Speak-out on ECHC; Justice Roadmap; LASC Planning Mtg
Sunday, December 13th, 2020
We want to again feature our upcoming Zoom event: Speak-out on Erie County Holding Center. We thank you for your understanding in our postponing the event to allow for Thomas Diina to join us (due to a family health emergency). We hope that you will also join the WNYPC this Thursday, December 17th at 6:30 PM 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.
This Tuesday, join the Center for Community Alternatives and 140+ organizers – including the WNY Peace Center – for the launch of Justice Roadmap 2021. Together, we’ll demand that New York dismantle systems that criminalize, incarcerate, and deport our communities and build a world where all of us can survive. The launch will happen on Zoom and in five locations (Buffalo, Albany, NYC, Westchester, and Long Island). The in-person event in WNY will be masked and physically distant at the Erie County Holding Center – see full details below.
Please also join us on Tuesday evening for a LASC planning meeting on 2021 events – bring your ideas! See details below.
And on the 23rd, plan to join us for a special Prisoners’ Rights vigil at the ECHC with caroling – cohosted by Queen City Feminist and WNYPC. Details below.
We also had a small victory: notorious war-hawk Michele Flournoy was not Biden’s pick for Secretary of Defense! However, his pick of Gen. Lloyd Austin – a retired military man who’s also on war profiteer Raytheon’s board – is still somewhat problematic. (Though he did oversee the departure of many troops from Iraq.)
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, 12/14
1-3 PM – Talking Peace with the WNY Peace Center. On WBNY 91.3 FM or streaming on wbny.buffalostate.edu. First hour: Dr. Rolanda Ward, Professor of Social Work and Director, Ostapenko Center for Race, Equity & Mission, Niagara University; Melissa M. Costa, LICSW, Children, Youth & Families Case Manager Supervisor, Department of Mental Health, New Bedford, MA; on COVID from a Social Work perspective and the need for determined social justice advocacy and solidarity. Second hour: Dr. Mike Niman, Professor of Media Studies, SUNY Buffalo State; author; syndicated columnist; on COVID vaccine distribution, profits being put before people, and the spread of misinformation under the Trump administration.
TUESDAY, 12/15
10:30 AM – Justice Roadmap Launch. Hybrid event. In-person (with masks and physical distancing) at ECHC, 40 Delaware Ave, Buffalo. Virtual option on Zoom – register at bit.ly/justice-roadmap-launch. See more above.
7 PM – LASC Planning Meeting. On Zoom – please email LASC task force chair, Dr. Terry Bisson, at bisson@canisius.edu for the link. Possible agenda items include: planning 1/6 Chiapas LASC-ROCLA event led by Bill Jungels; planning 2/3 Bolivia LASC-ROCLA event, led by Bolivia Quaker Education Fund and Vickey Kaiser (Fredonia); investigating (with Roswell-Park) how to bring Cuba item before the city council; getting together a LASC email list. All are welcome!
WEDNESDAY, 12/16
6 PM – Talking Palestine with Zohran Mamdani. On Zoom – register here. Zohran Mamdani (D) is a member-elect of the NYS Assembly, representing District 36. Join the Adalah Justice Project and Zohran to learn why supporting Palestinian freedom is a crucial part of building a strong workers movement here in the US.
THURSDAY, 12/17
6:30 PM – Speak-out on Erie County Holding Center. On Zoom (Meeting ID: 843 4514 5004 and Passcode: 023625). See details above.
WEDNESDAY, 12/23
4 PM – Caroling at the Erie County Holding Center. At 10 Delaware Ave, Buffalo. Join the WNYPC’s Prisoners’ Rights task force and Queen City Feminist for caroling to our favorite holiday songs with special antifa lyrics. Lyric sheets will be available; masks and physical distancing are mandatory.
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. Please bring your own signs.
4pm – Prisoners’ Rights weekly vigil: No More ECHC Deaths! at the Erie County Holding Center. Please bring your own signs.
~7:20 PM – Talking Peace taping. Streamed live on FB Live. Featured guests TBA.
THURSDAYS
5pm – Immigrant & Refugee Justice (IRJ) weekly vigil: End Ice Terror! Outside the Delaware North Building. Please bring your own signs.
FRIDAYS
2pm – Environmental Justice weekly vigil: No Nuclear Waste over the Peace Bridge! At Front Park. Signs on hand.
SATURDAYS
12 pm – Women in Black weekly vigil. At Elmwood & Bidwell. Signs on hand.
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!
Policing & Criminal Justice Reform
– City of Buffalo’s Parking Amnesty Program: 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 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:
- 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
- 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.
- 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 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