716-332-3904 6/25/19 wnypeace.org
Dear Friends,
We start this week’s news with some victories! The Farmworker Fair Labor Practices Act has been passed in the NYS Assembly and Senate. Now we just wait for the Governor to sign it, as he has pledged to do. This act includes provisions that will benefit the lives of farmworkers, from overtime to protection while collective bargaining.
The Green Light legislation has also passed in the NYS Assembly and approved in the Senate! The Green Light Bill will provide drivers licenses to undocumented immigrants in New York.
Plus, Erie County legislation is instituting a Community and Professional Advisory Committee for the Sheriff’s Department!
The Driver’s License Suspension bill was passed in the Senate! This would stop the automatic suspension of drivers’ licenses for unpaid tickets. However, it still has to be passed in the Assembly in the Fall.
With these victories, it is important that we continue to fight. We ask you to sign and send a petition to your member of Congress to repeal the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF). Since its passage, three administrations have cited the 2001 AUMF to justify warrantless surveillance, indefinite detention and torture, and more. These actions were taken largely without Congressional approval, and with little oversight or transparency. Sign the petition here: https://www.dailykos.com/campaigns/letters/sign-and-send-a-petition-cosponsor-rep-lees-repeal-of-the-authorization-of-military-force-bill?detail=emailaction&link_id=3&can_id=b680b13b07403c67bb89e5c4e2420e97&source=email-daily-kos-readers-have-already-made-an-impact-lets-keep-it-up-add-your-name&email_referrer=email_567741___subject_735918&email_subject=more-petitions-needed-from-city-default-your-congressional-district-repeal-trumps-blank-check-for-war
Also, Camp Peaceprints will be running in July! Camp Peaceprints in Buffalo uses the arts and educational experiences to get its participants involved in social justice and peacemaking, while still having fun. The camp will run for its 12th year from July 15 to 26. The camp is for children aged 8 to 13. We are still accepting applications for camp! Drivers are needed for Tuesdays at camp for the swimming field trips!
The film, by Mathilde Damoisel, When Banana Ruled will be playing on June 27th at 7:30 p.m. at Hallways on 341 Delaware Ave, co-sponsored by the WNY Peace Center. When Banana Ruled tells the story of the men who made bananas the most ubiquitous fruit in the world, through a multinational empire that dominated production and sales, overthrew governments, and created a business model still largely used by today’s tech giants. But, as When Banana Ruled documents, the entire enterprise was built on a rapacious, imperialist business model that required the domination of countries including Guatemala, Honduras, and Colombia. United Fruit took over critical national infrastructure like railways and ports, rapidly expanded plantations by displacing small (often Indigenous) farmers, bought itself favorable legislation, and, like today’s largest companies, sheltered profits offshore to avoid taxes.
No hate, no fear as we are #StillResisting. Peace, Thanks, Solidarity, and yes Love.
Events this week:
PeaceJam Leaders (afterschool group; 10-14 yr olds)
June 25 @ 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm
At the Rafi Greene CAO Masten Resource Center, 1423 Fillmore Ave, Buffalo 14211. Come be part of an exciting newly forming PeaceJam leaders group for 10-14-year-olds. PeaceJam is national and international, with 13 Nobel laureates on the Board who all had a major impact on the curriculum.
Damian Webster Presents Great Law of Peace Presentation
June 25 @ 6:30 pm
June 25th at 630pm at burning books 420 Connecticut st. Damian Webster will present a broad overview of the Great Law to kick off our reading group of the Kayanerenkó:wa: The Great Law of Peace by Kayanesenh Paul Williams the last Tuesday of every month.
Gender Justice Mtg
June 26 @ 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Gender Justice Monthly meeting, Wednesday, June 26, 2019 at 5:00 pm at Spot Coffee on Elmwood Ave. All are welcomed including those of the LGTBQIA community. Come and join the taskforce!
Film: When Banana Ruled
June 27 @ 7:30 pm
A Film by Mathilde Damoisel; (2018, 52 minutes). At Hallwalls, 341 Delaware Ave (at Tupper), Buffalo 14202. ($8, $6 students/seniors, $5 Hallwalls members) Cosponsored by the WNY Peace Center.
