Fair Fines & Fees; Harriet Tubman Parade & Cultural Programme
716-332-3904 3/2/20
Dear Friends,
There are several events and opportunities for activism we’d like to highlight for you this week. First and foremost, the Fair Fines and Fees Coalition (FFFC) is collecting signatures for their current petition. Buffalo residents are welcome to sign this petition which aims to eliminate the thirteen new fines and fees that were passed by the city in 2018. It is wrong to fund the city’s budget on the backs of those who are too poor to pay! Why are we criminalizing poverty?? See our current campaigns page for more information. The link to the petition is below:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfZnv-e89bfDNUnMEepA96NsjyliODZZB5jZjjQWMsN2QWbLw/viewform
Next Saturday (3/7) a Harriet Tubman Parade and Cultural Programme is being held from 12-4pm. It will include a parade (which starts at Utica & Main), and a presentation at the Merriweather Library on Jefferson Ave from 2-4pm, with refreshments served. This free event will protest racism and poverty; and celebrate the life and legacy of Harriet Tubman. Don’t miss it!
Many thanks to any and all of you who’ve re-upped – or become – a member of the WNY Peace Center. Be on the lookout for our annual membership campaign, which includes information to renew your membership and highlighted events!
For regularly scheduled events, this week is our Environmental Justice Taskforce meeting! As usual it will be held on Thursday (3/ 5) at the Isaías González-Soto Branch (formerly Niagara Branch) Library. We’d love to see you there! Also from Charley Bowman, Taskforce Chair, Some good news….
Gov. Cuomo announced a speed up in the now 10-year+ long process of siting large clean energy projects in NY State. More details will be released soon, but all indications are this is a hugely good thing…perhaps the best news since he banned fracking in Dec. 2014.
This legislation just received a bill number: Accelerated Renewable Energy Growth & Community Benefit Act S.7508-A/A.9508-A. Stay tuned…
…and by the way, Gov. Cuomo now proposes a bill to make the ban on hydrofracking permanent.
https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-cuomo-announces-legislation-make-fracking-ban-permanent-included-fy-2021-executive
Please see much more below, including great events this week, regularly scheduled events & vigils, and more at wnypeace.org, and on our Facebook page, Twitter (@wnypeace), and Instagram (wnypeace)!
Peace, Thanks, Solidarity, and yes Love.
#Unite! #OneLove
Events this week:
Rally: Gov. Cuomo – Resign Now
March 2 @ 12pm-1:30pm
On January 1st Cuomo sided against the workers of NY state by vetoing the SWEAT Bill. The SWEAT bill would have prevented employers who were accused of wage theft from hiding the money they owe their workers. Two out of three workers in Buffalo are victims of wage theft- Governor Cuomo stands between you and the money that was stolen from you by your employer. Join us during International Women’s Week to demand Cuomo’s resignation, and that SWEAT be immediately enacted to give us the protections we need!
Talking Peace w WNYPC, WBNY 91.3FM
March 2 @ 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Call-in radio show with Vicki Ross hosting. Also streaming on-line at wbny.buffalostate.edu. Special show “in the Intersection.” With guests Betty Jean Grant and Jalonda Hill.
Nekanehsakt
March 3 @ 6:30-8pm
At Burning Books, 420 Connecticut Avenue, Buffalo 14213. Indigenous support group/allies (including Indigenous Women’s Initiatives, WNYPC). Every 1st & 3rd Tuesdays. Come help plan support for Indigenous rights, people, and the planet.
ECHC Vigil: NO MORE Deaths!
March 4 @ 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm
At the Erie Co Holding Center, Delaware between Church & Eagle Sts, Buffalo. Prisoners’ Rights Taskforce Vigil/protest Wednesdays 4-5:30pm at the Erie County Holding Center (Delaware & Church). The ECHC has significantly higher deaths than similar facilities. The Sheriff’s Dept has misreported, and been determined to have committed homicide by medical neglect per the DOJ! The Sheriff’s Administration is a Public Health Emergency!! All are welcome.
**Please bring signs. **
Also please call Gov Cuomo at (518) 474-8390 to urge him to remove Sheriff Howard as he clearly is not up to the job.
