-at 5pm for #ReleasetheReport National
Day of Action, at Bidwell & Elmwood. #NobodyisAbovetheLaw!;
-at 6:45pm to welcome the Poor People’s Campaign National Emergency
Freedom School Bus Tour, at Broderick Park where so many crossed (or died
trying) on the Underground Railroad;
-calling our State Assemblypersons to support the Farmworker
Fair Labor Practices Act, Assembly Bill 2750 (see wnypeace.org/getinvolved/organizing-in-wny/
for phone numbers of your assembly person. Calls are important right through
until they vote which is expected to be say Tuesday of next week.
– remembering Rev. Dr. King, his work (which the Poor People’s Campaign was his
last effort), his sacrifice, and his Truth and Love. #UnitetheStruggles.
Below as a reminder too are regularly scheduled events.
Peace, Justice, Thanks, Solidarity, and yes Love to You and to Us All! Si, se
puede!
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 CT 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.
Interfaith Peace Network
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)
This Thursday, there will be a National Day of Action on Thursday, April 4, to demand that Attorney General William Barr #ReleaseTheReport since he has failed to meet the deadline set by Congressional leaders of Tuesday, April 2. Barr has offered an alternate timeline for a redacted version of the report—but we deserve the full report and Congressional leaders and the American people expect it now. Meet us at 5pm on Thursday!
On 4/4/19, we will welcome the Poor People’s Campaign’s National Emergency Van Tour and commemorate 51 years since Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. started the first Poor People’s Campaign, since his participation in and support of the sanitation workers’ strike, and since Dr. King’s last sermon, ‘I’ve been to the mountaintop’. It is also 51 years, to the day, of his assassination. Join us at the foot of Ferry (West Ferry St., Broderick Park) at the Harriet Tubman Historical Plaque at 6:45pm to meet Poor People’s Campaign members from across the state. We’ll spend some time learning about the rich abolitionist history of Buffalo and New York State! Learn more about other tour stops here!
On Sunday, April 7 @ 3:00 pm – 5:30 pm, Sister Anita Baird will speak on the topic, “Justice is JUST US”
At St. Columba-Brigid Church, 75 Hickory St, Buffalo. Acclaimed and inspired preacher Sister Anita has won the 2018 LCWR Oustanding Leadership Award; is the founder of the Archiocese of Chicago’s Office for Racial Justice; and also earned the Harriet Tubman “Moses of Her People” Award. Followed by reception. Fundraiser for the SSJ Sr Karen Klimczak Center. http://www.sisterkarencenter.org.
Sunday, 4/7 is also the deadline to purchase tickets for the Sierra Club dinner on 4/10! Get your tickets today. Sierra Club Niagara Group Annual Awards Dinner
April 10 @ 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm
At the Unitarian Universalist Church, W Ferry & Elmwood. This year the Sierra Club Niagara Group is celebrating our eco-heros with a plant based meal catered to perfection. We hope you will join Sierra Club Niagara to honor a year of accomplishments, hard work and passion for the planet from our volunteers and our award winners. Deadline to purchase tickets is Sunday, 4/7.
Our PeaceJam program will begin on Tuesday, April 9 and will continue on Tuesdays for 11 weeks, 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.
**We have extended the deadline to receive Board nominations for the WNY Peace Center. Please forward any suggestions to nominations@wnypeace.org. Thank you.**
As usual, this week brings us new opportunities to work towards peace through justice!
Events this week:
School Board Candidates Forum
April 2 @ 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm
At Lafayette High School, VOICE-Buffalo’s Criminal Justice Task Force and the Buffalo Immigrant Leadership Team (BILT) will take collective action to hold Buffalo Public School Board Candidates accountable to the needs of the people. VOICE-Buffalo and BILT are inviting Candidates to answer questions about community concerns about commitments to English Language Learner students to raise the ELL graduation rate and to reduce the number of school suspensions in Buffalo Public Schools. Please join us for an evening of collective action and dialogue around these critical issues.
Border week-Canisius: a photo-legacy of César Chávez
April 2 @ 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
April 2nd 7:00 – 8:30 pm: César Chávez, A Legacy Stranczek Commons, Science Hall, Canisius College (parking along Main Street near Delevan) Join Pulitzer-Prize winning photographer José Galvez as he explores César Chávez, the farm workers’ movement, and his own personal cultural revolution. Free and open to the public. http://blogs.canisius.edu/border/borderweek2019/
Combatting White Supremacy Terrorism and Gun Violence,
April 3 @ 7:15 pm
Organized by UB’s Amnesty International Student Activist Group. Keynote address by Mr. Qasim Rashid, a human rights attorney, best-selling author, former Harvard University Fellow of Islamic Studies, Current Truman National Security Fellow, Black Lives Matter Advocate. University At Buffalo, North Campus, 201 Natural Sciences Complex, Buffalo, NY 14228.
