#RememberIndia today & Thurs +; Kathy Kelly#FocusOnYemen – & Iraq

Written by Victoria Ross on . Posted in Resist Militarism!, Talking Peace News, Urgent Appeal

716-332-3904       716-931-3520               7/25/18

Dear Friends,

There are many ways for us to work for justice and peace this week:

Today there’s a hearing at Old City Hall, 4th fl, 10am, of the Public Safety Committee that will concentrate on India Cummings and the Erie County Holding Center and egregious neglect and injustices in the system.

Also there’s the regular Wednesday Prisoners’ Rights Vigil at 4-5pm outside the Erie County Holding Center (ECHC, Delaware & Church). It is ongoing – happening every Wednesday. Please bring signs!

We also have the Radical King Reading group tonight at the WNYPC, 1272 Delaware Ave (entrance & pkg round back of bldg).

Tomorrow, Thursday, July 26, from 4-7pm, there’ll be another vigil today in front of City Hall, calling out District Attorney Flynn to prosecute persons responsible in India Cummings tragic death 2 ½ years ago, determined to be a homicide by the Commission of Corrections’ Medical Review Board due to extreme medical neglect by the Sheriff’s Department.

These issues and more will also be covered at the Racial Justice Taskforce meeting on Sunday, July 29, 1-2:30pm, again at the WNYPC, 1272 Delaware Ave (entrance & pkg round back of bldg).

This Saturday, starting at 10am at Bidwell & Elmwood, as part of the Infringement Festival, we’ll #FocusOnYemen, and directly afterwards, #FocusOnIraq. Women In Black will start at Noon (to 1pm) for the regular weekly nonviolence vigil. Our government’s militarism, violence, and war crimes in the area must be stopped, and humanitarian work and repair be undertaken.

Above all, don’t miss the opportunity to hear Kathy Kelly, Co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence, renown peace activist and Nobel Prize Nominee, on at Focus on Yemen, July 30, 7pm at Burning Books, again part of the Infringement Festival. You’ll get both insight and inspiration, to help us change course for the sake of people and the planet!

Also this Saturday we’ll have the last of the Stars under Stars events honoring dear and courageous Father Bissonette, organized by our Latin American Solidarity Committee –7:30pm at home of Maxine Inserra, 74 Wellington Rd. (including the film “Missing,” re Chile), for discussion, networking, information, and inspiration. BYO lawn chair and any refreshments you’d like, too!

Go to wnypeace.org to see our calendar for more details and events! as well as the rest of this post on the home page.

http://tunein.com/radio/WBNY-913-s27549/.

And 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

#UniteTheStruggles  #PowerWITH-NOTPowerOver #LoveisLoveBUF

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

Public Safety Committee Hearing Re Erie County Holding Center

July 25 @ 10:00 am – 11:30 am

4th Floor, Old County Legislature, Franklin St, Buffalo.  #RememberIndia. Legislator April Baskins, head of the Public Safety Committee at the legislature is calling for hearings and one coming up on July 25th is important. It’ll look at deaths at the Erie County Holding Center, including that of India Cummings’ – now deemed a homicide

Vigil for Justice at Erie Co Holding Center

July 25 @ 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm

Outside the Erie County Holding Center, at Delaware & Church. Come join this regular vigil going on with only a brief break since 2009. Bring signs! All are welcome. #rememberIndia #sayhername The Commission of Corrections Medical Review Board has deemed that India Cummings tragic death 2 ½ years ago from 17 days in the Erie

The Radical King Book Club Meeting

July 25 @ 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm

At WNYPC/NRC Bldg, 1272 Delaware Ave, Buffalo, NY 14209 (entrance & pkg round back behind bldg). Join The Radical King Book Club Meeting to discuss the book The Radical King by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (Author), Cornel West (Editor)

We Demand Justice For India

July 26 at 4-7pm.
Buffalo City Hall, 65 Niagara Square, Buffalo NY 14202. District Attorney Flynn must prosecute those responsible in India Cummings tragic death 2 ½ years ago, determined to be a homicide by the Commission of Corrections’ Medical Review Board due to extreme medical neglect by the Sheriff’s Department. Hosted by Buffalo United Community Coalition BUCC

Focus on Yemen: Intro

July 28 @ 10:00 am – 11:30 pm

At Bidwell & Elmwood. Not a moment to waste to learn more and do more to stop the terrible humanitarian disaster in Yemen. Come on out!