Environmental Taskforce Meeting
March 5 @ 6-7:30pm
At Isaías González-Soto Branch (formerly Niagara Branch) Library, 280 Porter Ave, Buffalo 14201. Regular monthly meeting. Come learn, help plan and organize to move ourselves on to Renewable energy and off fossil fuels. Charley Bowman will summarize what NY State has to do to achieve the energy goals codified in the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. Spoiler Alert: methane-based electrical energy generation will take a big hit as we make buildings more efficient, cars electric, and electricity generation clean.
Also,
It’s Time to call the Governor: Declare a Climate Emergency!
“Governor Cuomo, please declare a climate emergency for the state of New York
which means an immediate ban on all new fossil fuel infrastructure.
I’m calling from zip code xxxxx.”
Phone: 518-474-8390,
press 1 when the recording begins.
March 6 @ 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Environmental Justice Taskforce Vigil to Protest the Shipments of VERY Dangerous Radioactive Liquid from Canada coming over the Peace Bridge. Every Friday 2-3pm, Front Park at Vermont & Busti, Buffalo. Signs welcome and also usually available.
Subversive Theatre: ECLIPSED opening night
March 6 @ 7:30-9:30pm
At the Manny Fried Playhouse, 255 Great Arrow Ave, Buffalo 14207. Running March 6th – 29th, 2020, with performances Fridays & Saturdays at 7:30 and Sundays at 3pm. All performances are in Suite #302, on the third floor of North Buffalo’s historic Great Arrow Building. Tickets are $30 general admission or $25 for students, seniors, and Subversive Theatre members. All Sunday shows are pay-what-you-can. Purchase tickets online at https://www.subversivetheatre.org/purchase-tickets or leave reservations on the ST phone-line at 716-462-5549.
Harriet Tubman Parade and Cultural Programme
March 7 @ 12-4pm
At NFTA’s East Utica Metro Station at the corner of Utica and Main Street, Buffalo 14209. Parade route starts noon at the NFTA’s East Utica Street Metro Station, proceeds down Main Street, turns on East Ferry Street, and ends at the Merriweather Library on Jefferson Avenue. There will be an after-march programme presented at the library from 2 to 4 PM, with refreshments served. this entire event is free.
Film screening & discussion: 67 Buffalo Uprising
March 13 @ 7-9pm
At Upton Hall 230, Buffalo State College, 1300 Elmwood Ave, Buffalo, 14222. Free screening followed by a discussion with filmmaker Doug Ruffin. Hosted by professors Dorthea Braemer and Mike Niman. Sponsored by the Buffalo State Communication Department and the WNY Peace Center. Made possible with a grant from the Buffalo State Faculty Student Association.
ECLIPSED pre-show discussion panel “Human Trafficking: It Can Happen to Anybody”
March 14 @ 5:30-6:30pm
Human Trafficking Panel
Introduction: Dr. Rhianna Rogers, Associate Professor, Interdisciplinary Studies and Ernst Boyer Presidential Fellow, Rockefeller Institute of Government.
Panelists (in order of appearance/discussion): (60 min)
• Celest Lawson, Creator and Producer of “Typography of Women: I Am Not Invisible”
• Stephanie Wetzel, Project Mona’s House
• Tyquasia Walker, Project Mona’s House
• Victoria Ross, Executive Director of the WNY Peace Center
A performance of ECLIPSED will follow this panel discussion. The play runs March 6th – 29th with performances Fridays & Saturdays at 7:30 and Sundays at 3pm. See the WNYPC calendar event for 3/6 for more information.
REGULARLY SCHEDULED EVENTS in the One Struggle, One Vision, One Love:
The Environmental Show, with Jack Kanack, John Cunningham and Charley Bowman. Radio show on WBNY 91.3FM. Mondays, 9-10am. Also streaming online at wbny.buffalostate.edu.
Talking Peace with the WNY Peace Center Radio Show on 91.3FM, WBNY. Mondays, 1-3pm. Call-in show with Jim Anderson and Vicki Ross co-hosting. Also streaming on-line at wbny.buffalostate.edu.
Buffalo Nekanesakt. Indigenous support group/allies. 1st & 3rd Tuesdays, 6:30-8pm. At Burning Books, 420 Connecticut Ave. All are welcome!! Reading group for the Great Law of Peace will meet on the last Tuesday of January for its final session on the Kayanerenko:wa as put forth by Kayanesenh Paul Williams.
