HAPPY EARTH DAY!! And LASC Peace Coffeehouse tonight!

Written by Victoria Ross on April 22, 2019. Posted in Uncategorized

716-332-3904 4/22/19 wnypeace.org

Friends,

HAPPY EARTH DAY!! What an awesome opportunity we have to repair the harm we have done to our earth, our health and well-being, and our communities. We hope you have been busy this past week, and this week there are even more opportunities. Every little bit counts! Let’s continue to educate ourselves and each other, and to keep doing the work.

Tonight is our Latin American Solidarity Committee’s April Peace Coffeehouse: Industrial Agriculture vs. Indigenous Survival, 7-9pm, Canisius College Science Hall, Main and Jefferson.

Happy Dyngus Day! Enjoy.

Tomorrow, 4/23, join us for a “Conversation about the End of the World,” and about environmental justice at the Unitarian Universalist Church of AMHERST, 6320 Main St. Williamsville, NY 14221. Doors open at 6:30pm, with light refreshments. Program starts at 7:00p

Also, Save the date for:

Caring for our Earth, Caring for our Children and Future Generations: Where Do We Go From Here?

May 8 @ 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm

St. Joseph University Parish Community Room, 3269 Main St, Buffalo, NY 14214. Listen to the voices of our youth. Get updates on current environment legislation and suggested actions. Pray together … Reflect together. Sponsored by St. Joseph University Parish Social Justice Committee, with the Interfaith Climate Justice Community. COME AND BRING A FRIEND!

Prisoners Are People Too Monthly Meeting, tonight, 7-9pm, CAO Rafi Green Center, 1423 Fillmore Avenue, Buffalo, NY.

Our PeaceJam Leaders After School program began on Tuesday, April 9 and continues on Tuesdays for 11 weeks (through 6/25), 3-5pm (except when school is out) at the CAO Rafi Green Center, 1423 Fillmore Avenue, Buffalo, NY. Parents are welcome to register their children for this program. wnypeace.org.

Many more events on the website!

REGULARLY SCHEDULED EVENTS in the One Movement, One Struggle:

Riverside-Salem UCC/DC – Progressive program followed by potluck. Sundays, 4-7pm. Environmental Cottage, 3449 West River Road, Grand Island. All are welcome.

Talking Peace with the WNY Peace Center Radio Show on 91.3FM, WBNY. Mondays, 1-4pm. Call-in show! Go to wbny.buffalostate.edu.

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 Connecticut Ave. All are welcome!!

Prisoners’ Rights Taskforce – Wednesdays 4-5:30pm protest/vigils at the Erie County Holding Center (Delaware & Church). All are welcome. Please bring signs.

Racial Justice Taskforce – 3^rdSundays, 1-2:30pm, Little Africa Culture Club, 356 S. Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo, NY.

Interfaith Peace Network, 1^stand 3^rdThursdays, 9:15am at 1272 Delaware Ave, Buffalo NY 14209 entrance and parking round back.) Breakfast potluck, planning/publicizing, & discussion.

Vigil for Victims of ICE Terror – Thursdays, 5-6pm, ICE building on the corner of Delaware and Chippewa. Bring your signs and spirit of Solidarity. We will not stay silent! #EndICETerror #FamiliesBelongTogether #AbolishICE

Environmental Justice Taskforce – Vigil to Protest the Shipments of VERY Dangerous Radioactive Liquid from Canada coming over the Peace Bridge. Fridays 2-3pm, Front Park at Vermont & Busti, Buffalo. Signs welcome and also usually available.

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

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

Many thanks, peace, solidarity, and yes – Love

We shall overcome #Unitethestruggles #Loveislove #PowerWITH-NOTPowerOver

No hate, no fear as we are #StillResisting. Peace, Thanks, Solidarity, and yes Love.

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More listings on website on calendar and in previous email posts.

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The time is now, and we are the people we’ve been waiting for.

And remember to tune in: DEMOCRACY NOW! IS NOW BEING BROADCASTMONDAY-FRIDAY, 8AM-9AM (LIVE) ON WBNY 91.3FM. Hear it over the radio or streaming live at wbny.buffalostate.edu.

