Current Campaigns
Witness Against Torture
The US detention center at Guantánamo Bay has been open for over 17 years. 40 men remain imprisoned, 5 of whom are cleared for release. Witness Against Torture is working to raise awareness about their torture and indefinite detention, and to combat Islamophobia across the US.
Click here to donate; please include “Witness Against Torture” in the memo line.
Click here to learn more about Witness Against Torture.
OPEN Buffalo survey: Building Youth Political Power
Are you between the ages of 18-25? Do you have a story to share about your experience voting? Do you have a story about why you don’t want to vote? Then please take a few minutes to fill out the Youth Action Voting Survey! We want to push for changes to make it easier for all young people to vote and to make sure they have all the information to make empowered and informed decisions. Follow the link or use the QR code to fill out the survey!
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/716votes
Fair Fines + Fees Coalition
City of Buffalo residents can now share their traffic stop experiences with Buffalo police officers, by using the FFFC Traffic Stop Tool. The tool is easy to use and will collect racial and location data, to increase transparency at traffic stops in Buffalo.
Tips on using the tool:
1. For your safety, please use the tool after your interaction with the police at a traffic stop. Always follow the guidelines below at a traffic stop:
https://www.bpdny.org/…/What-to-Do-When-Stopped-by-the-Poli…
2. Once you access the link, please download the page on your phone. This way, you have convenient access to the tool, after your interaction with the police.
3. Remember that you have the option to remain anonymous!
Please find the link to the Traffic Stop Tool below:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Ca4p3R8bMhHM9MV9BfNFzJ8RdvFuaENOZCPMULSKMyY/edit
- Tired of paying excessive fees in addition to your traffic fine?
- Do you think racial and location data should be collected at traffic stops in Buffalo?
- Do you think people should be given 14 days to fix correctable violations on their car, instead of 24 hours?
We want to hear from you! Your council members want to hear from you! Sign on to our petition here:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfZnv-e89bfDNUnMEepA96NsjyliODZZB5jZjjQWMsN2QWbLw/viewform
Please join us in the Poor People’s Campaign.
The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival completed a 40 Days of Action kickoff which launched a massive movement to address the evils of poverty, racism, militarism, and ecological devastation, and to change the distorted moral narrative plaguing this nation and the world. Every week for six weeks all kinds of people across the country congregated at their state capitals to raise awareness about the unique and common ways they are affected by the evils. Well over 100 participated in civil disobedience in NYS, with many more nationally, to withdraw their consent from a status quo that doesn’t prioritize the basic rights and needs of humans. We had trips from Buffalo every week since the beginning of the Revival.
We enjoyed a great Celebration for Change!: a Poor People’s Campaign Event on Thurs, July 12, at MLK Park. About 150 people turned out for music, food, and #UnitetheStruggles. We were grateful to the many cosponsors and tablers, as well as Ismail & Co. and WNY Resistance Revival Chorus who led Community Jams. Likewise Food For All who fed us and NAACP who celebrated their President Rev. Blue’s birthday with us. #UnitetheStruggles
Also, if you haven’t already, please register to be part of Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival by visiting their webpage at poorpeoplescampaign.org, and by joining them on facebook: Poor People’s Campaign, NYS Poor People’s Campaign, and Poor People’s Campaign – WNY. You can also message them on fb to join, and text MORAL to 90975.
The Poor People’s Campaign was originally organized by Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in 1967. Now revived by Rev. Dr. William Barber and Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis in 2018, and also known as A National Call for Moral Revival, it is uniting tens of thousands of people across the country to challenge the evils of systemic racism (and bigotry of all kinds), poverty/materialism, militarism/violence, and ecological devastation. PLEASE SEE MORE ON THESE FOUR EVILS below.
We’re all in this together, and We Shall Overcome!
On the national level The Poor People’s Campaign is being led by Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II and Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis. Rev. Dr. William Barber II is a Protestant Minster (Disciples of Christ) in North Carolina He is also a member of the National Board of NAACP. Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis is a Presbyterian pastor and is the Co-Director of the Kairos Center and a Founder and the Coordinator of the Poverty Initiative. New York States Poor People’s Campaign: A Nation Call for Moral Revival is being organized by Rev. Emily McNeill, Labor-Religion Coalition of NYS.
The Truth Commission on Poverty held in February in Buffalo led to an insightful report by Partnership for the Public Good. See the report Here.
And again, please join us – all are welcome! For more info, call 716-332-3904; or 716-931-3520.
TRIPLE EVILS
REV. DR. KING/ POOR PEOPLE’S CAMPAIGN 1968’S TRIPLE EVILS
The Triple Evils of POVERTY, RACISM and MILITARISM are forms of violence that exist in a vicious cycle. They are interrelated, all-inclusive, and stand as barriers to our living in the Beloved Community. When we work to remedy one evil, we affect all evils. To work against the Triple Evils, you must develop a nonviolent frame of mind as described in the “Six Principles of Nonviolence” and use the Kingian model for social action outlined in the “Six Steps for Nonviolent Social Change.”