Prisoners’ Rights Taskforce – NO MORE Deaths! Vigil/protest Wednesdays 4-5:30pm at the Erie County Holding Center (Delaware & Church). The Sheriff’s Administration is a Public Health Emergency!! All are welcome. Please bring signs.
Resist Militarism! Taskforce – Regular monthly planning meeting third Weds of the month, Jan 15; 5-6:30pm. at Isaías González-Soto Branch (formerly Niagara Branch) Library, 280 Porter Ave, Buffalo 14201.
Interfaith Peace Network – in January only, 4th Thursday of the month, ie, January 23, with special presentation on Sufism; 9:15am at 1272 Delaware Ave, Buffalo NY 14209 entrance and parking round back.) Breakfast potluck, and discussion.
End ICE Terror – Thursdays, 5-6pm, vigil in front of the ICE building on the corner of (@250) Delaware and Chippewa. Bring your signs and spirit of Solidarity. We will not stay silent! #EndICETerror #FamiliesBelongTogether #AbolishICE #CLOSETHECAMPS #NeverAgainIsNow. On 1/23 will be followed by Immigrant & Refugee Justice Taskforce Meeting at Spot Coffee (kitty-corner to Vigil site of Delaware North Bldg) at 6pm. All are welcome!
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) Special gathering on Jan 4 for National Day of Action: US out of Iraq!!!
Riverside Salem Environmental Cottage & UCC/DC – Various progressive spiritual activist and naturalist programs, Sundays, 4-6pm followed by a pot-luck. 3449 West River Road, Grand Island, NY 14072.
Of note: Little Africa Culture Club, 356 S. Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo, NY. African Drumming Sundays, 12-2pm.
We shall overcome #Unite #OneLoveislove #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 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 BROADCAST MONDAY-FRIDAY, 8AM-9AM (LIVE) ON WBNY 91.3FM. Hear it over the radio or streaming live at wbny.buffalostate.edu.
And don’t forget to support it to keep it on the air: donations should go to the WNY Peace Center with a memo to us (on the check or with a note on the on-line contribution) the Friends of Democracy Now in Buffalo! Many Thanks!
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One Struggle, One Vision, One Love!!
Below are
– more event listings (see also calendar & facebook page); and
– Taskforce items and campaigns.
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
* ECONOMIC JUSTICE
The WNY Poor People’s Campaign meets 3rd Mondays, 6pm at Raqs Solidarity, 322 Amherst St., Buffalo, NY.
* EDUCATION & HUMAN RIGHTS
BOE Meetings
Board of Education meetings begin at 5:30 pm and are held in room 801 at City Hall, unless a venue change is previously announced. These sessions are open to the public. A schedule of upcoming board of education meetings can be found at https://www.buffaloschools.org/Page/85931.
More information on Buffalo Public Schools can be found at https://www.buffaloschools.org.
* ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
Climate Emergency Petition
No Nuclear Waste over the Peace Bridge
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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Ask Gov. Cuomo to Declare a Climate Emergency
Capitol district resident and longtime activist Sandy Steubling is organizing a
state-wide call-in effort. Please help out, and let me know if you did! Wish Gov.
Cuomo a happy new year…..and then:
“Governor Cuomo, Please declare a climate emergency for the state of New York and
immediately ban all new fossil fuel infrastructure.”
Tel: 518-474-8390, press (1) or Tweet: @NYGovCuomo
Why? From a recent UN report:
– levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere reached a record high in 2018.
– We are on track for a temperature rise of over 5.7°F by the end of the century.
– We have to reduce emissions by 7.6% each year between 2020 and 2030 to limit
global temperature rise to 1.5°C (2.7°F).
– The G20 countries are responsible for 78% of global GHG emissions.
Ref:
*GENDER JUSTICE
We will definitely have an event on Sunday, March 8, International Women’s Day – and much more to come. The Gender Justice Taskforce continues organizing. Please see our taskforce page on the wnypeace.org website. The Chair is Denise Robinson.
* IMMIGRANT & REFUGEE JUSTICE
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.
On 1/23 the foregoing Vigil will be followed by Immigrant & Refugee Justice Taskforce Meeting at Spot Coffee (kitty-corner to Vigil site of Delaware North Bldg) at 6pm. All are welcome!
