Thurs, 4:30 NO PIPELINES Solidarity Rally, Niagara Sq #DefendTheSacred
716-332-3904 | Tuesday, March 30th, 2021 | wnypeace.org
Dear Friends,
Please join us on Thursday, 4:30pm-6pm at Niagara Square, Buffalo, to rally in solidarity with Indigenous runners going from Lakota/Ojibwe/Anishinaabe territories to DC to urge President Biden to STOPthePIPELINES!! We stand in Solidarity with our Indigenous friends and relations in support of #PeopleAndThePlanet, and in fierce opposition to DAPL, Line 3, NAPL and any other fossil fuel pipelines. Signs and banners welcome. #MniWachoni – Water is Life!
Today we also invite you to:
– attend the Buffalo Common Council meeting(s) today and next Tuesday where discussions will be held of both the Speed Zone Camera Ticketing program, and the City Of Buffalo Commission on Police Reform and Social Reconstruction recommendations. The press conference we were part of responding to the latter can be viewed here.
– urge President Biden to #ReSealTheDeal with Iran by signing the petition. Please join the twitter storm too, and/or call the President at 202-456-1111.
– urge Gov Cuomo to sign the #HALTsolitary bill, due by tomorrow! He didn’t sign it last year, forcing us back to the drawing board, despite solitary’s being illegal, immoral, and totally destructive to all involved (including corrections officers). (Also #HALTsolitary will save some $1.32 Billion for NYS and localities over a 10-year period.)
This week of all weeks, please remember and strive to work together to #DefendTheSacred!!!! In Truth and Love!!
Please see details and much more – 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
March 30 @ 6:00 pm EDT
BTRU General Meeting
On zoom. To share the facts, stories, and plans to turn the ship around. Bus riders have sacrificed enough through this pandemic with multiple rounds of cuts–the last one being only a week before Congress gave NFTA-Metro another relief grant–this one amounting to $79 million. We demanded federal grants to offset the loss of fares city buses and trains when the pandemic unfolded, and now we demand a plan for restoring service cuts that balanced the budgets of local and state governments at the expense of people with the fewest options of getting around!
We are asking NFTA Metro to hold at least one public meeting when any new cut to one or more bus routes is proposed in the future.
NFTA-Metro is also proposing to make changes to is Service Design Guidelines & Delivery Standards, and we’re calling on them to press pause on its scheduled adoption, March 25th, so staff and decision makers can meet with riders concerned on what the changes in the 49-page document will mean for the future of bus service.
Take 45 seconds and join our letter campaign in the link below.
This virtual meeting is scheduled for the Tuesday after NFTA Board of Commissioners meet for their monthly meeting. We hope to have a clearer picture on what the future of bus service has in store following the meeting and what riders like us must do! Zoom link information is below.
Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 821 6387 7922
Passcode: 122950
One tap mobile
+16468769923,,82163877922# US (New York)
Find the facebook event here: https://fb.me/e/20zIOR7mb
March 31 @ 2:30 pm – 3:30 pm EDT
The Iran Nuclear Deal or No Deal
On zoom. Join at http://bit.ly/3x0aiSL . Grassroots organizations from across the country are joining together to present the most recent developments surrounding the JCPOA and what they may mean for the future of Iran and the rest of the Middle East. For those who care about preventing a future war as well as addressing the humanitarian role the U.S. has in Iran, Yemen, and elsewhere, this is the event to join. Please join us as we explore the goals and track record of the Iran nuclear deal, and explore signs of hope for regional peace and humanitarian stabilization. For Speakers etc, please check out our website special events calendar listing.
April 1 @ 4:30 pm – 6:00 pm EDT
#StopLine3 & #NoDAPL Runners Solidarity Rally – NO PIPELINES!!
At Niagara Square, Buffalo NY. Come out – with masks and physical distancing – in solidarity with Indigenous runners/Standing Rock youth who have run from Lakota/Ojibwe/Anishinaabe territory to Washington DC to urge President Biden to #StopLine3 and #NoDAPL. Banners and signs are welcome. We’ll have an opening Gnonyoh, speakers, and deep support for the environmental heros and sheros working to #StopLine3 and #NoDAPL.