Remembering Rev. Dr. King – in Truth and Love
April 4 @ 12:00 am – 11:59 pm
This week is the anniversary both of Rev. Dr. King’s ground-breaking and iconic Beyond Vietnam speech (link to text and audio of speech) at Riverside Church, NYC; as well as of his being murdered in Memphis, TN, where he went to support the Sanitation Workers’ strike.
Rally to Demand the full release of the full Mueller report
April 4 @ 5pm
Elmwood Avenue and Bidwell Parkway, Buffalo, NY.
Demand that Attorney General William Barr #ReleaseTheReport since he has failed to meet the deadline set by Congressional leaders.
Border week-Canisius: migrant Farm Labor in WNY – film and discussion
April 4 @ 5:30 pm – 8:30 pm
April 4th 5:30 – 7:30 pm: “After I Pick the Fruit.” Film Screening and Reception Stranczek Commons, Science Hall, Canisius College (parking along Main Street near Delevan) Free and open to the public. 7:30 – 8:30 pm: Panel: (Im)migrants and Farm Labor in WNY Stranczek Commons, Science Hall, Free and open to the public.
Poor People’s Campaign: Nat’l Emergency Freedom School Bus Tour Kickoff!
April 4 @ 6:45 pm – 7:30 pm
Join us at the foot of Ferry (West Ferry St., Broderick Park) at the Harriet Tubman Historical Plaque to meet Poor People’s Campaign members from across the state. We’ll spend some time learning about the rich abolitionist history of Buffalo and New York State! Learn more about other tour stops here!
The Kairos Blanket Exercise- Witness to Injustice-Train the trainer
April 6 @ 9:00 am – April 7 @ 5:00 pm
More details to be determined, but if you are interested, visit www.nacswny.org, or call Native American Community Services at (716) 874-4460 for more information. The Blanket Exercise is based on participatory popular education methodology and the goal is to build understanding about our shared history as Indigenous and non-Indigenous Peoples.
Sr Anita Baird, DHM: “Justice is JUST US”
April 7 @ 3:00 pm – 5:30 pm
At St. Columba-Brigid Church, 75 Hickory St, Buffalo. Acclaimed and inspired preacher Sister Anita has won the 2018 LCWR Oustanding Leadership Award; is the founder of the Archiocese of Chicago’s Office for Racial Justice; and also earned the Harriet Tubman “Moses of Her People” Award. Followed by reception. Fundraiser for the SSJ Sr Karen Klimczak Center.
Film Screening – “Paris to Pittsburgh”
April 8 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Daemen College, Schenck Hall, Room 107. “Paris to Pittsburgh” – Free public film screening on Monday, April 8 at 7pm, Info-contact byoung@daemen.edu. “Paris to Pittsburgh shines a light on the many forgotten communities and people who have been affected by climate change in our country, as well as solutions for how we can fight back.
Sierra Club Niagara Group Annual Awards Dinner
April 10 @ 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm
At the Unitarian Universalist Church, W Ferry & Elmwood. This year the Sierra Club Niagara Group is celebrating our eco-heros with a plant based meal catered to perfection. We hope you will join Sierra Club Niagara to honor a year of accomplishments, hard work and passion for the planet from our volunteers and our award winners. Deadline to purchase tickets is Sunday, 4/7.
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.
***********
More listings on calendar and in previous email posts.
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Please submit possible listings for consideration to weeklynews@wnypeace.org.
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.
Please call your/our legislators – both senators and congressional representative – today to ask them to vote and act as requested by the many Peace Action reps (including PANYS President Jim Anderson and WNYPC Director Vicki Ross) who are asking them to support peace worldwide in many ways. High on the list is stop aiding Saudi war crimes on Yemen (thank Sen Gillibrand); support peace in Korea; no-first-use nuclear policy; and defund war while funding peace! Calling 202-224-3121 will reach each and all.
Students from some of the 20 NYS Student Chapters of Peace Action New York State (PANYS) along with other chapters including the WNY Peace Center; lobbying Senators Schumer’s excellent legislative aide, Clarissa Chandoo, on peace issues and stopping the militarism!!
Judging U.S. War Crimes
Peace Activist Kathy Kelly contributed the below, elaborating on the desperate situation(s).
kathyincircle1
Judging U.S. War Crimes by Kathy Kelly
March 10, 2019
Chelsea Manning, who bravely exposed atrocities committed by
the U.S. military, is again imprisoned in a U.S. jail. On International Women’s
Day, March 8, 2019, she was incarcerated in the Alexandria, VA federal detention
center for refusing to testify in front of a secretive Grand Jury. Her
imprisonment can extend through the term of the Grand Jury, possibly 18 months,
and the U.S. courts could allow formation of future Grand Juries, potentially
jailing her again.
