Free Bus TOMORROW 4am to Albany, FreeNY!; focus on Friday; more!

Written by Victoria Ross on March 13, 2018. Posted in Talking Peace News, Urgent Appeal

Dear Friends! 716-332-3904; 716-931-3520 3/13/18

Come ahead TOMORROW to stand for Justice from our Criminal “Just-Us” system!! There are still (free) seats left on the FreeNY bus to Albany tomorrow – Weds, March 14 – leaving 4AM from PUSH, 217 Grant St; and 4:30AM from UB South Campus Park&Ride. The campaign is so important, and it’ll be an inspiring and highly impactful time! Please join us to lobby for Bail reform and more! Again, we expect to have returned by **~9pm** from Albany. Please JUST SHOW UP for the bus – there are enough seats left. We shall overcome! Si, se puede!

It’ll be a busy week – as always!

– Thurs, 6-7:30pm, Info re West Valley Nuclear Cleanup; prep for testimony on March 19, 20 (in Bflo), and/or 21;

– All on Fri, March 16:
-With Kelly Maracle, Mohawk, Nadia Sharam, Esq. and Diana Lynn Patton on March 16, again Noon hour at the Central Public Library, Ring of Knowledge.
-at 4pm on March 16 at Bidwell & Elmwood to vigil for Rachel Corrie, Presente!, and Ahed Tamimi, both fearless young activists for Palestinian rights.
-at 5pm see a film at Burning Books, 420 Connecticut Ave, on Ahed and another even younger Palestinian activists “Radiance of Resistance.”

On Sat, March 17
Come to make kites for our Fly Kites Not Drones event – in Solidarity with Our Journey To Smile and Afghan Peace Volunteers. After making kites at Lafayette High School, come on March 21, the very special Now Ruz holiday (biggest Afghan holiday of the year), to Niagara Branch Library and we’ll go fly kites at LaSalle Park (4:30-6pm on Weds, March 21).

Again, please go to our website wnypeace.org and facebook page for more info on events, and campaigns, including
-March For Our Lives, WNY Local and bus(es) to DC, March 24 (bus funded by Mayor Brown). Stop Gun Violence – and all violence!!
#unitethestruggles We shall overcome – Together!/Harambe!!

Peace, Thanks, Solidarity, Justice, and yes Love.

#PowerWITH-NOTPowerOver

Remember to tune in: DEMOCRACY NOW! IS NOW BEING BROADCAST MONDAY-FRIDAY, 8AM-9AM (LIVE) ON WBNY 91.3FM. Hear it over the radio or streaming live at wbny.buffalostate.edu or http://tunein.com/radio/WBNY-913-s27549/.

Below are
– more event listings (see also calendar & facebook page);
– Taskforce items and campaigns; and
– regularly scheduled events – all in that order.
And be sure to go to wnypeace.org/calendar for more event listings – there’s plenty more and additions are frequent! …..

No hate, no fear as we are #StillResisting. #UnitetheStruggles !
Peace, Thanks, Solidarity, and yes Love. #loveisloveBUF <3

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EVENT LISTINGS

Please also celebrate Women’s Ways ~ Peace Ways with us in so many ways all month long!

All on Fri, March 16:
-With Kelly Maracle, Mohawk, Nadia Sharam, Esq. and Diana Lynn Patton on March 16, again Noon hour at the Central Public Library, Ring of Knowledge.
-at 4pm on March 16 at Bidwell & Elmwood to vigil for Rachel Corrie, Presente!, and Ahed Tamimi, both fearless young activists for Palestinian rights.
-at 7pm see a film at Burning Books, 420 Connecticut Ave, on Ahed and another even younger Palestinian activists “Radiance of Resistance.”

On Sat, March 17
Come, too, to make kites for our Fly Kites Not Drones event – in Solidarity with Our Journey To Smile and Afghan Peace Volunteers. After making kites at Lafayette High School, come on March 21, the very special Now Ruz holiday (biggest Afghan holiday of the year), to Niagara Branch Library and we’ll go fly kites at LaSalle Park (4:30-6pm on Weds, March 21).