Focus On Iraq

July 28 @ 11:00 am – 12:00 pm

Come out to Bidwell & Elmwood to stand up for humanitarian aid and reparations in Iraq. (Directly follows #FocusOnYemen, same site, Infringement Festival). After the US military aggression and occupation, the situation is very much worse than it was under Saddam Hussein, with rampant death and disease, lack of clean water, children and families undergoing terrible suffering, extreme corruption, more.

LASC event Honoring Fr Joseph Bissonette (re Chile)

July 28 @ 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm

At home of Maxine Inserra, 74 Wellington Rd. (including the film “Missing,” re Chile). LASC event honoring the memory of Father Joseph Bissonette, a strong fighter for a just U.S. policy towards Latin America, and supporting organizations aiding people in need in Latin American countries. Don’t miss the last in this series:

 

Racial Justice Taskforce Meeting

July 29 @ 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm

Please join us at the WNY Peace Center (NRC Bldg, 1272 Delaware Ave; entrance & pkg round back of bldg) to work on: racism and harassment in Kenmore Public Schools; attending Community Police District meetings (5 districts, monthly); petition to name new police headquarters for Officer Edward Obertean (killed working to stop the KKK almost 100 years ago!); our Better Policing Campaign; and ___ your suggestion here ____.

 

Focus on Yemen – with Kathy Kelly

July 30 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm

Infringement Festival. At Burning Books, 420 Connecticut St, Buffalo. Not a moment to waste to learn more and do more to stop the terrible humanitarian disaster in Yemen. Hearing Kathy Kelly on this outrageous situation, with her wealth of knowledge and experience on war and occupation, will inspire and inform

 

Poor People’s Campaign Planning Meeting

August 1 @ 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm

At 1199SEIU, 2421 Main St #100, Buffalo, NY 14214.  Join in on deciding what the next steps will be in our local branch of this National Campaign for Moral Revival. The Truth Commission; the report on same; the 40 Days of Action; and the Celebration For Change have been a wonderful start to this massive

 

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TASKFORCES

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EDUCATION & HUMAN RIGHTS TASKFORCE

CAMP PEACEPRINTS 2018, “The Language of Peace”

M-F July 16 – July 27 @ 10:00 am – 3:00 pm

The eleventh annual Camp Peaceprints, brought to you by the Interfaith Peace Network, the SSJ Sister Karen Klimczak Center for Nonviolence, and the WNY Peace Center, is going on now. The Camp, for youth ages 8 to 13, provides exposure to a diverse community while introducing and exploring communication, social justice issues, peaceful conflict resolution – and did we say swimming (4x), field trips (2x), and learning signing? At St. Mary’s School for the Deaf, 2253 Main St.

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE TASKFORCE

No Nuclear Waste over the Peace Bridge

July 27 @ 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm

Join us every Friday from 2 PM to 3 PM at the corner of Busti Ave and Vermont St. in Buffalo NY. Vigil against the shipment of high level LIQUID radioactive spent fuel from Chalk River Ontario to Aiken South Carolina. If any of it spills out, it will be next to impossible to clean.

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

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GENDER JUSTICE TASKFORCE

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

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Calls are still needed to your NYS Assembly Members to ask them to support NYS ASSEMBLY Bill #4050. IF SEAN RYAN IS YOUR ASSEMBLYPERSON, PLEASE CALL HIM! 716-885-9630! ALSO CO CLERK MICKEY KEARNS (716) 858-8785.

The GreenLight NY program restores access to drivers’ licenses to all community members, to avoid abusive immigration enforcement.  For more info, please come out to above mentioned event, 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.

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LATIN AMERICAN SOLIDARITY COMMITTEE (LASC)

LASC event Honoring Fr Joseph Bissonette (re Chile)

July 28 @ 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm

At home of Maxine Inserra, 74 Wellington Rd. (including the film “Missing,” re Chile). LASC event honoring the memory of Father Joseph Bissonette, a strong fighter for a just U.S. policy towards Latin America, and supporting organizations aiding people in need in Latin American countries. Don’t miss the last in this series

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 continuing devastation caused by “natural” disasters (read fossil-fuel-burning-generated Climate Catastrophe) as well as other factors. 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

Public Safety Committee Hearing Re Erie County Holding Center

July 25 @ 10:00 am – 11:30 am

4th Floor, Old County Legislature, Franklin St, Buffalo.  #RememberIndia. Legislator April Baskins, head of the Public Safety Committee at the legislature is calling for hearings and one coming up on July 25th is important. It’ll look at deaths at the Erie County Holding Center, including that of India Cummings’ – now deemed a homicide

 

Wednesdays 4-5pm protest/vigils at the Erie County Holding Center (Delaware & Church). All are welcome. Please bring signs.

