Annual Event DONATIONS NEEDED!; Women’s March + Early Voting
Sunday, October 11th, 2020
The WNY Peace Center’s 53rd Annual Fundraiser: An Evening with Dr. Cornel West is now less than a month away! Please join us – visit bit.ly/wnypeace_cornelwest for all of the details and to purchase your theatre and/or Zoom tickets! As with our previous annual events, we are also planning to hold our auction and basket raffle – only this year we are going virtual! We are in need of items for both the auction and baskets, so please contact office@wnypeace.org if you would like to donate! (Please note that to accommodate the school year, our new office hours have changed and are M/T/R from 2-4pm.)
We would also like to make a note about the upcoming WNY Women’s March on October 17th. With health and safety being our top priority, we may consider splitting into smaller simultaneous gatherings across downtown if the main group becomes too large at Niagara Square. We hope you will join us for this rally to stop violence against women, BIPOC, and the planet! We will feature speakers, musical performances, and more! We welcome and appreciate your input – email assistant@wnypeace.org if YOU are interested in being a peace keeper/marshal or cosponsor.
We will also emphasize early voting at the Women’s March. Just a reminder that all active registered voters in Erie County are eligible to cast an early voting ballot – you do not have to do anything more! Starting 10/24, there will be 37 early voting locations in Erie County which you can just walk into to cast your vote (bring your ID just in case). If you are concerned about voting in person, please see more details here on requesting an absentee ballot – there is still time! And if you or someone you know is interested in becoming a poll worker, find more information here.
We also want to mention that the deadline for the 2020 Census has again changed. If you were not able to complete it by the 5th of this month, it’s not too late – you (again) have until the end of the month*! Please take advantage of the return of this extension, and let your friends and family know! (*Note: The Trump administration has filed an appeal to try to halt this latest extension, so please get your responses in ASAP!)
Lastly, two of the Kings Bay Plowshares 7 (Fr. Steve Kelly and Patrick O’Neill) are scheduled to be sentenced on October 15th and 16th this week. Please sign the petition here to dismiss the charges against against these antinuclear activists facing 25 years! Four others were granted continuances until November 12th and 13th due to COVID-19 – you can follow the updates here.
Please see details and much more below, including special and regularly scheduled events this week, plus campaigns, fundraisers, and more at wnypeace.org, on our Facebook page, Twitter (@wnypeace), and Instagram (@wnypeace)!
Peace, thanks, solidarity, and yes – love!
<3 <3 <3 <3 <3
UPCOMING SPECIAL EVENTS
Find more details and additional special events on our Event Calendar at
MONDAY, 10/12
11am – Protect Our Ancestors Rally. At the Canawaugus marker in the Town of Caledonia, Rt.5 & River Road/Livingston County #84. (If you plan to walk due to limited parking, please arrive early to the boat launch at the east side of the Genesee River, south side of Rt. 5&20. For those with walking challenges, please meet at the Avon Wesleyan Church/Four Corners Campus just west of River Road/Livingston County #84 & Rt. 5. You will walk the short distance from there to the Canawaugus marker in the Town of Caledonia, Rt.5 and River Road/Livingston County #84. The RALLY will begin at 11:00.) Invenergy is planning a mega solar farm to be built on Indigenous grave sites along the Genesee River. Our ancestors’ final resting places must not be disturbed! Bring your NO MASSIVE SOLAR signs, flags, and a Good Mind.
3pm – The PROCLAMATION for INDIGENOUS PEOPLES DAY. At Rush Town Hall, 5977 East Henrietta Road, Rush, NY 14543. Attendance will be limited to 50 people.
5pm – VOICE Buffalo Monthly Meeting (Live Free). On Zoom (Meeting ID: 82703517309) every second Monday. Voice organizer Rev. Denise Walden writes: “We are so excited to be back. We pray that you took time for self-care & rejuvenation. As you all know there is much to be done [re: reducing mass incarceration]. As we get closer to early voting, we must galvanize our beloved community to be heard. This month’s meeting is one you won’t want to miss!”
