Weekly Newsletter - July 15, 2019

​Sponsorship 101 Webinar: How You Can Help Migrants Coming to the Bay Area
The images are jarring. Immigrant kids in cages. No room to lie down. No running water. Immigrant detention centers are the concentration camps of our time. Our duty is to #CloseTheCamps and give respite to and welcome those who have had to endure them. Join SURJ Bay Area and the Asylum Seekers Sponsorship Project for an informational "webinar" - an internet conference call - to find out how you can sponsor (host) and/or accompany folks who have arrived in the current migratory wave. Please register in advance for either of these webinars:
• Friday July 19, 2019, at 7:00 PM P/T 
• Saturday July 20, 2019, at 10:00 AM P/T
Please be sure to download the free Zoom app so you can fully participate in the call. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

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Monday, July 15 • 12 – 1:30 pm
Amazon: Cut All Ties to ICE! Amazon: Corten todos lazos con ICE
Join us outside Amazon's office downtown. Bring your noisemakers, bullhorns, and signs for a protest of Amazon's profits while thousands of children and families suffer in isolation in one of the hundreds of detention centers across the country. While Amazon launches "Prime Day," offering discounts to its millions of customers on July 15th, we demand Amazon end its relationship with ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and CBP (Customs and Border Protection)! Amazon has promoted it's facial recognition technology "Rekognition," to local law enforcement agencies and ICE nationwide, facilitating the use of the technology to target undocumented immigrants in a largely unregulated industry.
Location: 525 Market Street, San Francisco

Saturday, July 20 • 11:00 am – 5:00 pm
4th Annual Mario Woods Remembrance Day
Join community members in a celebration of the life of Mario Woods on the anniversary of his birthday. Mario was a young Black man gunned down by five SFPD officers in a 2015 execution-style shooting. In the wake of his killing, a groundswell of people came together to build a movement to support all those who have been impacted by racialized police violence in the Bay Area. This annual event will include food, music, entertainment, a kids’ zone and Black cowboys.
Location: Martin Luther King Park, 5701 3rd St, Bayview, San Francisco

Saturday, July 20 • 9:00 – 10:30 am
SURJ Contra Costa Meeting with Guest Speaker, Katie Dixon
Guest Speaker Katie Dixon, policy fellow for LSPC (Legal Services for Prisoners With Children)/ All of Us or None, will present an overview of the agency and its work fighting for the rights of formerly and currently incarcerated people and families. The agency is part of a statewide coalition to strengthen the voices of people most affected by mass incarceration and the growth of the prison-industrial complex. The coalition has been successful in passing AB 392, which requires police to only use deadly force when necessary. The bill will now go to the governor’s for his signature. A collection will be taken to support All of Us or None.
Location: Mt. Diablo Unitarian Universalist Church, 55 Eckley Lane, Walnut Creek

Sunday, July 21 • 2:00 – 6:00 pm
Alternatives to Policing 4: Transformative Justice
How do we respond to violence within our own communities without relying on the police, prisons, or other state systems? This educational interactive event will offer a basic introduction to and overview of the core concepts of transformative justice. It will be a space for participants to begin thinking about community-based responses to violence. Sliding scale donations will support the continued work of the Alternatives to Policing Coalition. No one will be turned away for lack of funds. Co-sponsored by First Congregational Church of Oakland, Kehilla Community Synagogue, Qal'bu Maryam, Jewish Voice for Peace, Skyline Community Church, Oakland Peace Center, Oakland LBGTQ Community Center, the Omni Collective, and Black Organizing Project.
Location: First Congregational Church, 2501 Harrison St. Oakland

Sunday, July 28 • 3:00 – 4:30 pm
SURJ Marin Racial Justice Book Discussion - There There
Join SURJ Marin to discuss There, There, the powerful first novel from author Tommy Orange. What does it really mean to be a Native American/American Indian living in the urban landscape of Oakland, California? Fractured families, Oakland itself, and detachment from tradition make a Native American identity seem even more elusive to the younger characters, but it's a feeling that they unknowingly share—and that Orange wants to expose.
Location: Corte Madera Library, 707 Meadowsweet Drive, Corte Madera

