Weekly Newsletter - June 17, 2019

Tuesday, June 18 • 7:00 – 9:00 pm
All Our Trials: Prisons, Policing, and the Feminist Fight to End Violence
Join author Emily Thuma in conversation with Bay Area organizers and activists Diana Block of California Coalition for Women Prisoners and Rachel Herzing of Center for Political Education, for an event that puts Thuma’s new book, All Our Trials, Prisons, Policing, and the Feminist Fight to End Violence in dialogue with contemporary campaigns against imprisonment and policing. For details and accessibility information, please check out the event link. Sponsored by California Coalition for Women Prisoners, Center for Political Education and Critical Resistance Oakland.
Location: Eric Quezada Center for Culture and Politics, 518 Valencia Street, San Francisco

Wednesday, June 19 • 12:30 pm
Bike 4 Justice
Oakland youth are bringing attention to the role the District Attorney has in pursuing justice for families affected by police violence and the jail system. Show up to hold DA Nancy O’Malley accountable! Hosted by Urban Peace Movement and California Immigrant Youth Justice Alliance.

Wednesday, June 19 • 11:00 am - 12:30 pm
Juneteenth Rally on Inequities of Black City Workers
Juneteenth commemorates the June 19, 1865 announcement of the abolition of slavery in Texas, and more generally the emancipation of enslaved Black folks. On this important day, stand with Wealth and Disparities in the Black Community - Justice 4 Mario Woods on the steps of San Francisco City Hall to condemn racist and discriminatory practices in City departments against Black workers. More info here.
Location: San Francisco City Hall

Wednesday, June 19 • 6:00 - 8:00 pm
Poor People's Campaign Moral Action Congress Watch Party
The movement that started with 40 days of moral action last summer has continued to grow, and the Poor People's Campaign is entering its next phase. Plans for the months ahead will be presented at the upcoming Moral Action Congress, happening June 17-19 in Washington, DC. Join us for a potluck and watch party of a video of Congress, laying out what's next for the fusion movement of poor people building across 40 states and in Washington, DC. RSVP here.
Location: Omni Commons, 4799 Shattuck Avenue, Oakland

Sunday, June 23 • 10:00 am – 12:15 pm
Intro to SURJ, Family-Friendly Edition
SURJ moves white people to act for justice, with passion and accountability, as part of a multi-racial majority. Want to get involved? Come learn about our current work and activities. You'll hear about SURJ's pathways for entering the work, including committee work, workshops, and events. We are excited to offer family-friendly activities during this Intro Meeting! For children and youth who are interested in participating in the meeting, there will be child- and youth-friendly discussion topics and interactive activities. We will also provide free childcare for those who do not participate. As with every SURJ Bay Area Intro Meeting, all are welcome and encouraged to join (with children or without). Please RSVP - space is limited.
Location: Movement Strategy Center, 436 14th St. Oakland

Wednesday, June 26 • 6:00 – 9:00 pm
Building Alternatives to Police Emergency Response
For years, the Anti Police-Terror Project and Critical Resistance have been some of the leading voices demanding that Oakland be the vanguard in creating a model for mental health responders to be the first responders for mental health issues. The idea seems to be resonating and Council Member Kaplan has called for a meeting to review a model that exists in Eugene, Oregon. The meeting features a presentation from CAHOOTS, a mobile crisis intervention team integrated into the public safety system in Eugene and Springfield, Oregon. Representatives will describe how the model has succeeded in reducing bad outcomes, saved money, and helped connect residents with services.
Location: St. Columba Catholic Church, 6401 San Pablo Ave, Oakland

Friday, June 28 • 7:00 pm – 2:00 am
Bustin' Out- TGIJP Fundraiser and Official San Francisco Trans March After Party
For 15 years, TGIJP has provided legal services for transgender and gender variant/non-conforming people in California prisons, jails and detention centers. As we continue to fight the abuses TGI people face inside and outside of prisons, we invite you to join us for a night of celebration and trans resilience as we try to raise $30,000 to support Black trans abolitionist organizing! We are so excited to join our hosts at El Rio and Virgil’s Sea Room for another year to raise money for growing currently and formerly incarcerated TGI people. Every year, Bustin Out brings together hundreds of transgender, gender non-conforming and intersex people and our allies to celebrate the incredible resistance of transgender people in San Francisco. Tickets $15-60. More info here.
Location: El Rio, 3158 Mission Street, San Francisco

Friday, June 28 • 6:00 – 8:00 pm
Exhibit: Detention, Deportation, Incarceration and the Border
Silicon Valley De-Bug's Class Conscious Photographers presents images that shine a light on the impact incarcerations has on our communities, whether in prisons or in immigrant detention centers, and the deportation of migrants and the border itself. Advocating for social change is part of a long tradition of social documentary photography in the United States and Mexico, and the work of the photographers in this show contributes to this tradition today.  Exhibit runs June 5-August 31. The featured photographers are: Brooke Anderson, David Bacon, Richard Bermack, Charisse Domingo, Najib Joe Hakim, Stacy Johnson, RJ Lozada, Jean Melesaine, Abraham
Menor, Ronald Orlando and Leopoldo Peña.
Location: Asian Resource Gallery, 310 8th St. Ste 200, Oakland

