Weekly Activist Alert: Police State

In This Week's Action Alert

Action: Stop DC's Secure Communities Program!
Resource: NEW! Organization Directory
Featured Article: Seven Year Old Black Child Murdered by Detroit Police
Cause: Volunteer for the Washington Peace Center

Join the Washington Peace Center for our second training session:
Organizing 2.0: Using the Internet Effectively for Your Social Cause

Events [scroll down for full details]:

Wed 5/26-Volunteer Opportunity: Block Party Phone Banking
Th 5/27-International Day of Action: We Say No to mining! Pacific Firm Out of El Salvador
Th 5/27-American Political Art, Gallery Opening: The Corner Store
Sa 5/29-Solidarity Action with the Immigrants of Arizona
Fr 6/4-American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee 30th Annual Convention
Sa 6/5-Parade for Peace!
Sa 6/5-Seeing Food in a Whole New Light!
Sa 6/5-WPFW Town Hall Meeting
Su 6/6-SIPA 2010: You Must Be Present To Learn
Tu 6/8-Organizing 2.0: Using the Internet Effectively for Your Social Cause
We 6/9-Ban the Box Forum

Hey D.C.,

Too often, anti-war efforts are geared towards US foreign policy and the military agenda that governs any relationship with the international community. While concerns over the impact of drones, guns, bombs and bases are legitimate, these problems are not unique to poor and oppressed communities in places like Iraq, Afghanistan, Columbia and Congo.  Right here, in the US, there are poor and oppressed people living under police terror throughout this country.

Whether they be new immigrants or old targeted communities, militarism doesn't hesitate to flex its muscles and instill fear on America's marginalized populations. Malcolm X - who would turned 85 yrs old on May 19th had he not been a target of J. Edgar Hoover and COINTEL Pro - stated that the police does domestically what the US does internationally. In the 21st Century, the lines between military and police affairs are even more blurred as policy and budgets reflect unified efforts to keep people living in terror and communities (inside and outside the US) occupied.

The reality of the impact of domestic policing increase as more and more cases of unarmed, unprovoked and unaware citizens become victims of police assault and murders.  What's more is that black and brown impoverished communities in urban and rural areas are disproportionately targeted for harassment and abuse. An example of this is highlighted in this week's article of the tragic story of 7 yr old black child, Aiyana Stanley Jones, that was killed by the Detroit police department on Sunday May 16th.

Anti-war activists must again (as was done in the 1960s and 1970s) connect the dots against militarism on and off US shores.  Solidarity means taking action against unjust immigration laws like DHS's Secure Communities program. Solidarity means joining in protests against multinational corporations in places like El Salvador.  Solidarity means taking a firm stand against police and military terror in DC, Detroit and anywhere else on the planet.  Solidarity means putting heads together and volunteering your time and donating towards peace, freedom and justice efforts.


Featured WPC Resource this week...
Check Out the new Organization Directory

Could your organization or group use more exposure so that more DC area folks know of the great work you do?  Or are you interested in learning about the varying organizations out there also working on your issue? The new and improved version of the Organization Guide offers and easy-to-navigate directory of many DC area organizations.  So check out our Organization Directory page and please let us know if you have anything to add!

Appreciate this service? Please DONATE to support the movement for a more just and peaceful world.


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Volunteer Opportunity: Block Party Phone Banking
Wednesday, May 26th
 6:30pm - 8:30pm
614 S Street NW
Washington DC 20001
 
Volunteers needed to help promote for a Block Party scheduled for July 10th that addresses homelessness in DC

For more information, click here

International Day of Action:
PACIFIC RIM OUT OF EL SALVADOR! NO TO CAFTA! STOP THE SUITS!
Thursday, May 27th
12:30pm
  Press Conference and Street Action at Crowell & Moring
1001 PENNSYLVANIA AVE. NW
Washington DC

Communities in Cabanas, El Salvador stopped Pacific Rim Mining Corporation from opening two gold mines in the northern zone and poisoning the country's main source of water, the Lempa River.  But now Pacific Rim is using the Central American Free Trade Agreement to sue the Salvadoran government for hundreds of millions of dollars in 'lost profits'. Stand up against corporate extortion, colonialism and environmental destruction in Latin America!

For more information, click here
 
American Political Art, Gallery Opening: The Corner Store
Thursday, May 27th
6 - 8 pm
  The Corner Store, 900 South Carolina Ave., SE,
Located one block from Eastern Market Metro

American Political Art
1960's Posters from the Cold War to Vietnam And Anti-War Paintings from a Private Collection
Gallery Opening Thursday May 27th from 6 to 8 pm
The Corner Store, an innovative art gallery and performance space located 9 blocks from our nation's Capitol, proudly opens a Memorial Day show of art as social commentary. Come to see posters and paintings by San Francisco Bay Area artists who demonstrated through art their concerns about 1960's America - the Vietnam War, the nuclear bomb and the civil rights struggle.
Runs through Monday May 31 by appointment 202.544.5807

For more information, click here
   
Immigrant Rights are Civil Rights: Solidarity Action with the Immigrants of Arizona
Saturday, May 29th
12 - 2 pm
  DuPont Circle

Stand in stand in solidarity with the immigrant workers in Arizona! Say No the DHS Secure Communities project in Washington, DC!
 