Some contemporary examples of the Triple Evils are listed next to each item:
Poverty – unemployment, homelessness, hunger, malnutrition, illiteracy, infant mortality, slums…
“There is nothing new about poverty. What is new, however, is that we now have the resources to get rid of it. The time has come for an all-out world war against poverty … The well off and the secure have too often become indifferent and oblivious to the poverty and deprivation in their midst. Ultimately a great nation is a compassionate nation. No individual or nation can be great if it does not have a concern for ‘the least of these.”
Racism – prejudice, apartheid, ethnic conflict, anti-Semitism, sexism, colonialism, homophobia, ageism, discrimination against disabled groups, stereotypes…
“Racism is a philosophy based on a contempt for life. It is the arrogant assertion that one race is the center of value and object of devotion, before which other races must kneel in submission. It is the absurd dogma that one race is responsible for all the progress of history and alone can assure the progress of the future. Racism is total estrangement. It separates not only bodies, but minds and spirits. Inevitably it descends to inflicting spiritual and physical homicide upon the out-group.”
Militarism – war, imperialism, domestic violence, rape, terrorism, human trafficking, media violence, drugs, child abuse, violent crime…
“A true revolution of values will lay hands on the world order and say of war- ‘This way of settling differences is not just.’ This way of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our nation’s homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into the veins of peoples normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice and love. A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.”
Source: “Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?” by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; Boston: Beacon Press, 1967.
THE POOR PEOPLE’S CAMPAIGN 2018 QUADRUPLE EVILS
To the Above is added Environmental Degradation. Global warming and climate catastrophe threaten our existence – currently through extreme and rapid changes, storms, etc., as well as over the long haul. Great and increasing pollution of many kinds – nuclear waste, fracking fluids including especially methane, plastics, lead, toxics of many stripes sicken people and the planet.
THE POOR PEOPLE’S CAMPAIGN 2018 WILL FIGHT AGAINST THESE QUADRUPLE EVILS, FINDING THEIR CONNECTIONS AND INTERSECTIONALITY, WITH OUR SOLUTIONS WHICH INCLUDE … UNARMED TRUTH AND UNCONDITIONAL LOVE, WHICH WILL HAVE THE FINAL WORD IN REALITY, to paraphrase Rev. Dr. King. Please join us.
Poverty in Buffalo: Causes, Impacts, Solutions
A Report for the Truth Commission on
Poverty in Western New York
Report Presented By:
Partnership for the Public Good
NETWORK OF RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES NUTRITION OUTREACH PROGRAM THREATENED BY THE COVID-19 RELATED NEW YORK STATE BUDGET CRISIS.
6:00 AM Sundays WBUF 92.9 FM AND WBLK 93.7
6:30 AM Sunday WJYE 96.1 FM
7:00 AM Sundays WYRK 106.5 FM
You can also access WJYE over the web to hear the program.
Support Democracy Now!
Democracy Now! is an independent news show hosted by Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez. Amy Goodman was the speaker at our 50th annual dinner and we are actively working to support independent news stations like Democracy Now! who focus on news stories that do not get air time in popular media. We value this type of journalism and and are thrilled that Democracy Now! is being broadcast in Buffalo! M-F, 8-9am on WBNY 91.3FM. You can catch it streaming on line at wbny.buffalostate.edu or http://tunein.com/radio/WBNY-913-s27549/. Below is a link to more information on Democracy Now!
http://www.dailypublic.com/articles/10172017/democracy-nows-amy-goodman-buffalo
Please go to their website and donate, subscribe to their daily digest, and call local stations to encourage them to pick up Democracy Now!: https://www.democracynow.org/
Cariol Horne Whistleblower Fund
This fund was created by the Racial Justice Taskforce and is designated for police officers who meet the following requirements: 1) The officer must have acted for the public good (to uphold the human rights or civil rights of citizens) and 2) The officer must be able to show that they have faced reprisals that have caused financial harm.
It was named after an officer in Buffalo, Cariol Horne, who stopped an incident of police brutality and was fired after this incident. Please donate to support officers who are upholding the human and civil rights of citizens! Follow this link to find out more information about Cariol Horne and donate: https://www.gofundme.com/cariol-horne-whistleblower-fund
Love is Love
#loveisloveBUF is an ongoing campaign that started Sept 23 with a sign-burning that is igniting a movement! The ashes from the burning of the progressive, truth-and-love-oriented sign formed a heart, and we are supplying the sign at all WNY Peace Center -sponsored events, while supplies last. More background at http://wivb.com/2017/09/
CEDAW Ordinance:
CEDAW or the Convention for the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women is an ordinance that creates processes to ensure that policies and their implementation are beneficial to people of all genders. This would include data collection and reporting which would inform about inequities within various systems such as employment and education. There has been hearings in city hall where numerous people advocated for women’s rights and urged Buffalo Common Council people to consider passing this ordinance. This ordinance has not currently been passed.
Follow this link for the numbers for common council representatives to call and share your support of this ordinance. http://wnypeace.org/wp/organizing-in-wny/