NYers Against Gun Violence Anniversary Benefit
June 28 @ 6:00 pm
Celebrate NYAGV’s 25th anniversary and honor area leaders Byron W. Brown, Mayor of Buffalo, and Brian Higgins, U.S. Congressman, NY-26. This special Western New York event will feature drinks and light fare. It will be at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fontana Boathouse, One Rotary Row, Buffalo, NY 14201.
10th Annual World Refugee Day – Soccer and volleyball tournaments
June 29 @ 8:00 am – 8:00 pm
La Salle Park
Mark your calendars! Western New York’s 10th annual World Refugee Day is June 29th and June 30th. June 29th will have the soccer and volleyball tournaments and the 30th will have all the cultural performances, food, and kids’ activities people have come to enjoy.
NoNAPL Demonstration
June 29 @ 12:00 pm – 3:00 pm
A NoNAPL demonstration is scheduled in JAMESTOWN on Saturday, June 29th from 12 to 3 pm in front of the Chautauqua Mall along Fairmont Road. EVEN IF YOU CANNOT STAY THE WHOLE TIME – FEEL FREE TO BRING SIGNS AND COME WHENEVER YOU CAN.
We shall overcome #Unitethestruggles #Loveislove #PowerWITH-NOTPowerOver
***********
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.
Camp Peaceprints in Buffalo uses the arts and educational experiences to get its participants involved in social justice and peacemaking, while still having fun. The camp will run for its 12th year from July 15 to 26. The camp is for children aged 8 to 13.
Each year, Camp Peaceprints takes on a theme. This year, the theme is Discovering Diversity: An Intercultural Adventure. The camp runs Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the St. Mary’s School for the Deaf. Registration forms are available online.
Co-Director of Camp Peaceprints and WNY Peace Center Executive Director Vicki Ross said campers get to build a diverse and connected community at the camp. The experiences campers get with the camp emphasize community, leadership, as well as awareness and appreciation of different cultures. Campers are able to learn to appreciate different cultures while having a lot of fun on field trips as well as swimming trips.
The camp in itself creates a welcoming community for children of all different cultures and communities. Campers also create a guide as to how they will treat fellow campers.
The camp hosts children from all different communities and recruits campers from a variety of communities. This creates a welcoming environment that campers can dictate. It is up to the campers how they behave with one another and campers make an agreement to guide their behavior at the beginning of camp. It includes appreciation and respect for all.
This year’s theme is all about welcoming different cultures. This year, campers will spend the day with a daycare of Muslim/Yemeni children.
“Engaging in different cultures is a great joy to me. All different languages, dress and food are wonderful to me.”
“My favorite part of camp is creating the beloved community and how close everyone becomes over time,” she said, “The love. The growing love in the community is my favorite part.”
Adult volunteers are needed for swimming on Tuesday and Friday afternoons during camp.
716-332-3904 6/19/19 wnypeace.org
Dear Friends,
We hope you’ll have joined us for tonight at 6 p.m. for the Traffic Stops, Fines and Fees: A Community Conversation at the Merriweather Library, 1324 Jefferson Ave (@Utica), Buffalo 14208. Ever had trouble paying an expensive traffic ticket? Has your driver’s license ever been suspended because of an unpaid traffic ticket? Ever experienced incarceration due to an unpaid traffic ticket? Did you know? Black drivers in Buffalo are 4 x more likely than white drivers to have their licenses suspended. People in Black neighborhoods are 8 x more likely to receive multiple traffic tickets than white folks.
Our Resist Militarism! Taskforce & Veterans for Peace meeting discussed our Infringement Festival Plans, Bolton’s War Mongering with Iran & Venezuela, and possible related actions. Future meetings will be the 3rd Wednesday of every month, in the Isais Gonzalez-Sato Branch Library, at 280 Porter Ave. at 5 p.m. Come out to the Old County Hall tomorrow at 2pm (92 Franklin) to support an Advisory Committee to the Sheriff’s Department, so sorely needed with deaths in the facilities at many multiples of in other facilities, and suits filed over brutality! And Friday, you won’t want to miss the Youth Climate Strike at 2pm on Niagara Square! The youth are taking the lead to stop the climate catastrophe already in process.