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Below are

– more event listings (see also calendar & facebook page);

– Taskforce items and campaigns; and

– regularly scheduled events – all in that order.

No hate, no fear as we are #StillResisting. Peace, Thanks, Solidarity, and yes Love.

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COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

* ECONOMIC JUSTICE

Visit us on facebook to stay up to date on events. https://www.facebook.com/wnypoorpeoplescmpgn

Please continue to support the Poor People’s Campaign. The Poor People’s Campaign confronts the four evils of poverty, racism, militarism, and ecological devastation, as well as the distorted moral narrative of this country. Current focus: Voter Registration and empowerment, guaranteed healthcare and criminal justice reform. Stay tuned for information on future events and ways to get involved. Also, visit and join the Poor People’s Campaign online: www.poorpeoplescampaign.org and on facebook (locally, statewide and nationally): Poor People’s Campaign WNY, NYS Poor People’s Campaign, Poor People’s Campaign.

* EDUCATION & HUMAN RIGHTS

Buffalo Board of Education ELECTION – May 7. Get out and VOTE, and remind all of your friends and loved ones to VOTE.

New York State’s Dignity for All Students Act (aka DASA or The Dignity Act) seeks to provide the State’s public elementary and secondary school students with a safe and supportive environment free from discrimination, intimidation, taunting, harassment, and bullying on school property, a school bus and/or at a school function. More information at: http://www.p12.nysed.gov/dignityact/

BOE Meetings

Board of Education meetings begin at 5:30 pm and are held in room 801 at City Hall, unless a venue change is previously announced. These sessions are open to the public. A schedule of upcoming board of education meetings can be found at https://www.buffaloschools.org/Page/85931.

More information on Buffalo Public Schools can be found at https://www.buffaloschools.org.

* ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE

EARTH DAY!!!

April 22

Today is Earth Day around the world!! Find ways through our Event Calendar and/or through engaging with your local community to celebrate this important day.

Tomorrow, 4/23, join us for the “End Of The Earth” program by the Sunrise Movement for environmental justice at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 695 Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo, NY. Doors: 6:30pm. Program starts at 7:00pm.

April Peace Coffeehouse: Industrial Agriculture vs. Indigenous Survival

TONIGHT, April 22 @ 7-9pm

Canisius College – Science Hall convenient parking on Main near Delavan
sponsored by Peace Action-Canisius and WNY Peace Center’s Latin American Solidarity Committee

Free and open to the public. Ms. Anne Petermann, (Executive Director, Global Justice Ecology Project) just back from projects in Brazil, with reports on planning and actions there. Ms. Kelly Maracle, on representing local water issues at the First International EcoCultural Gathering of Sowers and Guardians of Water (in Bolivia, November November 14-18, 2018). www.lascwny.org.

Caring for our Earth, Caring for our Children and Future Generations: Where Do We Go From Here?

May 8 @ 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm

Two big victories!!: Judge’s put a halt to two terrible proposed pipelines:
– Keystone Pipeline (proposed for entire North-South in Central US); and
– NAPL/Northern Access Pipeline (proposed to take fracked gas from PA through WNY).
We are overjoyed, yet ever-vigilant. Join us for:

No Nuclear Waste over the Peace Bridge

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.

Action Alert re Stone Dam Road Pipeline: go to wnypeace.org/environmental-justice/

* GENDER JUSTICE

Thank you to all who came out to Women’s March – Buffalo/WNY!!!! And also all supporting events, forums and discussions! Almost 500 people battled the cold weather to stand up for women’s rights!! Many signs from our sign-making party and others let our goals be known. Also, paying homage to International Woman’s Day both on Friday afternoon and at the Women’s March was truly an honor. We will continue to work year-round on the local goals we’ve established.

Also, there has been concerns about particular issues/banners/goals at the Women’s March. We practice inclusivity, and we don’t all think the same way. The women’s movement is intersectional, and we may not always agree or share beliefs, but we’re here in solidarity for all aspects of our community in the ways we can be, in combination with our own beliefs and values. We hope to continue to foster understanding of women’s rights and, as stated on our website, the rights of all oppressed people.

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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

(Note all-male Common Council – symptomatic of issues!)