Please join us in promoting the H.A.L.T. Solitary Confinement campaign. Please call your State Senators and ask them to cosponsor and vote for the bills S. 4784. (You can also thank the representatives who passed it in the Assembly!)
Other Ways you can help:

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

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RACIAL JUSTICE TASKFORCE

Racial Justice Taskforce Meeting

July 29 @ 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm

Please join us at the WNY Peace Center (NRC Bldg, 1272 Delaware Ave; entrance & pkg round back of bldg) to work on: racism and harassment in Kenmore Public Schools; attending Community Police District meetings (5 districts, monthly); petition to name new police headquarters for Officer Edward Obertean (killed working to stop the KKK almost 100 years ago!); our Better Policing Campaign; and ___ your suggestion here ____.

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
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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.
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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, and/or call your District and ask when & where the next Chief and Community Police Meeting will be held.

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RESIST MILITARISM! TASKFORCE

Focus on Yemen: Intro

July 28 @ 10:00 am – 11:30 pm

At Bidwell & Elmwood. Not a moment to waste to learn more and do more to stop the terrible humanitarian disaster in Yemen. Come on out!

Focus On Iraq

July 28 @ 11:00 am – 12:00 pm

Come out to Bidwell & Elmwood to stand up for humanitarian aid and reparations in Iraq. (Directly follows #FocusOnYemen, same site, Infringement Festival). After the US military aggression and occupation, the situation is very much worse than it was under Saddam Hussein, with rampant death and disease, lack of clean water, children and families undergoing terrible suffering, extreme corruption, more.

Focus on Yemen – with Kathy Kelly

July 30 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm

Infringement Festival. At Burning Books, 420 Connecticut St, Buffalo. Not a moment to waste to learn more and do more to stop the terrible humanitarian disaster in Yemen. Hearing Kathy Kelly on this outrageous situation, with her wealth of knowledge and experience on war and occupation, will inspire and inform

Know about the King’s Bay Plowshares? 7 courageous and compassionate Catholic Workers who went to largest submarine base in the world Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base in St. Mary’s, Georgia on April 4th, 2018.  They went to make real the prophet Isaiah’s command to “beat swords into plowshares”. Read their story at https://www.kingsbayplowshares7.org/  . Donate, help us organize on their behalf, and agitate and pray for their acquittal. They face very serious charges of up to a decade of prison time, just for reminding our government of the illegal and foolhardy nature of our nuclear weaponry.

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’d prefer to send an email to your senators, you can do so here.

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Our tax dollars are funding massive civilian casualties and the world’s largest humanitarian crisis in Yemen. The U.S. military is providing midair refueling to warplanes, sharing intelligence for targeting assistance, and selling U.S. bombs to the aggressors. U.S.-supported airstrikes target schools, hospitals, and water and sanitation infrastructure. As a result, millions of Yemeni people are on the brink of starvation and are facing the fastest-growing cholera crisis ever documented.

Every day that the war on Yemen continues, America is complicit in aiding war crimes. Call your U.S. Senators today at 1-833-786-7927 and urge them to stop fueling war on Yemen!

Please let us know if you’d like to be involved with our Infringement Festival activities which will be focused on Yemen. We’d love to have your help. Please call Russell Brown 716-570-5200 or email Marie Schuster mariemschuster@gmail.com.

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REGULARLY SCHEDULED EVENTS in the One Movement, One Struggle

Riverside-Salem UCC/DC Sunday. No program on July 29- all encouraged to go to Paddles Up Festival at Beaver Island State Park.

Talking Peace with the WNY Peace Center Radio Show on 91.3FM, WBNY. Mondays, 1-4pm. Call-in show! Go to wbny.buffalostate.edu or http://tunein.com/radio/WBNY-913-s27549/. Hosts Jim Anderson and Vicki Ross with guest Kathy Kelly and more. Also call-ins including ____ your name here____.

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 4-5pm protest/vigils at the Erie County Holding Center (Delaware & Church). All are welcome. Please bring signs.

Interfaith Peace Network
On hiatus in July. Next meeting 9am, Thurs, Aug 2, at NRC, 1272 Delaware Ave, Buffalo NY 14209 (entrance and parking round back).

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. Sign welcome and also usually available.

Fridays – 1st and 3rd of the month; 6pm: Stop The Violence Coalition,
United Way Building, Delaware and Summer Sts. NO MTG on 7/15.

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 😉 Special gathering starting at 11am to honor and celebrate Iris Alexander.

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More listings on website (wnypeace.org) 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.
Many thanks, peace, solidarity, and yes – Love. We shall overcome!!