Participating Organizations: CISPES, DC Jobs with Justice, FMLN-DC, ISO, National DAy Labor Organizing Network and the Washington Peace Center

For more information, click here

American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee
Annual Convention
"Thirty Years of Advocacy and Achievement: Strengthening the American Voice for Equality and Justice." 
Friday, June 4th-Sunday June 6th
 Washington Marriott Wardman Park Hotel
2660 Woodley Road, Washington DC 20008

At this year's convention the ADC will have panels addressing domestic and foreign policy issues, lunches, a gala dinner, receptions, films and haflehs.

For more information, click here

   
Parade for Peace!
Saturday June 5th
11:00am-1:00pm

Learn to stilt. Help make HUGE puppets. Perform with activists at the WPArade!
No experience necessary.

PERFORM:
Sat, June 5 - 11am-1pm. March with the Washington Peace Center, Washington Action Group and Puppet Underground in the WPArade. Parade for Peace!

LEARN:
Sat May 22, 1-5 pm Giant Puppets, Props & Flag workshop with WAG @ the Doghouse in Takoma Park, call 301-8891-3680
Sun May 23, 4-7 pm Learn to stilt! Stilt workshop in Malcolm X Park, 15th & Euclid
Sat and Sun May 29-30th, Puppets, Props & Flags workshop at the Doghouse in Takoma Park, call for times 301-8891-3680.
Mon May 31, Puppet, Costume Workshop with Puppet Underground in DC, time and place TBA.

For more information, click here

Seeing Food in a Whole New Light!
Saturday June 5th
1:00pm - 4:00pm

Vegetarian Cookout
 4:00pm-5:00pm
New Community Church
614 S St. NW

Learn Explore the History of Food
Examine the Current Food System
What is Food Justice?
Creating an Alternative Food System
Learn How to Eat in a New Way

For more information, click here

   
WPFW Town Hall Meeting
Saturday June 5th
1:00-3:30pm
All Souls Church
1500 Harvard Street, NW

The Local Station Board (LSB) of WPFW 89.3 FM is hosting a Town Hall  on Saturday, June 5th, from 1:00 to 3:30 p.m. It will be held at All Souls Church, Unitarian, 1500 Harvard Street NW, DC.

The town hall will be an opportunity for listeners and community members to share their comments, critiques, ideas, and visions with WPFW's elected Local Station Board, staff, and programmers.

For more information, click here

   
SIPA 2010: You Must Be Present To Learn
 
Sunday June 6th-Tuesday June 8th
 Mayflower Renaissance Hotel
1127 Connecticut Avenue NW, Washington DC 20036

The award-winning Kimberly Dozier of the Associated Press. The online managing editor of The Wall Street Journal.  The CEO of PaidContent.org.  The CEO of Helium.  The chief analyst of Forrester Research.  A leading expert on negotiating from Harvard Law School.
 
 For more information click here

   
Organizing 2.0: Using the Internet Effectively for  Your Social Cause
Tuesday June 8th
6:30-8:30pm
St. Stephen's Church
1525 Newton Street, NW

This workshop will explore different ways to enhance your organizing strategies in an interactive workshop that addresses how to apply basic organizing knowledge to organizing on social networking sites and other useful internet tools to connect with people.
This event is free and open to the public.
Facilitator: Eric Shutt, creative social media strategist
eSocialMediaShop, http://eSocialMediaShop.com

For more information, click here

Ban the Box Forum 
Wednesday, June 9th
7:00pm - 9:00pm
Bethlehem Baptist Church
2458 Martin Luther King Ave., SE
(near Anacostia Metro Station)

The DC Statehood-Green Party is co-sponsoring a public forum with Returning Citizens United on efforts to "Ban the Box."  The DC Ban the Box campaign combines both DC Council legislation and a proposed Mayoral Order to bar discrimination against people with criminal records in housing and employment.

For more information, click here

Seven Year-Old Black Child Murdered By Detroit Police
Written by Jerry White
May 17, 2010 on www.uhurunews.com

Detroit police shot and killed a seven-year-old girl during an early morning raid of a home on the city's east side Sunday morning. The child, Aiyana Stanley Jones, was struck in the head and neck area while sleeping on a couch at the home on Lillibridge Street.

In a Sunday morning press conference Assistant Police Chief Ralph Godbee said police were executing a "no-knock" search warrant for a homicide suspect in the two-apartment home. He said the police-members of the heavily armed Special Response Team-threw a flash grenade through an unopened window around 12:45 a.m. before charging in with guns drawn.

Godbee claimed the policeman's gun discharged after he "had some level of physical contact" with the girl's 47-year-old grandmother, Mertilla Jones. The police were not categorizing the shooting as accidental yet, Godbee said, "although we don't believe the gun was discharged intentionally."

Charles Jones, father of the slain girl, said he rushed from a back bedroom to see his mother being pushed through the door and another police officer carrying his bleeding daughter from the house. "They came into my house with a flash grenade and a bullet," Jones told the Detroit News. "They say my mother (Mertilla Jones) resisted them, that she tried to take an officer's gun. My mother had never been in handcuffs in her life. They killed my baby and I want someone to tell the truth."

To read the complete article click here


See you in the streets!
 
Chioma, Hazal, Ramah & Sonia
Washington Peace Center