TUESDAY, 10/13
1:30 pm – Niagara University 2020 Social Justice Speaker Series: Shane Burley, What Antifascism Looks Like in the Crisis of 2020. On Zoom – register here. Shane Burley is a writer and filmmaker based in Portland, OR. He is the author of Fascism Today: What It Is and How to End It. His work has appeared in Jacobin, Alternet, Political Research Associates, Waging Nonviolence, Labor Notes, ThinkProgress, ROAR Magazine, and Upping the Anti.
SATURDAY, 10/17
2 pm – Women’s March: Stop Violence Against Women, BIPOC, & the Planet. At Niagara Square, Buffalo. See above.
UPCOMING REGULARLY SCHEDULED EVENTS
Find more details and additional weekly/monthly events on our website at
wnypeace.org/wp/regularly-scheduled-events
MONDAY, 10/12
1pm – Talking Peace (WNYPC radio show). On WBNY 91.3 FM or streaming online at wbny.buffalostate.edu. Insights on peace and justice with the WNYPC. At the moment, the show is being pre-recorded at Think Twice Studios. This week’s episode features: Deidra EmEl, WNYPC and Congregation of Israel; Jalonda Hill, community leader, Fair Fines + Fees Coalition, WNY Law Center; and Dr. Rolanda L. Ward, Director of the Rose Bente Lee Ostapenko Center for Race, Equity & Mission, Niagara University School of Social Work. With host Vicki Ross, WNYPC Executive Director.
WEDNESDAY, 10/14
3pm – Weekly March Against the Death Penalty. From the Robert L. Jackson Courthouse to the ECHC.
4pm – Prisoners’ Rights weekly vigil: No More ECHC Deaths! at the Erie County Holding Center.
THURSDAY, 10/15
5pm – Immigrant & Refugee Justice (IRJ) weekly vigil: End Ice Terror! Outside the Delaware North Building.
FRIDAY, 10/16
2pm – Environmental Justice weekly vigil: No Nuclear Waste over the Peace Bridge! At Front Park.
SATURDAY, 10/17
12 pm – Women in Black weekly vigil. At Elmwood & Bidwell.
CAMPAIGNS BY ISSUE AREA
Find more details and additional campaigns and fundraisers at
wnypeace.org/wp/current-campaign
wnypeace.org/wp/organizing-in-wny
Criminal Justice and Policing
– Now that Cariol’s Law has passed the Buffalo Common Council 8-1 (!!!), please continue contacting Mayor Brown to ask that he sign it into law. Phone: 311 if in Buffalo, or 716-851-4841 outside of the city; email: mayor@city-buffalo.com; Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
– Contact ECDA John Flynn’s office urging him to drop all charges against Willie Henley! By phone: 716-858-2424 and by web: https://www2.erie.gov/da/. If you are able, please also contribute to Willie’s lawyer fee funds at gofundme.com/f/willie-henley-lawyer-fee
– Buffalo needs LEAD now! We recently saw a clear example of how the current way police respond to community members with mental health issues fails our community. This entire situation could have been avoided with Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD), a program that offers an alternative to arrest or hospitalization: diverting individuals into intensive management so their underlying needs are addressed. Learn more about LEAD here and SHARE WIDELY!
– Support the demand that the police budget is defunded to invest in traffic calming infrastructure and take BPD out of traffic enforcement all together. Please fill out the questionnaire shared by Fair Fines + Fees to participate in a budgetary process that aims to make positive changes to the City’s budget. NEW! You can also share your ideas and priorities for changing the Buffalo Police Department through this survey by Free the People WNY.
– If you are a social worker or mental health professional, please sign the WNY Agents of Change open letter to Mayor Brown re: working with the BPD
#UNITEtheStruggles | #OneLove | #WeShallOvercome | #SiSePuede