March For Our Lives – WNY

March 24 @ 1:30 pm – 3:00 pm Solidarity Rally here in WNY

Join us in taking a stand against gun violence in our schools and communities. #NeverAgain should our children have to be afraid to go to school because our politicians are too busy filling their pockets with NRA contributions to do the right thing to keep people safe. Rally and circular March (est > 1mile). Organized by New Yorkers Against Gun Violence, and the WNY Peace Center, with stellar co-sponsors!
March 23/4 trip to DC:
We are so grateful to Mayor Brown for sponsoring this bus, organized by New Yorkers Against Gun Violence, Stop the Violence Coalition, Western New York Peace Center and WRITE TO RESIST. To register and for further details, go to

http://rallybus.net/mfol- buffalo-2

TASKFORCE ITEMS AND CAMPAIGNS

ECONOMIC JUSTICE TASKFORCE

Please call our state senators to ask them to support The New York Health Act, the bill to guarantee health care to all New Yorkers, passed the NY State Assembly for the third consecutive year in 2017. Call now to help #PassNYHealth in the State Senate. Contact info is on our website
wnypeace.org/governmental-contact-info/). Learn more nyhcampaign.org

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EDUCATION & HUMAN RIGHTS TASKFORCE
Sat, March 17, 10am-4pm. Umoja presents “It Takes a Village – Decreasing and Eliminating Suspensions.” Hosted by Sam Radford of the DPCC, with key community, teacher, and administrator representatives. Pratt Willert Center, 422 Pratt St. All are welcome!

PEACEJAM has started at Lafayette HS Community School Saturdays 10:30-11:30am. Come for Inspiration, Education, and Action. Come on Sat, March 17 for Kite-Making workshop (materials provided), with the Fly Kites Not Drones celebration to be on Now Ruz, Persian New Year, March 21, 4:30-6pm starting at Niagara Porter Library and flying kites in La Salle Park.

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE TASKFORCE

Thurs, 6-7:30pm, Info re West Valley Nuclear Cleanup; prep for testimony on March 19, 20 (in Bflo), and/or 21; at the Crane Library (2nd floor), 633 Elmwood Ave., Buffalo. Get informed about making Public Comments at local hearings sponsored U.S. Dept. of Energy and NYSERDA. Sponsored by Sierra Club Niagara Group

West Valley Nuclear Waste Cleanup opportunities to testify, March 19, 20, and 21. West Valley Scoping Meeting March 20 @ 6:00 pm – 9:30 pm West Valley Scoping meetings for the Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement SEIS Final Decisions on Disposition of Nuclear Waste at West Valley Nuclear Waste Site “Scoping” is done to get public input on what the whole Environmental Impact Statement should cover and include. Scoping determines the outline for what will be covered See more on calendar.

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

GENDER JUSTICE TASKFORCE

Happy Women’s Month – March!! See our Women’s Ways ~ Peace Ways events Noon on March 16 and 23, Buffalo & Erie Co Central Public Library.

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
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IMMIGRANT & REFUGEE JUSTICE TASKFORCE

March LASC coffeehouse: Protecting Immigrants!

March 26 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm

Reports from several local activist groups, including St. Joe’s University Immigration Committee, and Justice for Migrant Families, on their efforts to protect immigrants and refugees in a time of changing and unstable policy. Free and open to the public.
Call our senators and us reps to support the Dreamers. DACA may be eliminated if we do not succeed in getting Congress to act. Please call 202-224-3121.

Calls are still needed to your NYS Assembly Members to ask them to support NYS ASSEMBLY Bill #4050. The GreenLight NY program restores access to drivers’ licenses to all community members, to avoid abusive immigration enforcement. For more info, please see Dec 11 online presentation mentioned above 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 COMMITTEE (LASC)

March LASC coffeehouse: Protecting Immigrants!

March 26 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm

CONGRATULATIONS TO BILL JUNGELS and CHRISTINE EBER!!!
The Las Cruces International Film Festival bestowed its “Best FeatureDocumentary” award on Maya Faces in a Smoking Mirror, a feature length documentary directed by Bill Jungels, Co-Produced by Bill Jungels and Christine Eber and shot in Chiapas, Mexico. The documentary looks at how young Mayas are preserving or recovering their Maya identity and resisting the global forces that threaten this identity. Just as preserving native seed stocks helps us all survive in a world of vulnerable monocultures, the preservation and adaptation of traditional human cultures offers us all models that may help us survive as a species. The documentarypremiered in September of 2017 at Hallwalls.

Stand with Sen. Sanders: Rebuild Puerto Rico
The situation is still dire in Puerto Rico. Please go to the link below to see what you can do to Stand with Puerto Rico (and Sen Sanders).

https://act.credoaction.com/sign/sanders_puerto_rico?t=8&akid=26241%2E8770573%2Evra5l7

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As you know, people desperately need our help because of the devastation caused by “natural” disasters (read fossil-fuel-burning-generated Climate Catastrophe). 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

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PRISONER’S RIGHTS TASKFORCE

Join us in promoting the H.A.L.T. Solitary Confinement campaign. Please call your State Senators and Congresspersons and ask them to cosponsor and vote for the bills A. 3080 / S. 4784.
Ways you can help:
RSVP for the upcoming Advocacy Day, March 13, to demand passage of the HALT Solitary Confinement Act: https://goo.gl/z22oVf

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 TASKFORCE

Racial Justice Taskforce Meeting: Sunday, March 25 @ 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm

Join us at WNYPC/NRC Building for planning and organizing, including coverage of regular Police District Community Meetings, and pursuing the Better Policing Campaign, and #FreeNY.

