Register for Mon kick-off trip to Albany, Poor People’s Campaign; more

Written by Victoria Ross on May 12, 2018. Posted in Economic Justice, Latin American Solidarity, Resist Militarism!, Urgent Appeal

Dear Friends!            716-332-3904; 716-931-3520         5/12/18

Happy Mothers’ Day Eve! Remember it was started by mothers who lost sons in the Civil War to protest war and its carnage. Read the proclamation by Julia Ward Howe (1870) here.

Join us for the historic Poor People’s Campaign kick-off trip to Albany on May 14 – Theme: “Somebody’s Hurting My People, & It’s Gone On Far Too Long!” (It’s also a great song!) Special attention will also be paid to child poverty, Women, LGBTQIA, people with disabilities, and the Green Light Program (especially important for immigrants and refugees; and which is also rallying in Albany). The bus leaves 4:30am from the LaSalle Metro/Park&Ride. Please contact kirk@cejbuffalo.org and register on line as well at
https://bit.ly/2G2F6cM
(there’s also a facebook event page fyi). And please text MORAL to 90975 to join the Campaign.

See our website including calendar for more details, as well as additional postings of our Weekly News homepage post:

– Sat May 12: Muslim Public Affairs Council Dinner, 6pm Hyatt Regency ($80; $40 for NRC/Students) – support this great organization & Millenials!

– Mon May 14: Poor People’s Campaign Kickoff in Albany; 4:30am sharp bus leaves LaSalle Sta NFTA Park&Ride, 3030 Main St, Buffalo 14214. Register at bit.ly/BuffaloPPC5-9

– Tues May 15: Honduran Musicians/Activists, 7-9pm; Latin American Solidarity Committee, Pilgrim-St Luke’s, 335 Richmond Ave (cnr W Utica);

– Tues May 15 sundown: Ramadan Mubarak to all our dear Muslim friends and families, on this the beginning of the holy and auspicious month of Ramadan!

– Sat May 19: WNYPC Annual Membership Meeting, 2-5pm, 1272 Delaware Ave (entrance & pkg round back behind bldg.) No worries snack-luck. Renew your membership on our wnypeace.org/membership, or just come ahead. All are welcome! (and members vote 😉

– Tues May 29: PPC bus to Albany with Veterans, War Economy and Stop Militarism themes.

– Weds-Fri June 13-15: Univ, Community, & Gov’t Partnerships, Rose Bente Lee Ostapenko Ctr for Race, Equality & Mission; Niagara University niagara.edu/niagara-university-partnerships-for-race-and-equality/

#unitethestruggles

Peace, Thanks, Solidarity, Justice, and yes Love.

#PowerWITH-NOTPowerOver

Remember to tune in: DEMOCRACY NOW! IS NOW BEING BROADCAST MONDAY-FRIDAY, 8AM-9AM (LIVE) ON WBNY 91.3FM. Hear it over the radio or streaming live at wbny.buffalostate.edu or http://tunein.com/radio/WBNY-913-s27549/.

Below are
– more event listings (see also calendar & facebook page);
– Taskforce items and campaigns; and
– regularly scheduled events – all in that order.
And be sure to go to wnypeace.org/calendar for more event listings – there’s plenty more and additions are frequent! …..

No hate, no fear as we are #StillResisting.  #UnitetheStruggles !
Peace, Thanks, Solidarity, and yes Love.    #loveisloveBUF   <3

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EVENT LISTINGS

Muslim Public Affairs Council Dinner

May 12 @ 6:00 pm

14th Annual MPAC Banquet & Awards. “Muslim Millennials’ Breaking Barriers” – Speaker: Tahera Rahman, WHBR-TV-CBS. At the Hyatt Regency Hotel, 2 Fountain Plaza, Buffalo 14202. Tickets $80pp (NRC & WCA Members & Students are $40) available here. Ms. Rahman is the first Muslim Hijabi TV reporting at WHBF-TV, a CBS affiliate in Rock Island, IL.

