End the New Jim Crow!: September 2020

Wednesday Walk for Black Lives, Kingston, NY, 9-23-20

Racism and Health

The current uprising across the nation is a take-off moment for systemic racism in the United States. A take-off moment occurs when awareness about a crisis reaches a level of public consciousness where an event (in this case, the recent high-profile police murders of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd) sparks protests across the country.

Racist police violence has now become part of the national dialog, as has systemic racism, which is a much bigger topic than policing. A national movement to change these systems is growing. It will succeed if we continue to build on this momentum and demand change.

Racism and Health

One aspect of systemic racism that merits greater attention is the inherent racism in our healthcare system. Cities across the country are beginning to recognize that racism is a public health issue. On top of that, social determinants such as wealth inequality, access to housing and education and discrimination in the workplace, as well as other factors, also impact health resulting in worse health outcomes and higher death rates for black people.

Read Popular Resistance on-line: https://popularresistance.org/lets-talk-about-racism-and-health/

Watch the "Losing Our Homes" panel on YouTube

On Sept. 10 we held a Zoom panel on Losing Our Homes: The Destruction of Community, Culture and Identity. In this perfect storm of economic and pandemic crisis, millions of people run the risk of displacement through evictions, foreclosures, gentrification, and ethnic cleansing.

Rashida Tyler, Founder of The REAL Kingston Tenants Union and Board Member of Citizen Action of New York, and Talal Jabari, Palestinian journalist and documentary filmmaker, will each make a short statement, including their own personal observations of displacement.

We will then open the panel up to questions. Sponsored by Jewish Voice For Peace - Hudson Valley, Middle East Crisis Response, NYC Veterans For Peace and Women in Black - New Paltz.

Short movies recommended for the Zoom panel:

-HuffPost https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIEgpmRj1ns

5 min. on how COVID-19 exposes America’s housing crisis.

-Just Vision films https://justvision.org/homefront

four short films about settler eviction of Palestinians from their homes in the Sheik Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem.

The Center for Community Alternatives

Jen Herman submitted the following:

The Center for Community Alternatives (CCA) promotes reintegrative justice and a reduced reliance on incarceration through advocacy, services, and public policy development in pursuit of civil and human rights. Their advocacy efforts focus mostly on both NYC and NYS. The CCA has a monthly statewide organizing meeting to provide key organizing and advocacy updates, collectively strategize, and move into action. You can register here for the next few CCA Zoom meetings, which are on 10/8, 11/12, and 12/10at 6:00 PM.

Brian sent the following note for posting:

Thanks to all who attended what became the first of an indeterminate number of public hearings on the establishment of a civilian review board in the City of Poughkeepsie. Obviously I had no control over who was able to speak. Nevertheless, if you didn't get your chance last evening, I look forward to hearing you at the next meeting, 10/5 at 5pm. We'll post link for registration when it's available.

To give a quick summary, we had 3-4 times the number of people speak in favor of a CRB, at about a dozen. Somehow a comprehensive narrative was arrived at individually, with each successive speaker adding new dimensions to justification for the board. It was impressive and inspiring.

At tomorrow's ENJAN meeting, we'll discuss a more comprehensive recap and the strategy moving forward.

Brian sent the following for posting:

The Common Council's Public Hearing for legislation to establish a Civilian Review Board (CRB) is on Monday, 9/21 at 5:00 PM. Please register for the hearing and make sure you email dflynn@cityofpoughkeepsie.com before 4pm on 9/21 in order to speak at the hearing. This endeavor needs as much support as we can possibly muster, so please share with any and all individuals and organizations outside of ENJAN.

If you have a story about mistreatment or misconduct by the police, whether personal or witnessed, please consider sharing it if you're comfortable doing so. These experiences are emotionally traumatizing, and I fully understand reluctance at publicly sharing them.

For the rest of us, a concept to stress would be fostering trust in the police through transparency and accountability in the complaint process. All of us recognize there's a long history of policing communities of color differently than white communities, both here and throughout the country, and this injustice and the accompanying atrocities need to end. To further bolster the necessity of a CRB, it could be noted that legislation like this is exactly what's called for by Executive Order 203 and the guidance promulgated from it.

Every person is entitled and encouraged to voice their own opinion. I've tried to illuminate the complexity of constructing a comprehensive legislative package that fits within federal, state, and local law. Some suggested amendments to the proposed legislation would compromise the legal standing of a CRB. But one amendment that wouldn't do so is removing the ability of the chief of police to pick one member of the CRB. If you don't agree with allowing the Chief to pick a CRB member, by all means make that known among your other criticisms.

I look forward to hearing you all speak next Monday.

Brian

ENJAN events for next week

Shannon submitted the following list of upcoming actions:

Monday, Sep. 21 at 5:00 PM, there will be a public hearing regarding the creation of the civilian review boardfor the City of Poughkeepsie Police Department. Brian will send some additional information. But here is the link to register for attendance. To speak you must also email dflynn@cityofpoughkeepsie.com before 4 pm on Monday, September 21, 2020.

