Assembly with Attorney General Eric Schneiderman

Community Voices Heard is organizing an assembly with Attorney General Eric Schneiderman on Thursday, March 9th from 6pm to 8pm at the Armory in Newburgh, NY. We are gathering over 250 CVH members and community members to confront the Attorney General on issues including homelessness, drivers' licenses for undocumented immigrants, and sanctuary cities. 

We are prioritizing low income people of color to attend the event, but it is open to everyone. We are also looking for volunteers; people willing to carpool or provide transportation, bring refreshments, childcare, and other miscellaneous responsibilities throughout the event.

If you are interested in attending the event or volunteering, just email me back here with your name, number, address, and how you want to be involved! And please share with your networks! As you know he is a statewide public official and is not in these parts often, so this is an important opportunity to make our Hudson Valley community voices heard! 

I hope to hear from y'all soon! Thanks!

Opening/Naming Ceremony


Please check out these fantastic pictures of the Opening/Naming Ceremony of the AJ Williams-Myers African Roots Library in Kingston by famed civil rights photographer Jim Peppler.
Terry Leroy

Safeguard New Yorkers from attacks on our freedom

Take real action to safeguard New Yorkers from attacks on our freedom. Join us for an Emergency Day of Action on Monday, March 13. What are we demanding New York state leaders do?
  • Enact public defense reform that ensures the constitutional right to effective counsel.
  • Protect reproductive freedom by reforming New York’s abortion law to codify Roe v. Wade.
  • Fight hate by protecting New Yorkers — including immigrants, Muslims, LGBTQ people, people of color and students in public schools — from discrimination and harmful government actions.
  • Protect New Yorkers’ privacy by limiting surveillance and securing or destroying government databases.
  • Promote police accountability and transparency by publicly reporting street stops, arrests and police misconduct.
Trainings are taking place around the state — sign up to join now!
Wednesday, February 22, 6 p.m.
Family Partnership Center
Room L24 (lower level)
29 N. Hamilton St., Poughkeepsie

DEEP DENIAL



March 8, 2017
TIME: 6pm – 8pm
LOCATION: Family Partnership Center
Room L24 (lower level)
29 N. Hamilton Street, Poughkeepsie NY

David Billings 
Core Trainer with the People's Institute for Survival and Beyond
READING FROM HIS BOOK
DEEP DENIAL:
The Persistence of White Supremacy
in United States History and Life


DEEP DENIAL explores the normalizing of racial superiority in a society that permits white people to be individuals while people of color are collectively held as outsiders. Each chapter begins with an intimate and unsparingly personal account from the author's own life. He then lays out the historical facts, while preserving the master storyteller's connection with the reader.



"No one speaks to racism and its cure better than David Billings, a white Southerner who has seen it all.   His is a voice that needs to be heard.  It is a voice with a perfect pitch."  . . . .Charlayne Hunter-Gault, Emmy and Peabody Award winning journalist and civil rights pioneer.

DEEP DENIAL WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR SALE
RESERVE YOUR BOOK, CONTACT: thgivens@gmail.com
SPONSOR: Poughkeepsie Chapter - End The New Jim Crow  

 

Black Feminist Reflections in Prison Abolition

Professor Beth Richie, Professor of African American Studies and Criminology, Law and Justice
University of Illinois at Chicago

February 21, at 5:30 p.m.
212 Sanders Auditorium, Vassar College

"Black Feminist Reflections in Prison Abolition: Lessons from Anti-violence Activism"

Professor Richie will discuss prison abolition from within the context of state and intimate violence toward Black women. With a black feminist treatment, she will consider the political, ideological and applied solutions available to activists. 

Professor Richie's scholarly and activist work explores the ways that race/ethnicity and social position affect women's experience of violence and incarceration, focusing on the experiences of African American battered women and sexual assault survivors.  Dr. Richie is the author of Arrested Justice: Black Women, Violence and America's Prison Nation (NYU Press, 2012) and Compelled to Crime: The Gender Entrapment of Black Battered Women (Routledge, 1995). Professor Richie's books and numerous articles examine Black feminism and gender violence, race and criminal justice policy, and the social dynamics around issues of sexuality, prison abolition, and grassroots organizations in African American communities. 
___________________________
Jeffrey Schneider
Chair, Dept. of German Studies
Vassar College
jeschneider@vassar.edu

GUEST: Jamal Joseph: "Chapter & Verse: A Harlem Story"

GUEST: Jamal Joseph, American writer, director, poet, activist, college professor, and former member of the Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army, talks about his new film, "Chapter & Verse: A Harlem Story"

The interview can be heard this Thursday at 5 pm on 91.3 FM, or this Sunday at 5 pm from the Progressive Radio Network PRN.FM. You can also hear it streamed live from www.classwars.org. Each week's show is posted on the ClassWars website for the next ten weeks. Simply click on the date to listen.