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Vive la Casa, shelter for people awaiting documents and/or sanctuary, still desperately needs more resources for their already overstretched facility. Please give generously.
jrchc.org/vive
(Checks to Jericho Road/VIVE) 50 Wyoming St., Buffalo, NY 14211, 892-4354.
* LATIN AMERICAN SOLIDARITY
Latin American Solidarity Committee website: http://www.lascwny.org/ Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/LASC-wny/143873822377380/
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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
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Other Latin American Solidarity news:
Invest in the children of farmworkers! A donor has agreed to match gifts given through Rural and Migrant Ministry board members through the end of the year. Contact the Rural and Migrant Ministry for more details. www.ruralmigrantministry.org.
Venezuela
Please help us defend the defenders of the Venzuelan Embassy in DC.
Please Call: Prosecutor Sara Rosborough at 202-252-6837 Tell the Prosecutor:
“I (state your name) request that you drop all charges against the four Venezuelan Embassy Protectors: Kevin Zeese, Margaret Flowers, Adrienne Pine and David Paul. The four did not violate any U.S. or international law during their 37-day stay in the Venezuelan Embassy in Washington DC. Their stay in the Venezuelan Embassy building was with full permission of the legitimate, elected Government of Venezuela, as recognized by the United Nations and its Charter. I believe it is the United States government that has violated the UN Charter by unlawfully raiding and transferring the control of the Venezuelan Embassy to an unauthorized opposition group in Venezuela that has little support among the people of that country. I don’t think that the charge of ‘interfering with the protective functions of the state’ can be legitimately applied to this case, and if abusively applied, it will open the door to any foreign government or entity to do the same with the United States diplomatic premises anywhere in the world.”
If you get a recording, be sure to leave a message.
Embassy Protector activists spent 37 days protecting international law and peace within the Venezuelan Embassy in Washington, D.C. They are currently facing bogus federal charges brought by the Trump administration that, if convicted, would mean up to one year in prison and $100,000 fines each. In order to keep the DC embassy from being illegally taken over by right-wing coup supporters, the Embassy Protectors entered the Embassy with permission of the Venezuelan government, who handed them the keys, and remained there and refused to leave. For 37 days, the Venezuelan embassy in DC and the protectors inside were under siege by local and federal police and right-wing Venezuelan mobs who surrounded the embassy, used strobe lights and air horns throughout the night, tried breaking down the door, violently attacked Embassy Protection Collective solidarity activists outside the embassy, and even blocking supporters from bringing food and water to the activists inside. Despite all this, the Embassy Protectors refused to concede the Embassy to the right-wing, U.S backed forces. Now the Embassy Protectors face trumped by charges for defending Venezuelan sovereignty and self-determination.
Solidarity with the Venezuelan Embassy Protectors! Drop the trumped up charges!
Embassy Protectors Defense Committee Email: admin@DefendEmbassyProtectors. org
Web Site: DefendEmbassyProtectors.org
– Cuba—IFCO/Pastors for Peace (same address) Phone: 212-926-5757. Please give generously – the situations continue to be terrible for many!! We’ll have a Pastors For Peace representative here on April 5! Save the date!
-Chenalhó, Chiapas—
If you would like to provide much-needed help, go to weaving-for-justice.org
* PRISONERS’ RIGHTS
Prisoners’ Rights Taskforce – NO MORE Deaths! Vigil/protest Wednesdays 4-5:30pm at the Erie County Holding Center (Delaware & Church). Another Death! 4 in 2 ½ months! The Sheriff’s Administration is a Public Health Emergency!! All are welcome. Please bring signs. This week is a special **Radical Love Holiday Candle Vigil** with VOICE and SURJ.
Lastly please call Gov Cuomo at (518) 474-8390 to urge him to remove Sheriff Howard as he clearly is not up to the job.
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* RACIAL JUSTICE
Monthly meetings announced on our website calendar.
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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.
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.
* RESIST MILITARISM!
Resist Militarism! Joint Meetings with Veterans For Peace #128, are 3rd Wednesdays of the month, 5-6:30pm. November 20. At Isaías González-Soto Branch Library (formerly Niagara Branch Library, 280 Porter Ave, Buffalo 14201).
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#Unite #Loveislove #PowerWITH-NOTPowerOver
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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 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.
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Si, se puede! We shall overcome. #Unite
Peace, Thanks, Solidarity, and yes Love.
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