Author Archive

Mayor Byron Brown, what is your legacy? Restore Cariol’s Pension; Pass Cariol’s Law

June 22nd, 2020

Cariol Horne needs our help today! Please get everyone in your organization and network to Call Mayor Brown (Call 311 for city residents; otherwise 716-851-4841) TODAY! We demand justice: Restore Cariol’s Pension and Pass Cariol’s Law! With the eyes of the nation on Buffalo we want to know: Mayor Byron Brown, what is your legacy?  

(You can use the image above in emails, social media etc.)

Many Thanks, Solidarity, and of course Unarmed Truth and Unconditional Love!!!!!   #CariolsLaw #JusticeforCariol

For more information, visit: cariolslaw.com

https://www.facebook.com/cariol/posts/10220925476945134

Weapons that Protect White Privilege Prevent Sustainable Community Change – by Kathy Kelly

(Picture is of Poet/Activist Jillian Hanesworth – “The Revolution will be led by black women who are just tired enough to do it themselves.”)

Kathy Kelly reflects on weapons and systems white people use to protect their white privilege, recalling that Dr. King likened U.S. wars to “some demonic destructive suction tube.”

In her poem, “The Revolution Will Rhyme,” Buffalo Black Lives Matter activist Jillian Hanesworth writes about the movement for change we now see sweeping across the world.


“It will not be developed just to be displaced
Its focus will not be extracted and refocused or repurposed
And the burden of education and comfort will not be placed on the oppressed
While understanding and tolerance is gifted to the oppressor
You will not be able to binge watch the revolution
Rewinding the comfortable triumphs and fast forwarding through the hurt”

In strong, confident language, fueled by recognition of hurts and atrocities, Hanesworth calls on white people to ask themselves uncomfortable questions. How does our white privilege contribute to racism and oppression? How can we use our privilege to bring about systemic change?

Mindful not to repurpose or refocus Jillian’s words, I think we must move forward, urgently, to tackle systemic change. We must use our white privilege to insist on and secure decent schools, health care, housing and human rights, especially for those who’ve been most harmed by racial disparities and economic inequalities in the United States.

Where are the resources, the funding, to do this? I think it’s important to examine the so-called security U.S. people purchase through funding the U.S. military and demand redirection of these resources. Money entrusted to the Pentagon and a vast array of military contractors must be spent to meet human needs.  

Maybe this series of questions could help. Could I ever imagine myself paying for materials to assemble Molotov Cocktails for use as weapons amid a conflict?  Could I ever imagine myself funding a group of people known for burning residential areas? At a magnitude incalculably greater than purchasing materials for Molotov Cocktails, or burning one urban residential area, U.S. taxpayers fund weapons used to wage gruesome wars of choice in far-away places where civilians struggle with every-day hunger, thirst, and displacement.  

Condemn arson? Yes, but scale up and whisper: Dresden, Tokyo, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Baghdad.

Imagine U.S. complicity with Saudi bludgeoning of Yemen’s cities, towns, and critical infrastructure and link that with construction, in Marinette, WI, of four Littoral Combat Ships which Lockheed Martin has arranged to build and sell to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The Saudis use these ships to blockade Yemen’s ports, causing even more starvation in a country on the brink of famine. Yes, the construction of the ships provides greatly needed jobs. But, are there other, better construction projects that privileged people could demand be given immediate priority in our war-torn world? Could Marinette’s engineers, designers, welders and builders work on projects that would help rebuild communities devastated by declining infrastructure and racist neglect within the United States?

Jillian’s poem says the revolution will be a complete overhaul, not just a quick fix. We should join her in settling for nothing less. White people who are among the privileged “haves” in our unjust society must look long and hard into the mirror of our privileged history. Why should people who already have so much be entitled to get more? And if we’re to learn how to live together without killing one another, how can we dismantle and repurpose the vast killing machine that protects our unfair white privilege?

June 2020

Kathy Kelly (kathy@vcnv.org) co-coordinates Voices for Creative Nonviolence (www.vcnv.org

WNYPC Not Holding Event Today – advise not going.

The 5pm Sat 5/30 event at City Hall today is not organized by the WNY Peace Center, nor do we know the organizers. We have not seen any indication that it’s organized or endorsed by any local groups. Moreover, trouble is expected in a number of different ways. Local leaders at Black Love Resists in the Rust are not endorsing and advising people not to go. We echo their advice.

We are organizing another Speakout on Ethical Peace Officers, details to be publicized on Monday. We work with determination to end racism, injustice, domination, and violence. #BlackLivesMatter #SayTheirNames #EnoughisEnough #Unite

We grieve with George Floyd’s family, and are outraged at the heinous crimes against people of color, including state-sponsored violence. This crisis must lead to substantive radical change in our racist institutions. No more excuses.

Below is our press release from Tuesday, shortly before the murder of George Floyd. We have yet to get a response from the Mayor or the BPD administration. We will proceed Monday with the planning.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:   Heron Simmonds 716-948-3577
                    Victoria Ross 716-931-3520

WNY Peace Center stmt & invite to Mayor & BPD to a Speakout on Ethical Peace Officers


WNYPC Statement, from the WNYPC’s Racial Justice Taskforce:

We at the WNY Peace Center are extremely alarmed at the recent video of two Buffalo Police officers repeatedly punching a captive man in the head, coupled with many terrible stories of aggressive, unreasonable, and/or racist behavior on the part of Buffalo Police Officers, as told by attendees at the Buffalo Police Advisory Board Meeting of 5/20/20.

We urge Mayor Brown, Commissioner Lockwood, and Deputy Commissioners Gramaglia and Lark to join us in a Speak-Out for Ethical Peace Officers, on June 9, 6pm or at a mutually agreed upon time. We invite you to come for an open and honest (virtual) discussion on standards of conduct, use of force, and DE-ESCALATION.  How can we get to a police force that respects all citizens regardless of race or color? And a community that sees the police as a resource and not a risk.

We echo the numerous calls by Partnership for the Public Good, Voice Buffalo, and many others to suspend the officers without pay who engaged in the illegal and immoral behavior in the video. Those authorized to bear arms must be the least violent – not the most.


We work for a culture of peace. And we’ll only get Peace through Justice. We invite your participation.

WNY Peace Center’s Racial Justice Taskforce

————

What: Invite to a Speakout on Ethical Peace Officers

When: TBD; suggested June 9, 6pm, – or another mutually agreed upon date.

Where: On zoom

Who: Mayor Byron Brown, Commissioner Byron Lockwood, Deputy Commissioners Barbara Lark and Joseph Gramaglia, and the community are invited to a Speakout on Ethical Peace Officers
hosted by the WNY Peace Center and its Racial Justice Taskforce.

 wnypeace.org                                                                    ###