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. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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.

RESIST MILITARISM! TASKFORCE

All on Fri, March 16:
-at 4pm on March 16 at Bidwell & Elmwood to vigil for Rachel Corrie, Presente!, and Ahed Tamimi, both fearless young activists for Palestinian rights.
-at 7pm see a film at Burning Books, 420 Connecticut Ave, on Ahed and another even younger Palestinian activists “Radiance of Resistance.”

On Sat, March 17
Come 10:30-11:30am to Lafayette High School’s Parent Room, to make kites for our Fly Kites Not Drones event – in Solidarity with Our Journey To Smile and Afghan Peace Volunteers.
After making kites at Lafayette High School, come on March 21, the very special Now Ruz holiday (biggest Afghan holiday of the year), to Niagara Branch Library and we’ll go fly kites at LaSalle Park (4:30-6pm on Weds, March 21).

Please call your 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.

If you’ve already contacted your senators to support the Sanders-Lee resolution onthe tragic war in Yemen, *I now need you to contact them to oppose a resolutiondesigned specifically to undermine it.* We know Bernie Sanders and Mike Lee’s resolution, S.J.Res. 54, must be seen as athreat to war makers. Shortly after it was introduced last week, Senators Todd Young(R-IN) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) introduced a bill that undercuts the best chance wehave to end U.S. support of the war in Yemen. [1] Senators Young and Shaheen’s bill, S.J.Res. 55, is a weak resolution that wouldeffectively authorize U.S. support for the war, while also allowing senators toappear like they’re acting on the tragedy in Yemen. It provides the political coverto oppose a vote on what we really need – a congressional check on presidentialwar-making powers. Please call your senators today: 1) Call our dedicated campaign line *1-833-STOP-WAR (786-7927)* and follow theprompts to connect to your senators’ offices. 2) When connected, say: Hello, I am a constituent of Senator ________ and I am calling to ask [him/her] tosupport S.J.Res. 54, the Sanders-Lee resolution to stop U.S. military support forthe Saudi-led coalition in Yemen. I also want Senator _________ to oppose S.J.Res.55, the Young-Shaheen resolution that undercuts the need for Congress to take backits authority in declaring war. Congress has never authorized U.S. involvement in Yemen’s civil war. Over eightmillion people are facing the threat of famine as the result of my tax dollarssupporting the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen’s civil war. As your constituent, I urgeyou to cosponsor and vote YES on S.J.Res. 54, the Sanders-Lee resolution and tooppose S.J.Res. 55, the Young-Shaheen resolution. Thank you. I’m hearing a vote on both resolutions could happen Thursday, so please call yoursenators today! Thank you for taking this urgent action to help bring an end to thehorrific humanitarian crisis in Yemen.

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REGULARLY SCHEDULED EVENTS in the One Movement, One Struggle

Riverside-Salem UCC/DC Sunday. Followed by potluck. Sundays, 4-7pm. Special opportunity to hear Brian Castner, author Disappointment River: Finding and Losing the NW Passage. March 11. Environmental Cottage, 3449 West River Road, Grand Island.

Talking Peace with the WNY Peace Center Radio Show on 91.3FM, WBNY. Mondays, 1-3pm. Jim Anderson & Vicki Ross co-hosting. Call-in show! Go to wbny.buffalostate.edu or http://tunein.com/radio/WBNY-913-s27549/.

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!!

Interfaith Peace Network
1^st and 3^rd Thursdays of the month, breakfast pot-luck **9:30-11am**, NRC, 1272 Delaware Ave, Buffalo NY 14209 (entrance and parking round back).

Environmental Justice Taskforce
Protest the Shipments of VERY Dangerous Radioactive Liquid from Canada.
Fridays 2-3pm, Front Park, Buffalo. Email Charley Bowman renewableenergy@wnypeace.org with your phone number for him to call and let you know whether (weather 😉 the vigil will take place that particular Friday. Or just show up and bring your own sign if you’re not sure others will be there!!

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

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

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More listings on website (wnypeace.org) and in previous email posts.
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(Sorry for occasional delays!)

Please submit possible listings for consideration to weeklynews@wnypeace.org.
Many thanks, peace, solidarity, and yes – Love. We shall overcome!!