Get on the bus to Albany with the Poor People’s Campaign

May 14 @ 4:00 am – 9:00 pm

You must register here and share the Facebook page with your friends today!   NFTA LaSalle Station Park&Ride 229 Lasalle Ave, Buffalo, NY 14214 GET ON THE BUS TO ALBANY MAY 14TH BECAUSE SOMEBODY’S HURTING OUR PEOPLE, AND IT’S GONE ON FAR TOO LONG Register here bit.ly/nyppcweek1 so that the event organizers can ensure you have the proper information

Honduran Musicians/Activists Karla Lara & Jose Antonio

May 15 @ 7:00 pm

A group of Honduran Musicians will be bringing joyful music to people of Western New York. The event will be at Pilgrim-St. Lukes UCC, at 335 Richmond Ave, corner of West Utica.  The musicians are part of a country wide tour sponsored by Witness For Peace , an organization that supported a peaceful resolution to the many civil wars in Central America. The event will honor Berta Caceres, human rights advocate who recently in 2016, was assassinated. Freewill donation, to help defray the costs of their tour.Here is a link to the west coast part of the tour, including a concert video.
http://witnessforpeace.org/about-us/karla-lara-tour/

The Radical King Book Club Meeting

May 16 @ 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm

This time at CEJ, Tri-Main Bldg (Suite 547, 2495 Main St, Buffalo 14214). Join The Radical King Book Club Meeting to discuss the book The Radical King by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (Author), Cornel West (Editor). “The radical King was a democratic socialist who sided with poor and working people in the class struggle taking place in capitalist societies.”

A District Community Police Meeting

May 18 @ 10:00 am – 11:00 am

This is a chance for community members to meet with the district chief and community police officers with the Buffalo Police Department. “A” District 1847 South Park Avenue

Reception: Celebrate WNYPC, IPN, and V Ross (awarded honorary doctorate)

May 18 @ 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm

Come out to the WNYPC/NRC to celebrate our Beloved Community’s being recognized by Vicki Ross being awarded an honorary doctorate by Medaille College. No worries snack-luck. At WNYPC/NRC Bldg, 1272 Delaware Ave (entrance and parking around back of building). All are welcome!

WNY Peace Center Annual Membership Mtg

May 19 @ 2:00 pm – 5:00 pm

Come out to review the year and share our visions, campaigns, and efforts for the future. At WNYPC (NRC Bldg, 1272 Delaware Ave, entrance & pkg round back of bldg). No worries potluck. All are welcome, tho only members can vote. Another world is possible! Crisis ~=Opportunity

For more info, please go to our WNYPC calendar
TASKFORCE ITEMS AND CAMPAIGNS

ECONOMIC JUSTICE TASKFORCE

Join the Poor People’s Campaign – WNY. More info coming, and see more on NYS at wnypeace.org/current-campaigns and  NYS Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival

Please call our state senators to ask them to support The New York Health Act, the bill to guarantee health care to all New Yorkers, passed the NY State Assembly for the third consecutive year in 2017. Call now to help #PassNYHealth in the State Senate. Contact info is on our website
wnypeace.org/governmental-contact-info/). Learn more nyhcampaign.org

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EDUCATION & HUMAN RIGHTS TASKFORCE

PEACEJAM is at Lafayette HS Community School Saturdays 10:30-11:30am, May 12 and May 19. Come for Inspiration, Education, and Action. Buff State Kinesthetic Learning students will do special exercises with the teens and community on May 12, and there’s a celebration on May 19. All are welcome.

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ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE TASKFORCE

The West Valley Nuclear Site’s comment period was extended to May 25. Please request full clean-up (and repeat as necessary/feasible)! Go to wnypeace.org/environmental-justice/  or

https://www.addup.org/campaigns/west-valley-deserves-a-full-clean-up—comment-on-the-seis-today

For more info, you can contact Lia Oprea, WECAP, Cell: 310-770-3288
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New York Renews is taking another trip to Albany on May 8,

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No Nuclear Waste over the Peace Bridge

April 27 @ 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm

Join us every Friday from 2 PM to 3 PM at the corner of Busti Ave and Vermont St. in Buffalo NY. Vigil against the shipment of high level LIQUID radioactive spent fuel from Chalk River Ontario to Aiken South Carolina. If any of it spills out, it will be next to impossible to clean.
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Action Alert re Stone Dam Road Pipeline: go to wnypeace.org/environmental-justice/

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GENDER JUSTICE TASKFORCE

If you believe that discrimination against all women should be eliminated, please support enacting the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in the city of Buffalo. Follow this link for more information: https://cities4cedaw-buffalo.org/ and contact your district’s councilperson to urge them to support this ordinance too.
Darius G. Pridgen- Ellicott District- 716-851-4980
Christopher P. Scanlon- South District- 716-851-5169
David A. Rivera- Niagara District- 716-851-5125
Joel P. Feroleto- Delaware District- 716-851-5155
Richard A. Fontana- Lovejoy District- 716-851- 5151
David A. Franczyk- Fillmore District- 716-851-4138
Joseph Golombek, Jr.- North District- 716-851-5116
Ulysees O. Wingo, Sr.- Masten District- 716-851-5145
Rasheed Wyatt- University District- 716-851-5165
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IMMIGRANT & REFUGEE JUSTICE TASKFORCE