* IMMIGRANT & REFUGEE JUSTICE

April Peace Coffeehouse: Industrial Agriculture vs. Indigenous Survival

TONIGHT, April 22 @ 7-9pm

Canisius College – Science Hall convenient parking on Main near Delavan
sponsored by Peace Action-Canisius and WNY Peace Center’s Latin American Solidarity Committee

Calls are still needed to your NYS Assembly Members to ask them to support NYS ASSEMBLY Bill #4050. IF SEAN RYAN IS YOUR ASSEMBLYPERSON, PLEASE CALL HIM! 716-885-9630! ALSO CO CLERK MICKEY KEARNS (716) 858-8785.

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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.

* LATIN AMERICAN SOLIDARITY

April Peace Coffeehouse: Industrial Agriculture vs. Indigenous Survival

April 22 @ 7-9pm

Canisius College – Science Hall convenient parking on Main near Delavan
sponsored by Peace Action-Canisius and WNY Peace Center’s Latin American Solidarity Committee

Latin American Solidarity Committee website: http://www.lascwny.org/

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/LASC-wny/143873822377380/

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Other Latin American Solidarity news:

Invest in the children of farmworkers! A donor has agreed to match gifts given through Rural and Migrant Ministry board members through the end of the year. Contact the Rural and Migrant Ministry for more details. www.ruralmigrantministry.org.

Vigil for Victims of ICE Terror Thursdays, 5-6pm, ICE building on the corner of Delaware and Chippewa. Bring your signs and spirit of Solidarity. We will not stay silent! #EndICETerror #FamiliesBelongTogether #AbolishICE

Venezuela Sanctions Petition

After the attempted assassination of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, your help is requested. Please sign the petition to end US and Canadian sanctions:https://afgj.salsalabs.org/campaigntoendusandcanadasanctionsagainstvenezuela/index.html. The civilians and general populations are the ones to pay for this kind of foreign policy. The US government needs to stop penalizing the common people and destabilizing other countries. Please sign and share. Many thanks to Shontae Cannon-Buckley for her work on this issue!

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

* PRISONERS’ RIGHTS

Prisoners Are People Too Monthly Meeting, tonight (4/22), 7-9pm, CAO Rafi Green Center, 1423 Fillmore Avenue, Buffalo, NY.

“Changing Criminal INjustice: Reducing Recidivism” by Karima Amin

This is the focus of PRISONERS ARE PEOPLE TOO’s upcoming Regional Conference. We are excited to be able to share information with you on May 3(5:30 to 8:00pm) and May 4 (8:30am to 3:30pm) at the Mt. Olive Baptist Church, located at 701 East Delavan Avenue in Buffalo, NY, in collaboration with the Alliance of Families for Justice. We hope that the information we share will encourage you to join us in a fight for justice that impacts everyone. Since 2005, PRISONERS ARE PEOPLE TOO has provided advocacy and education, bringing awareness and empowerment to our community around the issue of how legislation that comes from Albany in general, specifically focused on “Corrections,” actually impacts the lives of families and people in our communities, sometimes in ways that they are not aware of. If a person has not spent time in prison or has never had an incarcerated loved one, oftentimes assumptions are made. Prisoners become “the other,” unworthy of respect, care, or concern. The stigma that results, happens because we rarely talk about a system that ignores the humanity of all people.

Prisoners are all of us. Anyone of us could find ourselves behind bars. There are men, women, and children who once thought, “This couldn’t happen to me.” But it did. There are thousands of adolescents in prison. Only NY and NC will place some in adult prisons. Today in the USA, there are 2.7 million minor children with incarcerated parents. Imagine your childhood with one or both parents in prison. The

imprisonment rate for prisoners age 55 or older continues to grow. Imagine your grandparents in jail or prison. Imagine your sibling, or child, or classmate, or childhood friend, or neighbor, or teacher in prison. I could go on; the impact on relationships is endless. Hence, our communities suffer. Our conference will highlight the strategies that we can use to improve the lives of the incarcerated, the formerly incarcerated, and the victims.

