Join Peace Action New York State (PANYS) for an online discussion on military recruitment practices targeting low-income and immigrant youth and how to respond with sustainable options.
Leading the discussion will be author Sofya Aptekar, an Associate Professor at CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies. She will be joined by Ramón Mejía, National Organizer for the Grassroots Global Justice Alliance.
While the popular image of the US military is one of citizen soldiers protecting their country, the reality is that nearly 5 percent of all first-time military recruits are noncitizens. In Green Card Soldier, Sofya Aptekar talks to more than seventy noncitizen soldiers from twenty-three countries, including some who were displaced by conflict after the US military entered their homeland. Their stories—stitched through with colonial legacies, white supremacy, exploitation, and patriarchy—show how the tensions between deservingness and suspicion shape their enlistment, service, and identities.
Ramón Mejía enlisted in the Marine Corps at the age of 18 to support his family. His experience in the invasion of Iraq in 2003 led him to convert to Islam and develop into an outspoken advocate and organizer against U.S. wars and the growing militarization of our communities.
Giving voice to a little-heard group of immigrants, Green Card Soldier shines a cold light on the complex workings of US empire, globalized militarism, and citizenship. It highlights the need for united action to defend immigrant and LGBTQ rights, end white supremacy and promote anti-militarism.
The event fee is $25 for general admission, $10 for students and those on a low income. All proceeds to benefit the advocacy work of Peace Action New York State. Register here.
Join us for another taping of Talking Peace Radio! On “Remembering Hiroshima & Nagasaki for a Nuclear-Free Future” featuring Jim Anderson, President of Peace Action NYS, Steering Committee Member of Peace Action ( joining us from Japan, where he’s working with the Hibakusha and community of Hiroshima/Nagasaki); Martha Hennessy, Kings Bay Plowshares, Catholic Worker, granddaughter of Dorothy Day (CW founder); Shannon Seneca, Haudenosaunee Environmental Engineer, Mohawk, Turtle Clan, Environmental Health Specialist working as Assistantt Faculty at Roswell Park’s Center for Indigenous Cancer Research, Alternate Member on West Valley Citizen Taskforce; Sameria Mbili, Past President Peace Action Canisius College, Member of WNY Peace Center (WNYPC); with host Victory Ross, WNYPC Board Chair.
Discussion topics will include:
- values
- remembering US nuclear bombing of Hiroshima & Nagasaki
- nuclear weapons are illegal since Jan 2021 passing of Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons – campaign for US passing TPNW
- the danger and destruction of the nuclear chain (mining, refining, weapons, power, waste – here, in Japan, plus…)
- costs in pollution, human life, suffering in natural world, extreme threat and risk; opportunity cost
- ways people can help with environmental justice, Indigenous sovereignty, strengthen UN
The show is taped for just under an hour by Think Twice Radio: Home of the Future (thanks to Richard Wicka, our wonderful producer). The Zoom recording, livestreamed on Facebook during the taping, will air on WBNY 91.3FM on the following Monday at 1pm EST. After airing, you can also find the video archived on the WNY Peace Center YouTube channel.
The Rochester Institute of Technology is pleased to invite you to join them for their 41st annual Expressions of King’s Legacy featuring keynote speaker Nikole Hannah-Jones.
This event will not be live streamed.
Nikole Hannah-Jones is the Pulitzer Prize-winning creator of the 1619 Project and a staff writer at The New York Times Magazine. The book version of The 1619 Project was an instant #1 New York Times bestseller. Hannah-Jones has spent her career investigating racial inequality and injustice, and her reporting has earned her the MacArthur Fellowship, known as the Genius grant, a Peabody Award, two George Polk Awards and the National Magazine Award three times. She also serves as the Knight Chair of Race and Journalism at Howard University, where she is founding the Center for Journalism & Democracy. Hannah-Jones is also the co-founder of the Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Reporting, which seeks to increase the number of investigative reporters and editors of color, and this year she opened the 1619 Freedom School, a free, afterschool literacy program in her hometown of Waterloo, Iowa. Hannah-Jones holds a Master of Arts in Mass Communication from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and earned her BA in History and African-American studies from the University of Notre Dame.
Performances will also take place including RIT student Daniel Aisogun, spoken word artist and the RIT Gospel Choir.