Calls are still needed to your NYS Assembly Members to ask them to support NYS ASSEMBLY Bill #4050. The GreenLight NY program restores access to drivers’ licenses to all community members, to avoid abusive immigration enforcement.  For more info, please come out to above mentioned event, or go to
https://www.facebook.com/GreenLightNY/; Green Light Petition

Vive la Casa, shelter for people awaiting documents and/or sanctuary, still desperately needs personal hygiene products and of course, CASH.
jrchc.org/vive
(Checks to Jericho Road/VIVE) 50 Wyoming St., Buffalo, NY 14211, 892-4354.

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LATIN AMERICAN SOLIDARITY COMMITTEE (LASC)

Honduran Musicians/Activists Karla Lara & Jose Antonio

May 15 @ 7:00 pm

A group of Honduran Musicians will be bringing joyful music to people of Western New York. The event will be at Pilgrim-St. Lukes UCC, at 335 Richmond Ave, corner of West Utica.  The musicians are part of a country wide tour sponsored by Witness For Peace, an organization that supported a peaceful resolution to the many civil wars in Central America. The event will honor Berta Caceres, human rights advocate who recently in 2016, was assassinated.

CONGRATULATIONS TO BILL JUNGELS and CHRISTINE EBER!!!
The Las Cruces International Film Festival bestowed its “Best Feature

Documentary” award on Maya Faces in a Smoking Mirror, a feature length documentary directed by Bill Jungels, Co-Produced by Bill Jungels and Christine Eber and shot in Chiapas, Mexico. The documentary looks at how young Mayas are preserving or recovering their Maya identity and resisting the global forces that threaten this identity. Just as preserving native seed stocks helps us all survive in a world of vulnerable monocultures, the preservation and adaptation of traditional human cultures offers us all models that may help us survive as a species. The documentarypremiered in September of 2017 at Hallwalls.

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As you know, people desperately need our help because of the continuing devastation caused by “natural” disasters (read fossil-fuel-burning-generated Climate Catastrophe) as well as other factors. You can contribute as follows:
Puerto Rico—Go to hispanicheritagewny.org for a full report on ways to help.
We also recommend:

Mutual Aid Community Soup Kitchens Paypal address:  cdpecpr@gmail.com run by Giovanni Roberto, friend of MaryAnne Grady Flores (UpstateDroneAction.org and Puerto Rico activist].

The Mariafund.org is another fund governed by many grassroots community groups.
Cuba—Alliance for Global Justice/Irma Relief, 418 W. 145th St.. New York, NY 10031 (for tax deductible). Not tax deductible, IFCO/Irma Relief (same address) Phone: 212-926-5757                   Please give generously – the situations continue to be terrible for many!!

Chenalhó, Chiapas—Humanitarian crisis
This article in the National Catholic reporter gives a brief overview of the situation.
https://www.ncronline.org/news/world/enough-deaths-mexican-clergy-reiterate-chiapas-crisis

If you would like to help, go to weaving-for-justice.org

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PRISONER’S RIGHTS TASKFORCE

HERMAN BELL HAS BEEN RELEASED!!! Many thanks to all who have written, called, and supported Herman and his family. We are all in this together! Alhumdullilah!/Hallelujah!!

Please join us in promoting the H.A.L.T. Solitary Confinement campaign. Please call your State Senators and Congresspersons and ask them to cosponsor and vote for the bills A. 3080 / S. 4784.
Ways you can help:
RSVP for the upcoming Advocacy Day, March 13, to demand passage of the HALT Solitary Confinement Act: https://goo.gl/z22oVf

Sign the petition to support the HALT Solitary Confinement Act: https://goo.gl/HLwqbK

Encourage your organization to endorse the HALT Solitary Confinement Act: https://goo.gl/forms/FM2F6DZAcPZp1co32

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RACIAL JUSTICE TASKFORCE

The Radical King Book Club Meeting

May 16 @ 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm

This time at CEJ, Tri-Main Bldg (Suite 547, 2495 Main St, Buffalo 14214). Join The Radical King Book Club Meeting to discuss the book The Radical King by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (Author), Cornel West (Editor). “The radical King was a democratic socialist who sided with poor and working people in the class struggle taking place in capitalist societies.”