Chelsea Manning has already paid an extraordinarily high
price for educating the U.S. public about atrocities committed in the wars of
choice the U.S. waged in Iraq and Afghanistan. Chelsea Manning was a U.S. Army
soldier and former U.S. intelligence analyst. She already testified, in court,
how she downloaded and disseminated government documents revealing classified
information she believed represented possible war crimes. In 2013, she was
convicted by court martial and sentenced to 35 years in prison for leaking
government documents to Wikileaks. On January 17, 2017, President Obama
commuted her sentence. In May of 2017, she was released from military prison having
served seven years.
“Where you stand determines what you see.” Chelsea Manning,
by virtue of her past work as an analyst with the U.S. military, carefully
studied footage of what could only be described as atrocities against human
beings. She saw civilians killed, on her screen, and conscience didn’t allow
her to ignore what she witnessed, to more or less change the channel. One scene
of carnage occurred on July 12, 2007, in Iraq. Chelsea Manning made available
to the world the black and white grainy footage and audio content which depicted
a U.S. helicopter gunship indiscriminately firing on Iraqi civilians. Twelve people
were killed, including two Reuters journalists.
What follows is part of the dialogue from the classified US
military video footage from July 12th:
US SOLDIER 2: Alright, we just engaged
all eight individuals.
Amy Goodman described
the next portion of the video:
AMY GOODMAN: Minutes later, the video
shows US forces watching as a van pulls up to evacuate the wounded. They again
open fire, killing several more people, wounding two children inside the
van.
US SOLDIER 2: Bushmaster, Crazy Horse.
We have individuals going to the scene, looks like possibly picking up bodies
and weapons.
US SOLDIER 1: Let me engage. Can I
shoot?
US SOLDIER 2: Roger. Break. Crazy
Horse one-eight, request permission to engage.
US SOLDIER 3: Picking up the wounded?
US SOLDIER 1: Yeah, we’re trying to
get permission to engage. Come on, let us shoot!
US SOLDIER 2: Bushmaster, Crazy Horse
one-eight.
US SOLDIER 1: They’re taking him.
US SOLDIER 2: Bushmaster, Crazy Horse
one-eight.
US SOLDIER 4: This is Bushmaster
seven, go ahead.
US SOLDIER 2: Roger. We have a
black SUV —- or Bongo truck picking up the bodies. Request permission
to engage.
US SOLDIER 4: Bushmaster seven, roger.
This is Bushmaster seven, roger. Engage.
US SOLDIER 2: One-eight, engage.
Clear.
US SOLDIER 1: Come on!
US SOLDIER 2: Clear. Clear.
US SOLDIER 1: We’re engaging.
US SOLDIER 3: I got ’em.
US SOLDIER 2: Should have a van in the
middle of the road with about twelve to fifteen bodies.
US SOLDIER 1: Oh yeah, look at that.
Right through the windshield! Ha!
Democracy Now, in the same segment, asked
former U.S. whistleblower Dan Ellsberg for comments about releasing the video. “What
were the criteria,” Ellsberg asked, “that led to denying this to the public?
And how do they stand up when we actually see the results? Is anybody going to
be held accountable for wrongly withholding evidence of war crimes in this
case…?”
Chelsea Manning’s disclosures also led to public awareness
of the Granai
massacre in Afghanistan. On May 4, 2009, Taliban forces attacked U.S. and
Afghan forces in Afghanistan’s Farah province. The U.S. military called for
U.S. airstrikes on buildings in the village of Granai. A U.S. Air Force B-1
bomber was used to drop 2,000 lb. and 500 lb. bombs, killing an estimated 86 to
147 women and children. The U.S. Air Force has videotape of the Granai
massacre. Ellsberg called for President Obama to post the videotape rather than
wait to see if Wikileaks would release it. To this day, the video hasn’t been
released. Apparently, a disgruntled Wikileaks employee destroyed the footage.
Were it not for Chelsea Manning’s courageous disclosures, certain
U.S. military atrocities might have been kept secret. Her revelations were also
key to exposing U.S. approval of the 2008 coup against the elected government
in Honduras and U.S. dealings with dictators and oligarchs across the Middle
East, which helped spark the Arab Spring rebellions.
Prior to her
arrest in 2010, Chelsea Manning wrote: “I want people to see the truth,
regardless of who they are. Because without information, you cannot make
informed decisions as a public.”
Chelsea Manning’s principled and courageous actions provide
guidance for us to control our fears. We must seek an end to war crimes in
Afghanistan, Iraq and other areas where the U.S. terrifies and kills civilians.