Skills for Action and Change

SKILLS FOR ACTION & CHANGE!
Wednesday, February 22, 6pm
29 N. Hamilton Street, Room L24 (lower level)
Family Partnership Center, Poughkeepsie, NY
Join us to learn about local and state advocacy efforts. This workshop will provide an overview of the legislation we are supporting, ­explain the legislative process (how a bill becomes a law/lobbying 101) and provide logistics for the Day of Action in Albany (see below and attached).

DAY OF ACTION in ALBANY, NY
Monday, March 13, 9am-4:45pm
New York State Capitol, State Street and Washington Avenues, Albany, NY
Want to make your voice heard? Become part of our biggest cause of the year. We’re inviting all interested area residents to join us in Albany for a day of ­organizing, trainings and ­visits with members of the NY State Senate and Assembly. 
YOU MUST REGISTER TO PARTICIPATE IN THE ALBANY DAY OF ACTION: https://action.aclu.org/dayofaction

CO-SPONSORED BY THE NEW YORK CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION (NYCLU) AND THE END THE JIM CROW ACTION NETWORK (ENJAN)
NYCLU: lowerhudsonvalley@nyclu.org  |  914-997-7479

Opening and Naming Ceremony


-Thursday, February 16 is Raise the Age Call In Day. Please join us in calling 518-455-2800 to support the NY Raise the Age legislation. Here are some things you can say: I am calling to urge you to pass comprehensive ‘Raise the Age’ legislation in the state budget due April 1st. New York is one of only two states that prosecutes all 16 and 17 year-olds as adults for any offense, no matter what.

-Sat, February 18, 1pm – 4pm A.J. Williams-Myers African Roots Library Naming Ceremony at the A.J. Williams-Meyers African Roots Library, 43 Gill St, Kingston. Join us to celebrate the opening of this beautiful library and community gathering place in the Rondout area of Kingston, NY - and to honor A.J. Williams-Myers, share in remarks, a story and puppet performance, cookies and tea!

-Tue, February 21, at 6:00 PM (discussion at 7:30pm) Showing of "The Life and Death of Malcolm X" documentary at the A.J. Williams-Meyers African Roots Library, 43 Gill St, Kingston "The Life and Death of Malcolm X," a little known documentary about the great revolutionary leader Malcolm X, will be shown at the AJWM Community Center/Library. Discussion will follow, starting about 7:30 until 9:00PM.

Still serving their country

Army veterans return to
StandingRock to form
a human shield
against police

A growing group of military veterans are willing to put their bodies between Native American activists and the police trying to remove them

“We have the experience of standing in the face of adverse conditions – militarization, hostility, intimidation,” said Julius Page, a 61-year-old veteran staying at the vets camp."
Full story: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/11/standing-rock-army-veterans-camp

Undoing Racism Workshop

Undoing Racism Workshop Planning Meetings (AntiRacist Alliance)
When
Wed, February 15, 6:00pm – 7:30pm
Where
29 N Hamilton St, Poughkeepsie (map)
Description
Workshop participants will engage in a comprehensive exploration of how racism shapes American institutions, often without our conscious understanding that it is doing so. Applicants should be individuals in positions to take knowledge gained in the workshop back to their colleagues, institutions and wider communities. The goal is to foster local work groups that will continue the conversation and work toward institutional change.

Meetings: every 3rd Wednesday 6-7:30 at the Family Partnership Center, 29 N Hamilton St, Poughkeepsie, first floor conference room  


Contact: Peter Heymann, 845-642-1839, PISAB.org, AntiRacistAlliance.com

Hate Free HV this Saturday

Take action for a #HateFreeHV this Saturday.

These past couple of weeks have seen attacks on Muslim communities, undocumented immigrants, healthcare access, and so much more. These weeks have also shown the power and potential of resistance as people across the country take to streets and airports to show that another world is possible.

The Hudson Valley Hate Free Zone is here to support that resistance in the Hudson Valley. On January 14th, we launched the Hate Free Zone. The task ahead is to continue to build our strength, and to take action to love and protect each other.

Hudson Valley: NO Ban NO Wall 
Join the Muslim Student Organization of Bard College and the HV Hate Free Zone to stand up against the recent Muslim Ban and executive orders attacking immigrants.

Saturday, February 4th
1:30 - 3pm
Dutchess County Courthouse, 10 Market St, Poughkeepsie
https://www.facebook.com/events/220488688414365/

#HateFreeHV #LoveAndProtectEachOther
Our mailing address is:
29 N Hamilton St, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601