The Strawberry Moon Festival is this weekend! It is a communal, season-welcoming event and will be kicking off its inagural run on June 22nd at 3 p.m. in the Artpark Ampitheater. Tribe Called Red will be playing.
You may also be interested this weekend for the Bridging Black and Native Shores Conference for Black and Native Peoples. The conference will take place from June 21st to June 23rd in Pittsburg, PA. This conference is a gathering space to bridge communities that share many common trails but are often separated due to the nature of systemic oppression.
Register here: BIT.LY/O2OCOMMUNITY
We especially hope you can come when Damian Webster will present a broad overview of the Great Law on June 25th at 6:30 p.m. at Burning Books. It will kick off a reading group of the Kayanerenkó:wa: The Great Law of Peace by Kayanesenh Paul Williams. The group will meet the last Tuesday of every month.
And you’ll be inspired and refreshed to Welcome/Celebrate Summer on June 23rd at 4 pm., rain or shine at the Riverside-Salem Environmental Sanctuary. There will be music in the woods with Nan Hoffman, Joe Tumino and Kathy DeLoughry. Donations are free will. There will be refreshments and a potluck!
Join us for a NONAPL Demonstration on June 29th, from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. in front of the Chautauqua Mall in Jamestown. If you are unable to stay for the entire time, feel free to bring signs and come whenever you can!
No hate, no fear as we are #StillResisting. Peace, Thanks, Solidarity, and yes Love.
Events this week:
Traffic Stops, Fines and Fees: A Community Conversation
June 19th @ 6 p.m.
Merriweather Library
At this event, Buffalo residents will gather to share personal experiences with spiraling traffic debt along with a new coalition of local grass-roots organizations who will provide data-driven context about the Buffalo Police Department’s aggressive traffic ticketing practices, and the devastating effects that it has on communities of color and the poor. The meeting will give voice to individuals affected and an opportunity for experts to provide facts about traffic enforcement patterns in Buffalo and in New York State all in an effort to create solutions.
Refreshments will be provided. All are welcome!
Resist Militarism! & Veterans for Peace Meeting
June 19th @ 5 p.m.
Panera Bread on Elmwood Ave.
We will be discussing our Infringement Festival Plans, Bolton’s War Mongering with Iran & Venezuela, and possible related actions.
Strawberry Moon Festival
June 22nd @ 3 p.m.
Artpark Amphitheater
Join us for community fun and see Tribe Called Red play!
Bridging Black and Native Shores Conference
June 21st-23rd
Pittsburg, PA
Register here: BIT.LY/O2OCOMMUNITY
Damien Webster Presents Overview of the Great Law
June 25th @ 6:30 p.m.
Burning Books, 420 Connecticut St.
Walk-Out for Climate
June 21 @ 2:00 pm – 3:30 pm
Buffalo Climate Strike, with US Youth Climate Strike. All students, parents, activists, and concerned people: please join to demand our elected officials do something about the climate crisis. At Niagara Square (in front of Buffalo City Hall). Signs more than welcome!!
Celebrate Summer
June 23rd @ 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Riverside-Salem Environmental Sanctuary
NONAPL Demonstration
June 29th @ 12 p.m. to 3 p.m.
Jamestown, in front of the Chautauqua Mall along Fairmont Rd.
More events on the calendar and the previous weekly news.
Many thanks, peace, solidarity, and yes – Love
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. This week, recognizing/remembering our Fathers.
Talking Peace with the WNY Peace Center Radio Show on 91.3FM, WBNY. Mondays, 1-4pm. Call-in show! Go to wbny.buffalostate.edu. Upcoming on Racial Justice & Environmental Justice.
Buffalo Supports Standing Rock Water Protectors/Nekanesakt. Indigenous support group/allies. Tuesdays, 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.
Interfaith Peace Network, 1stand 3rdThursdays, 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)
Of note: West African Drumming Sundays, 12-2pm, Little Africa Culture Club, 356 S. Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo, NY.
We shall overcome #Unitethestruggles #Loveislove #PowerWITH-NOTPowerOver
***********
More listings on calendar 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.
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.