Tuesday, July 9 • 5:00 pm
Angela Davis with SURJ
Save the date for this webinar featuring SURJ National in conversation with political activist Angela Davis. This is part of SURJ's ongoing series called Connecting the Dots: Border Militarism, US Domestic and Foreign Policy, and the Myriad Connections of Racial Capitalism. More information coming soon, and for now you can sign up and and share the invitation on Facebook with family, friends and comrades.
Location: Online.

Thursdays, July 18 – August 8 • 7:00 – 9:00 pm
UNRAVELING THE RIGHT: A Class for Organizers and Activists in the Trump Era
Does the rise of white nationalism keep you awake at night? Do you want to understand today’s right wing better and strengthen your organizing strategies to help drive it back? Join The Center for Political Education this summer for this four-session class covering the right’s ideas and goals, historical lessons from past experience fighting fascism and the right, and strategies for building a winning anti-right coalition and the particular responsibilities of activists in the Bay Area. This class will be led by CPE co-director Rachel Herzing and Revolution in the Air author Max Elbaum, and will feature guest speakers with expertise on some of the issues highlighted above. Space will be limited, so please fill out this application form by July 1. While everyone should feel free to apply for this class, preference will be given to members of people of color-led organizations and working class and people of color communities.
Location: Eric Quezada Center for Culture and Politics, 518 Valencia Street, San Francisco

Protect Black Dissent: Demand the FBI stop hiding white supremacy threats
The FBI is changing the way it categorizes domestic terrorist investigations, partially in response to pressure from Team #MediaJustice. But rather than being transparent about their use of the made-up "Black Identity Extremist" designation, the FBI has created a new blanket category for reporting called “Racially-Motivated Violent Extremism,” a move that is an effort to further conceal white supremacist terrorism and continue to discreetly criminalize Black activists online and off. Not only is the FBI falsely conflating Black dissent with white terrorism, but their reports will no longer specify what resources are or aren't being used to investigate white supremacist violence, even though we know that white supremacists represent the most significant violent threat in the United States today. Sign the petition here.

Check Out 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. As we enter the 2nd quarter of the 2019 California legislative cycle, we’d like to share the bills, propositions, and campaigns that are our focus for 2019. Learn more about the organizations we partner with and the legislation we're working on here, and join our legislative action list here.

Ask Governor Newsom to Remove Gregory Ahern from the Lottery Commission!
Please join SURJ's Mobilization Committee and the Prison Abolition Working Group in calling on Governor Gavin Newsom to remove Alameda County Sheriff Gregory Ahern from the California Lottery Commission. The California Lottery is supposed to embrace the values of integrity and transparency, but in 12 years as Alameda County Sheriff, Ahern has overseen massive growth in his jail budget even as the jail population declined by 45 percent. His office has perpetrated a stunning array of human rights abuses, including overseeing 33 in-custody deaths, punishment of people in need of medical care, pressure on women to get abortions, and other egregious mistreatment and neglect. Governor Newsom has the authority to remove Ahern as Lottery Commission chair and reduce the reach of his power. Please take 20 seconds today and sign this petition to the governor to remove Ahern from this statewide office.

Sunday July 7 & Monday, July 8 • 12:00 – 8:00 pm
Rise Against Racism: Counter CUFI
Come to Washington, D.C. and tell the world to #CounterCUFI! For too long, Palestinians have been calling for freedom, justice, and equality; meanwhile, CUFI has quietly become the largest organization in the United States driving support for Israel’s oppression of the Palestinian people. With over five million members, CUFI uses its political leverage to ensure ongoing U.S. support for Israel’s colonization and military occupation of Palestine, including imprisoning Palestinian children; bombing homes, schools, and hospitals in Gaza; massacring peaceful protestors; and confiscating Palestinian land. By its own admission, CUFI “led the charge to have the U.S. recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital,” and it continues to push for unconstitutional anti-BDS legislation and illegal settlement expansion. You can help by joining the action in Washington, D.C, signing the collective statement here, or donating to help support the action
Location: Washington, D.C.

Free Masonique Saunders in Columbus OH
Columbus OH police killed 16-year-old Julius Tate Jr. in December and a week later arrested his 16-year-old girlfriend, Masonique Saunders, charging her with the murder the police committed in fear that she would testify against them. SURJ Columbus is working with a community coalition, demanding that Masonique be released from jail and that all charges be dropped. Learn more about the case here, sign the petition here calling on the Franklin County Prosecutor to drop all charges (you do not have to be an Ohio resident), and donate here to help with Masonique's legal fees.

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