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THE CARIOL HORNE WHISTLEBLOWER FUND
The Western New York Peace Center has created a fund for the purpose of supporting police officers who face reprisals from their department from choosing to strictly uphold their oath to protect and serve the community.  gofundme.com/cariol-horne-whistleblower-fund. The Peace Center has named this fund after Cariol Horne who saved the life of a citizen, but was fired just prior to earning her 20-year pension.  Our goal is to encourage good police officers in following their moral conscience if and when it conflicts with the infamous blue wall of silence.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_wall_of_silence
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Join the #BuffaloLLEP movement. It’s easy.

Join the hundreds of Buffalonians who make up the #BuffaloLLEP movement, asking Mayor Byron Brown to make low-level marijuana arrests Buffalo’s lowest level enforcement priority (LLEP).
People across the U.S. recognize what a destructive failure the 40-year “war on drugs” has been. In Buffalo, the news hasn’t sunken in yet, though, as those living in communities of color & low-income areas are still disproportionately targeted by law enforcement for marijuana arrests. Join the #BuffaloLLEP movement to stop these unfair & harmful enforcement tactics!
Learn more.
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Each Police District has a Chief and Community Police Meeting. We encourage people to go to them and communicate freely on issues of concern. See wnypeace.org calendar for listings.

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RESIST MILITARISM! TASKFORCE

Please call your Senators and Congresspersons to urge them to vote in favor and cosponsor if possible Senator Markey’s Bill # 200 and House Bill, Rep Lieu # 669, to Restrict First Strike with Nuclear Weapons.

If you’d prefer to send an email to your senators, you can do so here.

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Our tax dollars are funding massive civilian casualties and the world’s largest humanitarian crisis in Yemen. The U.S. military is providing midair refueling to warplanes, sharing intelligence for targeting assistance, and selling U.S. bombs to the aggressors. U.S.-supported airstrikes target schools, hospitals, and water and sanitation infrastructure. As a result, millions of Yemeni people are on the brink of starvation and are facing the fastest-growing cholera crisis ever documented.

Every day that the war on Yemen continues, America is complicit in aiding war crimes. Call your U.S. Senators today at 1-833-786-7927 and urge them to stop fueling war on Yemen!

Please let us know if you’d like to be involved with our Infringement Festival activities which will be focused on Yemen. We’d love to have your help. Please call Russell Brown 716-570-5200 or email Marie Schuster mariemschuster@gmail.com.
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REGULARLY SCHEDULED EVENTS in the One Movement, One Struggle

Riverside-Salem UCC/DC Sunday. Progressive program followed by potluck. Sundays, 4-7pm. Environmental Cottage, 3449 West River Road, Grand Island. This Sunday – Telling Our Mothers’ and Grandmothers’ Stories.

Talking Peace with the WNY Peace Center Radio Show on 91.3FM, WBNY. Mondays, 1-3pm. Jim Anderson & Vicki Ross co-hosting, with Live Broadcasting of the Poor People’s Campaign; LASC re Honduran Musician/Activists. Call-in show! Go to wbny.buffalostate.edu or http://tunein.com/radio/WBNY-913-s27549/.

Buffalo Supports Standing Rock Water Protectors/Nekanesakt. Indigenous support group/allies. 1st and 3rd Tuesdays of the month, 6:30-8pm. At Burning Books, 420 CT Ave. All are welcome!!

Interfaith Peace Network
1^st and 3^rd Thursdays of the month, breakfast pot-luck **9:30-11am**, NRC, 1272 Delaware Ave, Buffalo NY 14209 (entrance and parking round back).

Environmental Justice Taskforce
Protest the Shipments of VERY Dangerous Radioactive Liquid from Canada.
Fridays 2-3pm, Front Park, Buffalo. Email Charley Bowman renewableenergy@wnypeace.org with your phone number for him to call and let you know whether (weather 😉 the vigil will take place that particular Friday. Or just show up and bring your own sign if you’re not sure others will be there!!

Fridays – 1st and 3rd of the month; 6pm: Stop The Violence Coalition,
United Way Building, Delaware and Summer Sts.

Saturdays, Noon-1pm: Women In Black. Nonviolence vigil, Bidwell and Elmwood. Signs also available. (and you don’t need to be a woman or dress in black 😉

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More listings on website (wnypeace.org) and in previous email posts.
To subscribe, write to weeklynews@wnypeace.org with “subscribe” in subject line.
To unsubscribe, write to weeklynews@wnypeace.org with “unsubscribe” in subject line.

(Sorry for occasional delays!)

Please submit possible listings for consideration to weeklynews@wnypeace.org.
Many thanks, peace, solidarity, and yes – Love. We shall overcome!!