Speaker: Grahame Russell, international human rights activist and co-author of “Testimonio: Canadian mining in the aftermath of genocides in Guatemala”
Rights Action, founded in 1995 by Grahame Russell and Annie Bird, was born out of the work of Guatemala Partners and its predecessors – GHRSP and PEACE for Guatemala – that during the 1980s and early 90s provided funding and support for the huge number Guatemalans (a majority being Mayan) violently displaced from their homes and communities by the U.S.-backed repression, many forced to flee into exile.
Rights Action supports education, legal work and activism to hold accountable the U.S. and Canadian governments, and our companies and investors that oftentimes cause and profit from exploitation and poverty, environmental destruction, repression and violence, corruption and impunity in Honduras and Guatemala.
Free and open to the public. Canisius College Science Hall at Main and Delevan near the NFTA metro station. Please Note: one parking lot is closed there during construction, but there is street parking along Main Street or in the parking lot by the M&T bank.
Featuring Keynote Speaker, Leah Penniman, Author, Founding Co-Director and Farm Manager of Soul Fire Farm
Leah Penniman (Li*/Ya/She/He) is a Black Kreyol educator, farmer/peyizan, author, and food justice activist from Soul Fire Farm in Grafton, NY. Li has over 20 years of experience as a soil steward and food sovereignty activist, having worked at the Food Project, Farm School, Many Hands Organic Farm, Youth Grow and with farmers internationally in Ghana, Haiti, and Mexico.
Leah co-founded Soul Fire Farm in 2010 with the mission to reclaim our inherent right to belong to the earth and have agency in the food system as Black and Brown people. As co-Executive Director, Li is part of a team that facilitates powerful food sovereignty programs – including farmer trainings for Black & Brown people, a subsidized farm food distribution program for people living under food apartheid, and domestic and international organizing toward equity in the food system. Her areas of leadership at Soul Fire include farmer training, international solidarity, perennials, writing, speaking, “making it rain,” and anything that involves heavy lifting, sweat, and soil. Li’s book “Farming While Black” is a love song for the earth and her peoples.
Leah holds an MA in Science Education and BA in Environmental Science and International Development from Clark University, and is a Manye (Queen Mother) in Vodun. Leah has been farming since 1996 and teaching since 2002. The work of Leah and Soul Fire Farm has been recognized by the Soros Racial Justice Fellowship, Fulbright Program, Omega Sustainability Leadership Award, Presidential Award for Science Teaching, NYS Health Emerging Innovator Awards, and Andrew Goodman Foundation, among others. Her book, Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide is a love song to the land and her people.
Awards
We’re honored to offer the following awards at the Western New York Peace Center’s 55th Annual Dinner:
Families and Survivors of the 5/14 Massacre will receive the Phoenix Award to recognize their tremendous labor of love emerging from the ashes of horrific grief and trauma (copy will also be given to the May 14 Community Collecting Initiative of the Buffalo History Museum and B&EC Public Library System).
Yanenowi Logan, Seneca deer clan, Cornell University Environment & Sustainability student, re-establisher of Seneca Youth Council, will receive the Emerging Leader Award;
Dr. Charley Bowman, scientist & activist, former WNYPC Director and Environmental Justice Taskforce Chair, will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award.
Tickets & Menu
We are excited to announce that this event will be catered by Sunshine Vegan Eats.
Served buffet-style. All sides are vegan and will be available with either protein choice (baked chicken OR vegan meatloaf): collard greens, mac and “cheese”, string beans, and artisan bread. Dessert will be peach cobbler.
It is NFTA-Metro’s last scheduled Parks Adventure Bus event, and BTRU is inviting folks to a special picnic at Evangola State Park!
We rented a six-table pavilion overlooking the beach for the day and will be handing out refreshments and snacks so people can feel nourished, hydrated and relieved from the sun. Folks are welcome to bring dishes to share with others as well.
Join us at NFTA-Metro bus terminal downtown for the first bus out, 9 AM, that Saturday morning or catch one of the two following buses.
The Parks Adventure Bus is the result of folks asking NFTA-Metro to replicate a weekend park bus program launched last year by Capital District Transportation Authority – CDTA. It gives families and households an affordable and environmentally clean means of visiting and enjoying our parks. To NFTA staff’s credit, they listened and partnered up with Erie County Parks, Recreation & Forestry and NY State Parks & Historic Sites on convening a two-month-long series of routes, targeting one park every Saturday.
Please RSVP so we can gauge an appropriate minimum of snacks and drink to bring.
Please note that we’re taking the first bus downtown to Evangola State Park, likely arriving sometime around 9:45 AM. People are welcome to arrive to the park by other means, but please note that parking is not free, but the bus is.
Leah holds an MA in Science Education and BA in Environmental Science and International Development from Clark University, and is a Manye (Queen Mother) in Vodun. Leah has been farming since 1996 and teaching since 2002. The work of Leah and Soul Fire Farm has been recognized by the Soros Racial Justice Fellowship, Fulbright Program, Omega Sustainability Leadership Award, Presidential Award for Science Teaching, NYS Health Emerging Innovator Awards, and Andrew Goodman Foundation, among others. Her book,