Wallace Irwin, a former UN official, founded the chapter because one did not exist locally.
"I said there's no chapter in the UN Association around here -- that is wrong -- so we did something about it," Irwin said.
Glenn Peterson, a member of the chapter, said that he joined the group to raise awareness and correct misperceptions amongst local citizens about the United Nations.
"All we think about is the Security Council and is [it] for that or against this and the vetoes," Peterson said. "We don't think of all the fine health programs and national programs and other programs that are sponsored by the UN."
After the speech, the chapter held a reception to allow audience members to meet Newsom and a sale supporting the United Nations Children's Fund. During the reception, Peterson expressed hope that the chapter would be able to make an impact on citizens in the area.
"I hope that in the future we can get more people interested in the UN and what it's doing and all of the good works that it's doing," Peterson said.
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