We are honored to have Dr. Henry Louis Taylor, Jr. as our Keynote Speaker on Saturday, May 4. Dr. Taylor is the Founding Director of the Center for Urban Studies at the University at Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning. His research, focusing on issues of race and class, and the needs of traditionally

marginalized groups, has made him an expert in assessing systemic factors, fueled by racism, that frequently lead to criminal convictions. The presence and words of this activist-scholar should ignite conversation and actions for positive change.

The next monthly meeting of PRISONERS ARE PEOPLE TOO will take place on next Monday, April 22 from 7:00 to 9:00pm at the C.A.O. Masten Resource/Rafi Greene Center, 1423 Fillmore Avenue @ Glenwood. As always, our regular monthly meetings are open to the public. Plan to attend. Also make sure to post our Conference dates on your calendar: Friday, May 3, 5:30 to 8:00pm and Saturday, May 4, 8:30am to 3:30pm. Visit prp2.org for more information, or contact: Karima, karima@prp2.org, or BaBa, g.babaeng@yahoo.com.

“God has not called us to see through each other, but to see each other through.” (Anonymous)

Thank you to everyone who held space during the 21 day Ma’at Memorial and Vigil at the Erie County Holding Center for India Cummings, who died in custody due to medical neglect, and for bringing light to the horrible conditions at the Erie County Holding Center. Stay tuned to the Racial Justice and Prisoners’ Rights Taskforces for ways to stay involved.

Wednesdays 4-5:30pm protest/vigils at the Erie County Holding Center (Delaware & Church). All are welcome. Please bring signs.

Please join us in promoting the H.A.L.T. Solitary Confinement campaign. Please call your State Senators and ask them to cosponsor and vote for the bills S. 4784. (You can also thank the representatives who passed it in the Assembly!)

Other Ways you can help:

– 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

* RACIAL JUSTICE

Prisoners Are People Too Monthly Meeting, tonight (4/22), 7-9pm, CAO Rafi Green Center, 1423 Fillmore Avenue, Buffalo, NY.

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.

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.

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, and/or call your District and ask when & where the next Chief and Community Police Meeting will be held.

* RESIST MILITARISM!

Stand Up for Global Peace

The world is facing a 25-year peak in violent conflict. It is the main cause of human suffering today – trapping millions of civilians in conflict and uprooting 66 million people from their homes. According to the Institute for Economics and Peace, violence containment costs the world $14.3 trillion each year. There must be another way.

Over the past two years, a coalition of peacebuilding, humanitarian, and faith-based organizations have drafted a bill that would address the root causes of violence and fragility. The resulting legislation has been introduced in both the House and Senate as the Global Fragility Act (H.R. 1580/S.727). This bill would require the U.S. government – in collaboration with civil society – to develop a 10 year strategy to enhance stability and to reduce violence and fragility around the world.

We know that too much foreign assistance and Pentagon spending is spent on treating the symptoms of violence instead of its causes. By passing this law, the U.S. will be able to more effectively prevent violence around the world and reduce its enormous cost on families.

Today, hundreds of faith advocates will lift up the Global Fragility Act as part of their lobby day ask for the annual Ecumenical Advocacy Days. It is important for YOU to add your voice as well. Together, we CAN build a more Just and Peaceful World for All!

Take action today to support the Global Fragility Act of 2019! https://p2a.co/Mc4rH0c

For more information:

https://allianceforpeacebuilding.org/globalfragilityact/

Resist Militarism! Meetings are 3^rd Wednesdays of the month at Tipico Coffee, 7pm.

(Future dates unless otherwise stated: 5/15, 6/19, 7/17, 8/21, 9/18, 10/16, 11/20, 12/18.)

Know about the King’s Bay Plowshares? 7 courageous and compassionate Catholic Workers who went to largest submarine base in the world Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base in St. Mary’s, Georgia on April 4th, 2018. They went to make real the prophet Isaiah’s command to “beat swords into plowshares”. Read their story at https://www.kingsbayplowshares7.org/.

Donate, help us organize on their behalf, and agitate and pray for their acquittal. They face very serious charges of up to a decade of prison time, just for reminding our government of the illegal and foolhardy nature of our nuclear weaponry.

Please call our 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.

– Support House Resolution 922 to define presidential wars not declared by Congress as impeachable offenses. These wars include wars of co-belligerency such as the US role in the atrocities in Yemen.

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

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