WEEKLY NEWSLETTER - JUNE 11, 2018

Monday, June 11 • 5:30 - 7:30 pm
Sanctuary Neighborhood Workshop
​Come learn how to build a sanctuary neighborhood and defend your community from ICE in your workplace, school, congregation, or home. This training is organized by Bay Area Sanctuary Neighborhoods, a project initiated by Arab Resource & Organizing Center, Bay Resistance, Hand in Hand, Immigrant Liberation Movement, Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity, La Colectiva, Mujeres Unidas y Activas, PODER, and Xicana Moratorium Coalition. Sanctuary Neighborhoods brings together neighbors, schools, small businesses, workers, people of faith and congregations who have pledged to defend our communities from ICE. We are each others sanctuary. RSVP here.
Location: Impact Hub S.F., 1885 Mission St. San Francisco
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Monday, June 11 • 7:30 pm
Evening with Trans Activist, TV Host, and Journalist Janet Mock
Hear Janet Mock in conversation with activist Mia Birdsong in a benefit for the Transgender, Gender Variant, Intersex Justice Project (TGI Justice Project). Mock is known for tackling stigma through storytelling and has served as an editor at People.com, a reporter for Marie Claire, Interview, and The Advocate and has penned essays for The New Yorker and The New York Times. She is the author of Surpassing Certainty and the New York Times bestseller, Redefining Realness. Find tickets here.
Location: Nourse Theater, 275 Hayes St. San Francisco

Tuesday, June 12 • 6:30 - 9:30 pm
The Latinos of Asia: How Filipino Americans Break the Rules of Race
Come out for a lively presentation that deepens our conversations about race, racism, and race relations. Hear Anthony Ocampo, a writer and scholar who focuses on issues of immigration, race and ethnicity, gender, and sexuality. His acclaimed book, The Latinos of Asia: How Filipino Americans Break the Rules of Race, looks at demographic shifts in the U.S. that are changing the way immigrants and their children understand race. The event is free, but please register here.
Location: Impact Hub Oakland, 2323 Broadway, Oakland

Wednesday, June 13 • 2:30 - 5:15 pm
Phone Bank with Ohio SURJ Chapters Against Mass Incarceration
Ohio is on the frontlines of the fight against mass incarceration and we've been called to action! Folks are fighting to get an initiative on the November ballot that has the potential to get 10,000 people out of jails for low-level drug offenses. Ohio SURJ chapters need people to phone potential volunteers who can canvass this weekend in a few majority white counties. The coalition leading these efforts, the Ohio Organizing Collaborative, needs to get 300,000 signatures to get on the ballot by the end of June. Can you spend a few hours making calls? There will be training and support. Register for the call here.

Wednesday, June 13 • 7:00 - 9:00 pm
MAJOR! Documentary Film Screening and Fundraiser for TGI Justice Project
Come to a free screening of the documentary about the life and activism of Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, a formerly incarcerated Black transgender elder and activist. Sponsored by SURJ's Queer Trans Committee, the event will also feature Janetta Johnson, Executive Director of the Transgender, Gender-Variant and Intersex Justice Project (TGI Justice Project). We will also be fundraising for TGI Justice Project so please bring cash if you'd like to donate.
Location: Sierra Club, 2101 Webster St. Suite 1300, Oakland

Friday, June 15 • 5:00 - 6:30 pm
Uniting Against Hate: A Conversation with Christian Picciolini
Former white extremist Christian Picciolini will speak at an event sponsored by the ACLU, the Alameda Labor Council, Indivisible Berkeley, Not in Our Town, the Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club, Berkeley Citizens Action, and the Berkeley Progressive Alliance.  After leaving the hate movement that he helped create during his youth in the 1980s and 90s, Picciolini began the process of making amends and rebuilding his life. He now leads the Free Radicals Project, a global extremism prevention and disengagement platform, helping people exit hate movements and other violent ideologies. Tickets are $12 - purchase tickets and get more info here.
Location: Berkeley City College Auditorium, 2050 Center St. Berkeley

Wednesday, June 20, 2018 • 6:45 - 9:00 pm
Introduction to SURJ Meeting
Want to get involved with SURJ Bay Area? Come learn about our current work and activities. SURJ moves white people to act for justice, with passion and accountability, as part of a multi-racial majority. You will hear about SURJ's pathways for entering the work, including Study and Action groups as well as committees, upcoming workshops, and events. We'll answer your questions and share how you can be part of the movement for racial justice. Share and RSVP here.
Location: Movement Strategy Center, 436 14th St. Suite 500, Oakland

Friday, June 22 • 7:30 - 10:00 pm
Poets for Puerto Rico: ¡El Grito de la Bahia!
Join us for a night of poetry and music benefiting the Puerto Rican artist community in San Juan! This event features local Puerto Rican poets including #PoetsforPuertoRico founder Willie Perdomo, Aya de Leon, Rico Pabon, Berkeley Poet Laureate Rafael Jesús González, Sandra Garcia Rivera, Tongo Eisen-Martin, Paul S. Flores, among others. There will also be live music by CaliGente, a Bay Area group blending hip-hop and island rhythms, and DJ GLO, throwing down tropical tunes. Tickets $15 advance, $20 at the door. More details here.
Location: La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave. Berkeley

Berkeley Residents: Withdraw Berkeley Police from Urban Shield
The Berkeley City Urban Shield Subcommittee voted on June 4th to recommend that Berkeley withdraw their police from the 2018 Urban Shield, the SWAT team training and weapons expo that brings together local, regional, and international police-military units. Already, Berkeley police are mobilizing to defeat this recommendation and we urge you to email the Berkeley City Council in support of the decision (see template here). Also save the date — on July 24th we need to pack to Council chambers as they make the final decision about Urban Shield.

Sign the Pledge to Build a World Without Police
National SURJ is inviting white folks across the country to examine our relationship to policing, especially given the increasing numbers of incidents of white people calling the police to report Black people for doing all manner of things, including sitting in a Starbucks, having a barbecue, sleeping in their own dorm room, renting an AirBnB, eating at Waffle House, golfing, walking through their own neighborhood, driving with leaves on their car, and much more. We invite white folks to take action — whether that's educating yourself more deeply about the history of policing in the U.S., examining alternatives to policing, or pledging to not call the police. Learn more here.

Join the Fght to Expand Rent Control and Repeal Costa-Hawkins!
The Affordable Housing Act, which would repeal the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act and allow cities and towns to pass stronger rent control laws, will officially be on the ballot this November! Landlord associations are preparing to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to sink this ballot initiative. Join the grassroots campaign organized by our partners at the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE) to speak to voters about the ballot initiative and advocate for stronger rent control legislation. Learn more about the campaign here. To get involved, please email SURJcanvassing@gmail.com

Join the SURJ - Faith National Campaign
SURJ - Faith is a national effort aimed at organizing congregations and faith communities to take action for racial justice and to support the Movement for Black Lives. This campaign has a tool kit and resources that people can share with their faith communities. Learn more about the campaign here.

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.