Giving Tuesday; Bidding Owl Auction; Talking Peace; Speak-out on ECHC
716-332-3904 | Sunday, November 29, 2020 | wnypeace.org
Dear Friends,
In an era of global crisis, we need new rituals to connect us. Giving Tuesday strives to “build a world in which the catalytic power of generosity is at the heart of the society we build together, unlocking dignity, opportunity, and equity around the globe.” If you are able, we ask for your support this upcoming Giving Tuesday, which will allow us to continue our work building a more peaceful and just world.
- One way to support the WNYPC’s mission is through our annual fundraiser! We had many lovely donations from our generous supporters, and there is still time to visit our virtual marketplace (Bidding Owl registation required) – perfect for holiday gift ideas! Includes items from great local businesses: El Buen Amigo, Burning Books, Black Monarchy, and more! Ends Sunday, 12/6 at 11:59 PM.
We want to highlight an upcoming Zoom event: Speak-out on Erie County Holding Center. Join the WNYPC at 6:30 pm on Thursday, December 10th – Human Rights Day – for an opportunity to share your lived experience and/or perspective on the Erie County Holding Center, and to hear from authorities. Details to join are below.
- Superintendent – Jail Division, Thomas Diina will be attending, as will Miles Gresham, Esq., and Heron Simmonds, members of the Corrections Specialist Advisory Board.
- Heron, Racial Justice Taskforce Co-Chair, and other WNY Peace Center members, including its Racial Justice Taskforce and Prisoners’ Rights Taskforces, will also be involved. Other officials have also been invited (attendance TBD).
- Please come to tell your story and hear what current plans are. We’ll start with a Community Agreement to ensure we have a productive conversation, in truth and love.
We also want to encourage you to take advantage of the City of Buffalo’s Parking Amnesty Program by the December 31st deadline! The program allows individuals whose tickets are older (i.e., issued prior to June 30th, 2019) to pay the original amount owed without late fees and clear their records. Contact pvboffice@city-buffalo.com or 716-851-5182 for more information, and please help the Fair Fines + Fees Coalition spread the word about this very important program!
Please also note that our campaigns below have been *updated* to include urgent items related environmental justice, antiwar foreign policy, and policing/criminal justice reform!
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, 11/30
1-3 PM – Talking Peace with the WNY Peace Center. On WBNY 91.3 FM or streaming on wbny.buffalostate.edu. First hour: Jill Yagwaneest Clause; Tosh Hamby; Robert John Knapp. Gnonoyoh by Tosh in Tuscaroran. Joined by Robert John discussing Thankfulness: every morning, what we’re thankful for; Indigenous wisdom; care for Creation, for the 7th Generation. 2nd hour: Jill Yagwaneest Clause, Tuscarora; and Diane D’Arrigo, Nuclear Information and Research Service. West Valley: Thankful for those protecting people and environment from the nuclear waste, and full clean up scheduled; massive danger to community and environment (including 20{18f4e0a41fddb2e88741536e88191ef0d4c56a815c6739466934f6385f4e0c26} of world’s freshwater supply); mitigate by covered/contained complete cleanup with extensive air and water monitoring; lobby all elected government officials to demand and fund same.
6 PM – Alliance of Families for Justice (AFJ) – WNY Chapter Meeting. On Zoom (Meeting ID: 987 4515 1102). The Alliance of Families for Justice (AFJ) is a non-profit prisoners’ rights organization based in Harlem, NY. Nate Buckley and Dr. Dani Johnson are excited to help create and lead a chapter of AFJ here in Western New York in collaboration with founder Soffiyah Elijah. Please join us as we discuss the inception of our AFJ-WNY chapter, and ways that our organization can support and compliment the work you are already doing around supporting prisoners and their families.
TUESDAY, 12/1
6:30 PM – Nekanęhsakt: Friends of Ękwehęwę Meeting. Via phone conference (Phone Number: 605-475-4825 and Access Number: 1075707). Please come on; we will discuss having monthly Zoom educational/fundraisers and we need support in doing it!
- “Protecting Our Ancestors: Saving Native Burial Grounds”: The Seneca Nation is greatly concerned about the impacts upon ancestral burial grounds from Invenergy’s proposed Horseshoe Solar Project. The Canawaugus Territory and surrounding areas were the home to countless generations of Seneca and other related Native nations.
- Save the Date: Dec. 29th, 2020 on the anniversary of the Wounded Knee Massacre – possible rally in Niagara Falls. There is a monument dedicated to the veterans who have been given the medal of honor and one of the recipients was from the Wounded Knee Massacre. For more info and movement to rescind all the Wounded Knee medals of honors.
- Vonda Eagle Horse: Witness to Injustice – exercise in final stages of becoming converted to online experience if anyone is interested or knows locations of groups who are interested. Here is link to workshop in Ithaca taking a preliminary exercise.
SUNDAY, 12/6
11:50 PM – WNYPC Bidding Owl Auction closes. See more above and visit our website for details.
THURSDAY, 12/10
6:30 PM – Speak-out on Erie County Holding Center. On Zoom (Meeting ID: 843 4514 5004 and Passcode: 023625). See details above.
THURSDAY, 12/31
Deadline to apply for the Buffalo Parking Ticket Amnesty Program. See details above.
UPCOMING REGULARLY SCHEDULED EVENTS
Find more details and additional weekly/monthly events on our website at
wnypeace.org/wp/regularly-scheduled-events
MONDAYS
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 by Think Twice Radio: The Home of the Future!
WEDNESDAYS
3pm – Weekly Vigil and 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.
THURSDAYS
5pm – Immigrant & Refugee Justice (IRJ) weekly vigil: End Ice Terror! Outside the Delaware North Building.
FRIDAYS
2pm – Environmental Justice weekly vigil: No Nuclear Waste over the Peace Bridge! At Front Park.
SATURDAYS
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
Environmental Justice
– Join the West Valley Action Network and support the full cleanup of one of WNY’s most dangerous radioactive pollution problems. Help protect our drinking water, environmental, and community! Join in proactively protecting our region from the long-lasting, deadly nuclear and hazardous waste at the West Valley site. Please also contact all of your legislators – local, state, and federal – to urge full covered cleanup with extensive monitoring!
Resist Militarism!
– Tell the Senate to choose peace and oppose notorious war-hawk Michele Flournoy for Biden’s Secretary of Defense! Flournoy, a former Obama Defense official, serves on the board of a major defense contractor and co-founded a consulting firm that’s done business with companies in the tech and defense industries. She also supported the wars in Iraq, Libya, and Syria when she worked at the Pentagon. We can’t let Biden’s foreign policy be dictated by a former Pentagon official who sits on the board of a company connected to Mohammed bin Salman and the brutal war in Yemen!
Prisoners’ Rights (Policing & Criminal Justice Reform)
– Please support the Cariol Horne Whistleblower Fund!
– Contact ECDA John Flynn’s office (by phone: 716-858-2424 and by web: https://www2.erie.gov/da/) urging him to:
1. drop all charges against Willie Henley! If you are able, please also contribute to Willie’s lawyer fee funds at gofundme.com/f/willie-henley-lawyer-fee
2. re-visit the Buffalo 5 case (indictment no. 41-413)! Three of the original Buffalo 5 remain living and are seeking a complete exoneration and clearing of their names. Please also see the change.org petition and GoFundMe.com campaign.
3. give Deyanna Davis more freedom while she’s in house arrest! Visit linktr.ee/deyannadavis for a petition, fundraiser, and more information.
– 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 de-funded to invest in traffic calming infrastructureand 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