Thanks; Early Voting; Annual Event; Colored Girls Bike Too (Black only)
Saturday, October 24th, 2020
This is a critical time, and we know this especially because our website is regularly being hacked. Someone doesn’t want us to do what we need to do, so we want to alert you all since it has affected our posts, including our event calendar. Please note that the upcoming event times listed below are correct, but are not currently accurate on our website calendar. If you have any questions about what you are seeing on our site, feel free to email assistant@wnypeace.org.
We would also like to take this as another opportunity to thank all of you, our members and supporters, for participating in the Women’s March last weekend as well as recognizing the WNYPC as People’s Choice for the Buffalo Spree’s Best Activist Group. We know that this has been a difficult year for so many, and through all of that, we recognize the peoples’ part in this important work and are so grateful for your support.
TODAY IS THE DAY! Early voting begins in New York, so if you haven’t already, now is the time to make your voting plan! All active registered voters are eligible to cast an early voting ballot at any of the thirty-seven (37) designated early voting locations in Erie County or two (2) locations in Niagara County. Election Inspectors now use Electronic Poll Books and Ballot-on-Demand systems to facilitate early voting, so it is as easy as walking right in with your ID! For a full list of locations, dates, hours, and more details about early voting in WNY, visit bit.ly/wnypeace-gotv2020.
If you are voting today, you can join the Souls to the Polls CommUNITY Early Voting March hosted by a variety of groups including 1199SEIU, Open Buffalo, Coalition for Economic Justice, Voice Buffalo, etc. The rally kicks off at 12:30PM at Community Access Services, 3297 Bailey Ave., Buffalo 14215. We will then march to cast our ballots at the Gloria J. Parks Community Center, 3424 Main St.
On Sunday, Colored Girls Bike Too presents their Halloween Family Bike Ride. Please note that all CGBT events are intended for Black women (cis, trans) and/or Black gender nonconforming individuals to create safe-er spaces. If you received an invite are not a Black woman or GNC Black person, please extend this invite to support the cause and invite someone who is! Please see below for more details.
Lastly, the WNY Peace Center’s 53rd Annual Fundraiser: An Evening with Dr. Cornel West is now just about two weeks away! Visit bit.ly/wnypeace_cornelwest for all of the details and to purchase your tickets! Due to circumstances related to the public health crisis, we are no longer offering the theater broadcast option, so please join us on Zoom! (For those of you who purchased theater tickets, we will be contacting you via email shortly regarding conversion or refund options.) As with our previous annual events, we will offer a basket raffle, auction, and program book – only this year we are going virtual! We are in need of submissions for the auction items and baskets as well as program ads, so please contact assistant@wnypeace.org if you would like to donate! If you would like to submit an ad, visit the event page above.
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
SATURDAY, 10/24
12-6 PM – NYS early voting begins. See details above including dates, times, and locations in Erie and Niagara Counties.
12:30 PM – Souls to the Polls CommUNITY Early Voting March. See details above.
SUNDAY, 10/25
3-5:30 PM – Colored Girls Bike Too presents: Halloween Family Bike Ride. *** For Black women (cis, trans) and/or Black GNC people only. *** This ride will begin at 289 Summer street, where we will meet for some doughnuts, cider, candy, and music! From there, we will make two stops, so that the families can trunk and treat and hear some brief spooky history about Buffalo. After our two stops, we will end at ‘Big Mood’ restaurant from some light refreshments! Please wear a costume, a mask, and bring a bike. For your safety we suggest that you wear a costume that will not get trapped in your bike. We will provide safety directions at the start of the ride.
4-5:30 PM – Riverside Salem UCC. Via Zoom (Meeting ID 363 944 0486 & Passcode: 058812). Meeting and discussion on progressive issues. Everyone is welcome.
MONDAY, 10/26
5 PM – Erie County Police Reform & Reinvention Collaborative Task Force Virtual Public Comment Session. On YouTube Live. The Erie County Police Reform & Reinvention Collaborative Task Force, which is the task force set up by County Executive Poloncarz to fulfill a mandate by Governor Cuomo to reform policing, is having their only 2 public comment sessions back-to-back on Monday 10/26 at 5pm and Tuesday 10/27 at 2pm. Email your comments on police reform to ecpolicereform@erie.gov.
TUESDAY, 10/27
1:30 PM – Niagara University 2020 Social Justice Speaker Series: Tish O’Dell, presentation and working on establishing and protecting the rights of nature in your community. On Zoom – register here. The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund aims to build sustainable communities by assisting people to assert their right to local self-government and to protect the rights of nature. Tish O’Dell co-founded the grass-roots organization in Broadview Heights, OH, that successfully campaigned to adopt a Home Rule Charter amendment, creating a Community Bill of Rights banning shale gas drilling and fracking.
7 PM – Niagara University 2020 Transformative Visions Presidential Speaker Series: Dina Gilio-Whitaker, presentation on Environmental Justice and Indigenous Resistance. On Zoom – register here. Dina Gilio-Whitaker, Colville Confederated Tribes, is a lecturer of American Indian Studies at CSU San Marcos, policy director and senior research associate at the Center for World Indigenous Studies. This presentation will be followed by an unmoderated Q&A.
THURSDAY, 10/29
9 AM OR 12 PM – Building Blocks Breakfast: Solidarity Amidst Crisis. Virtual event – register here. Please join PUSH Buffalo for an inspiring program on how their first 15 years have prepared the organization to meet the current moment and how you can create positive change.
6:30 PM – IRJ ‘Immigration Nation’ Watch Party benefiting JFMF. On Zoom – register here. Immigrant and Refugee Justice, a task force of the WNYPC, will host a watch party on behalf of/benefiting Justice for Migrant Families. We will be screening one episode of the six-part series “Immigration Nation” directed by Christina Clusiau and Shaul Schwarz. Donate to JFMF here.
FRIDAY, 10/30
3PM – Demonstration at ECHC. 40 Delaware Avenue, Buffalo 14202. The Live Free coalition (which VOICE Buffalo is a part of) will be holding an action downtown. CAIC and Free the People WNY’s county working group (both of which the WNYPC is a part of) will be supporting this action and we invite all of our partners and friends to join us at this event; more details to come.
UPCOMING REGULARLY SCHEDULED EVENTS
Find more details and additional weekly/monthly events on our website at
wnypeace.org/wp/regularly-scheduled-events
MONDAY, 10/26
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 episode serves as the fourth session in our ongoing First Steps: Collective Nonviolent Action series. Review related study materials at bit.ly/wnypeace_cna, including great films and videos.
WEDNESDAY, 10/28
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, 10/29
5pm – Immigrant & Refugee Justice (IRJ) weekly vigil: End Ice Terror! Outside the Delaware North Building.
FRIDAY, 10/30
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.
UPDATED: 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 contact Mayor Brown asking that he sign it into law. Phone: 311 if in Buffalo, or 716-851-4841/716-222-0138 outside of the city; email: mayor@city-buffalo.com; Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Please if you can also support the Cariol Horne Whistleblower Fund!
– 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
– Complete Partnership for the Public Good (PPG)’s Community Opinion Survey on what you think Erie County should do with its two mostly empty jails, the Correctional Facility in Alden and the Holding Center in downtown Buffalo. County officials have discussed closing or re-purposing one of the jails and moving most detained people to the other jail.
– 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