Tuesday, August 6, 2019 • 6:45 – 9:00 pm
Introduction to SURJ
Want to get involved with SURJ Bay Area? Come learn about our current work and activities. You’ll hear about SURJ's pathways for entering the work, including committee work, upcoming workshops, and events. We'll answer your questions and share how you can get involved in the movement for racial justice. Please RSVP - space is limited. ASL interpretation will be provided if requested by 5:00 pm on Sunday, August 4th by emailing basebuilding@surjbayarea.org.
Location: Loper Chapel, First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way, Berkeley

Saturday, August 10 • 6:30 – 8:30 pm
Lamentations & Reparations: A Tisha B’Av Response to the Ongoing Harms of Slavery and Its Legacy
Join our communities for a healing evening of prayers, conversation, and acts of Teshuvah/reparations in response to the clarion call from descendants of the transatlantic slave trade for reparations. Benjamin Mertz, director of the Joyful Noise Gospel Singers, will lead singers and non-singers alike in spirituals, civil rights songs, and other music of the African-American diaspora. With spiritual teachers Rabbi Dev Noily, Hazan Shulamit Wise Fairman, Magid Jhos Singer, Julie Batz, Reverend Deborah Lee, and Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb.
Location: Chochmat Halev, 2215 Prince Street, Berkeley

SURJ Discussion Guide: When They See Us
The Netflix series When They See Us by filmmaker Ava DuVernay tells the story of the Central Park Five, a group of Black and Latino boys who were wrongfully accused of sexually assaulting a white woman jogger in Central Park in 1989. By telling the story of the now Exonerated 5, the series provides a provocative and emotional look into our justice system and the need to address the biases and corruption plaguing police departments and courts across the US if we want to protect Black and Latino children. Color Of Change has also put out an incredible toolkit, here; use these discussion guides to learn from this powerful series and move into action by pushing for changes to stop similar injustices from continuing.

Know Your Local Immigration Hotline Numbers
Via Bay Resistance: In light of the recent news, we want to make sure that everyone is informed and prepared. Learn the phone number for your local emergency immigration hotline and call if you see any ICE activity. It's important to verify before publicizing any information; spreading misinformation about possible raids can bring unnecessary panic and stress to our communities. Find your county's hotline number, and please share widely.  #PowerNotPanic #AbolishICE

Check Out these Updated SURJ Bay Area Policy Priorities for 2019
SURJ Bay Area's Policy Working Group is working in service to, and in collaboration with our people of color-led partner organizations that work on legislative advocacy. In this update, we look at some of the bills that have successfully crossed-over to their second house (California Assembly or Senate), hopefully on their way to the governor’s desk. Learn more about the organizations we partner with and the bills we're actively supporting. You can be part of this effort by adding your name to our Legislative Action List.

Wednesday, July 24 • 6:30 – 8:30 pm
SURJ Sacramento New Member Orientation/Community Meeting
Join SURJ Sacramento for their next Community Meeting, geared toward new members with the goal of introducing SURJ as an organization, the SURJ Sacramento chapter and its goals, and discussing some key pieces of the racial justice movement. If you are new to the chapter (or the area), join us to learn about what we've been up to, what we're working on, and how to get plugged in. If you have been in the past, but haven't been in awhile, we also encourage you to come out and reconnect with SURJ Sacramento.
Location: Unitarian Universalist Society of Sacramento, 2425 Sierra Boulevard, Sacramento

SURJ Bay Area Chapter - Join us! Through community organizing, mobilizing, and education, SURJ moves white people to act as part of a multi-racial majority for justice with passion and accountability. Learn more at www.surjbayarea.org. SURJ Bay Area is one of 150 chapters and affiliates nationwide. Learn about SURJ National and our mission, vision, and values HERE.
Want to support our work? You can make a donation for SURJ's organizing and educational efforts with over half of what we raise going to Black and people of color-led partner organizations. Make a one-time donation or become a monthly sustainer HERE. Contributions are tax-deductible.

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Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) Bay Area c/o PO Box 22748, Oakland CA 94609