Frontline Dakota Access and Line 3 pipeline youth and organizers are heading to D.C. Our demand is clear. Joe Biden, it’s time to #BuildBackFossilFree– shutdown DAPL and Stop Line 3. For too long, Indigenous communities have been forced to bear the burden of society’s addiction to fossil fuels and the devastating impacts on our land, sky, and water. It’s time to honor our treaties that have been ignored and shut down DAPL and stop Line 3.
Facebook Event- https://www.facebook.com/events/816371732296839?active_tab=about
+ Google Calendar
EVERY THURSDAY 4-5pm
4 PM – PeaceJam 2021! On Zoom – register here. For youth ages 11-18; will meet Thursdays from 4-5 PM beginning on 2/25. Inspiration, Education, and Action, with Noble Peace Laureates on the PeaceJam Foundation Board. Themes and learning goals include: solidarity, social justice, peaceful conflict resolution, integrity, the lives of the Laureates, and more. Activities will include mindfulness, deep slow breathing, movement (dance/yoga), acting/skits, arts and crafts, and a Global Call to Action service-learning project! Various activists, artists, and community leaders may join us, as will the stellar Confident Girl Mentoring Program. See below to register. See details above and at bit.ly/wnypeace_peacejam21
April 2 @ 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm EDT
Immigration under the Biden Administration
On Zoom – register here. On the occasion of “Comunidades Visibles: The Materiality of Migration,” join the Albright-Knox and Journey’s End Refugee Services for a free virtual conversation about changes to immigration policy under the Biden Administration. Hear from the organization’s legal team, resettlement director, and refugees to learn about the United States’ immigration process and how communities can help to welcome new arrivals. Info on speakers is here.
April 7 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm EDT
LASC and ROCLA: talk by Nicaragua’s ambassador to the UN
“Sanctions Kill: Nicaragua in the Era of US Sanctions.” Preregistration will be required to join the event – pre-register here. LASC and ROCLA invite you to our continuing “zoom coffeehouse” series, linking communities across the hemisphere. We hope you can help us spread the news. We are honored to present our next speaker, Mr. Jaime Herida Castillo, who currently serves as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Nicaragua to the UN, and previously was Deputy Permanent Representative of Nicaragua to the United Nations since March 2007.
April 10 @ 11:00 am – 12:00 pm EDT
Gender Justice Taskforce Meeting
In person at Broderick Park (foot of West Ferry St, Niagara River) and on WNYPC’s Facebook page livestreaming. Check back here for details. Come out to help put together the Quilt Circle Unity project, the Women’s March, ___[your item here]____. All are welcome.
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 at 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. After yet another death at the ECHC, please come out to stand up for real change.
7:15 (approx.) – Talking Peace with the WNY Peace Center, livestreaming on Facebook (and subsequently broadcast on WBNY 91.3FM on Mondays 1-3pm). Two session each just under an hour.
THURSDAYS
4pm-5pm – PeaceJam Buffalo – For Children and Youth; see above. Register here
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.
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 & Indigenous Rights
Re #StopLine3 (and associated; see also April 1 event Solidarity to Stop Pipelines)
– Call MN Governor Tim Walz at 651-201-3400 to urge him and other officials (e.g., Congressman Keith Ellison) to stop Line 3.
– Visit the Water Protectors website for information on needed donations and coming out to put your body on the line to protect Mother Earth, the waters, and the creation.
-Donations (physical items and/or monetary) also gratefully received at Burning Books (420 Connecticut St, Buffalo, 14213 – open daily, 11am – 7pm) or to Nekanehsakt’s PayPal. #DefendTheSacred #WaterIsLife
– SIGN THE PETITION HERE to get President Biden to #StopLine3.
– Liberty Mutual is complicit in the destruction of waterways and sacred land. As both an investor and an insurer it has billions invested in fossil fuels.Despite a stated commitment to build “inclusive societies for future generations,” Liberty is insuring massive tar sands projects like Trans Mountain and Line 3. It is plowing ahead with plans to build a massive coal mine that it owns in Australia despite community opposition.Liberty has refused countless requests to meet from Indigenous leaders and frontline communities impacted by these projects, including hundreds of calendar invites that you helped send.Will you send Liberty executives a message today and urge them to answer questions and concerns about their fossil fuel business at the company’s annual meeting?