Wednesday, Sep. 23 at 11:00 AM public hearing on the City of Poughkeepsie's action plan to spend a half million dollar community development block grant awarded for COVID-19 response.

Wednesday, Sep. 23 at 6:30 PM City of Poughkeepsie Mayor Rob Rollinson will be joining our ENJAN meeting to discuss the recent addition of the mental health case worker at the City of Poughkeepsie Police Department. Please plan to join that meeting and if possible, share any questions you may have in advance with Shannon swong@nyclu.org. I am going to try to compile the questions and create a queue for the conversation with the mayor.

Today through Oct. 3, the Dutchess County Commission on Human Rights will facilitate half a dozen Police Reform and Modernization Community Forums to consider public comment on policing. See attached flyer and make your opinions known. YOUR VOICE MATTERS.

Black Lives Matter rally in Dobbs Ferry, NY, 9-13-20

Thanks to Tarak and Ellen (who took the pictures)

Black Lives Matter Hudson Valley

https://www.facebook.com/BLMHV

Activist Radio has the following guest on this week:

GUEST: Angela Walker, US veteran and working class activist with decades of experience advocating for racial and economic justice in social movements and unions, talks about her socialist beliefs and how she became Howie Hawkins’ running mate on the Green Party line.

https://howiehawkins.us/about-angela-walker/

Activist Radio is broadcast: Thursdays 5-6 pm from WVKR 91.3 FM at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY; Sundays 4-5 pm from WIOF 104.1 FM in Woodstock, NY; and Sundays 5-6 pm from the Progressive Radio Network at PRN.FM. It will also be posted on the ClassWars website for the next ten weeks. Simply click on the date to hear it.

Thanks,

Fred

Activist Radio

https://www.classwars.org

Your voice in these meetings will make a big difference

Thank you for your on-going commitment to justice and fairness for all. I know many members of DCPAA are interested in alternatives to policing and police reform. And now is the time to speak up on these issues! The Dutchess County Police Reform Collaborative is having community forums starting on September 12th and ending on September29th. These forums will provide the public with an opportunity to share their opinions, experiences and to support reform or alternatives to policing. Now is the moment to transform policing as we know it.

I would welcome the opportunity to work with members of the DCPPA to identify a list of demands and talking points for these forums. Your voice in these meetings will make a big difference. Please let me know if I can offer some support. You can contact me at swong@nyclu.org

Together we can create change!
Shannon Wong, NYCLU

Forums will be held via Zoom, will be two hours long, and American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters will be available for the hearing impaired. Registration is required to participate; to sign-up for one of the forums, visit the new Police Reform & Modernization Website.

Zoom on Tuesday, September 22

The Social Justice Committee of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Poughkeepsie will screen the documentary Suppressed 2020: The Fight to Vote via Zoom on Tuesday, September 22, 2020 at 7 p.m. Suppressed 2020: The Fight to Vote by Robert Greenwald (Director of Outfoxed and Making a Killing: Guns, Greed and the NRA) is a short, powerful documentary about the growing threat of voter suppression to our 2020 election. Deeply personal accounts from voters of color across the state of Georgia reveal deliberate, widespread voter suppression in the 2018 election. Polling place closures, voter purges, missing absentee ballots, extreme wait times and voter ID issues were in full effect again during the 2020 primaries and are ongoing across the country right now, all disproportionately affecting Black Americans and minorities from casting their ballots. Now, amidst a global health crisis, the cruel weaponization of vote-by-mail restrictions has turned the constitutional right to vote into a choice between life and death. Suppressed 2020 is a call to action against the calculated, unconstitutional and racist attacks intended to suppress the right to vote in America. Screening followed by speaker and discussion.

“Greenwald’s documentary on voter suppression should be viewed by every American.” – Sen. Harry Reid

“If you care about protecting our Democracy, if you care about protecting our right to self-governance, watch Suppressed 2020 and protect our right to vote.” – Rob Reiner

To join the Zoom screening, follow this link: https://www.google.com/url?q=https%3A%2F%2Fzoom.us%2Fj%2F92835775102%3Fpwd%3DWFp1Z2tRR056ZXhSdDUzc0JCZkJqQT09&sa=D&ust=1600009524469000&usg=AOvVaw2NX_FwRLyhuzvM8qxinF64

For more information, contact Pat Lamanna, patla42@gmail.com.

Sept 5 at 5:30 pm

GUEST: Chuck Collins, writer and a senior scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies

Activist Radio has the following guest on this week:

GUEST: Chuck Collins, writer and a senior scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies and coauthor of a new study entitled "Gilded Giving 2020: How Wealth Inequality Distorts Philanthropy and Imperils Democracy," talks about the institute's plan to reform what charity giving can be deducted for those at the top of the income scale.

https://inequality.org/great-divide/gilded-giving-2020/

ENJAN PAGES