– 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!
Foreign Policy
This is the Week of Action for #ReSealTheDeal with Iran. Please sign the petition to President Biden urging that he return the US to that commitment. Please join the twitter storm too, and/or call the President at 202-456-1111.
Please also urge Biden with every means at your disposal to work to #EndTheBlockade of Yemen. #YemenCantWait.
Immigrant and Refugee Justice
Justice for Erick Mejia. Sign on to the petition. Erick was a 26-year-old Honduran shot 28 times and killed by San Antonio police in Texas. The family is demanding that the city of San Antonio fire the police. Erick was undocumented and ran in fear after being stopped by traffic police. It is a travesty of justice that his family had to flee violence in their homeland only for their son to be shot down in cold blood in this country.
Please share and sign the petition: http://chng.it/MxK88Phv5K
Policing & Criminal Justice Reform
Urge Gov Cuomo to sign the #HALTsolitary bill, due by tomorrow! He didn’t sign it last year, forcing us back to the drawing board, despite solitary’s being illegal, immoral, and totally destructive to all involved (including corrections officers). (Also #HALTsolitary will save some $1.32 Billion for NYS and localities over a 10-year period.)
– 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:
- 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. Call especially if you can’t make it to render Court Support this Tuesday (see above).
- 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 reallocated 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 Coaltion (FFFC) to participate in a budgetary process that aims to make positive changes to the City’s budget. You can also share your ideas and priorities for changing the Buffalo Police Department through this survey by Free the People WNY.
– NEW: Please plan to attend the Common Council Legislation Committee Meeting Tues, April 6, 10am. You can also sign up to speak in favor of ending the Speed Camera Program as recommended by the FFFC by contacting Councilman Feroleto at jferoleto@city-buffalo.com (716) 851 – 5155. Discussions will be held of both the Speed Zone Camera Ticketing program, and possibly the City Of Buffalo Commission on Police Reform and Social Reconstruction recommendations. The press conference we were part of responding to the latter can be viewed here.
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Board Membership Opportunity
Hi, Community Leaders and S/Heros! How would you like to have a hand in deciding on actions and other aspects of the WNY Peace Center going forward, and share your skills in making it all happen?
You’re invited to submit your application to become a Board Member of the WNY Peace Center. We hope that, with your deep devotion to Justice, to Principles and the Spirit in caring for #PeopleAndThePlanet, you’ll want to help serve our communities and the common good in this way.
Current requirements for a board member are (per bylaws):
- attendance at monthly Board meetings, 2nd Monday of month, 7pm- (roughly) 8/8:30pm, Sept thru June/July. Due to the COVID, rather than meeting at the Network of Religious Communities building, where the WNYPC has an office (1272 Delaware Ave., Buffalo), we’ve been meeting on zoom.
- absences from same not to exceed 3 in a given year
- attendance at the Annual Meeting (Sunday, April 25 at 2pm on zoom) and at least one quarterly membership meeting
- being on (and possibly chairing) at least one committee (Finance; Fund-Raising/Annual Dinner; Personnel; Membership); and/or participation in at least one of the 9 WNYPC taskforce and/or other WNYPC efforts
- becoming a member (annual membership $50; with $10 and up also acceptable).
- A term is 3 years.
If you’d like to be on WNY Peace Center board, we need:
- a resume and/or bio
- as brief statement of interest and/or vision (why would you like to be on the board? what would you like to do/offer?)
Please let us know by April 1! You can send your info to Marie Schuster – copied, Hi, Marie – email above (marieforpeace@gmail.com).
As noted above, our annual meeting will be Sunday, April 25 at 2pm on zoom, when we’ll be presenting board candidates to the membership for approval.
Please check out our website to see the kinds of things we do and are involved in. And please don’t hesitate to contact us with any questions! Looking forward!
#UNITEtheStruggles | #OneLove | #WeShallOvercome | #SiSePuede