Weekly Newsletter - November 18, 2019

November 16 – 23
Bay Area Housing Week of Action
The housing crisis has never been this bad — at least in our lifetimes. Low-income communities of color are being hit the hardest. People are literally dying on our streets, because they cannot afford housing. ACCE Action Oakland is calling on everyone who is being impacted in any way by the artificially created housing scarcity in Oakland, whether you are unhoused, housing-insecure, rent-burdened, or just tired of watching your friends, family, and neighbors being forced to leave, to help us SHUT IT DOWN! During this week we will be highlighting the damage being done by large corporate speculators that have bought up homes in our neighborhoods as an investment strategy for Wall Street bondholders. Find information about different events and calls to action here.

Monday, November 18 • 10:00 am – 1:00 pm
Moms 4 Housing Toy Drive
Our partners at Community Ready Corps and Anti Police-Terror Project are asking SURJ Bay Area to show up and hold space with Moms 4 Housing during next week’s Oakland Week of Action for Housing Justice (called for by ACCE Action) - November 17th - 23rd. Moms 4 Housing is an organized collective of homeless and marginally housed mothers who met at the Black Housing Union Town Hall whose ultimate goal is to reclaim housing for the community. These moms (along with CRC, APTP, and ACCE) are asking directly for SURJ to show up in the following ways: Text “for the babies” to 510-800-7810 to join Moms for Housing’s text alert system and get more updates as their campaign develops; share this Facebook event invite Moms 4 Housing Toy Drive with your networks; and come to West Oakland Farm Park starting 10 am on Monday to hold space with them for their event Moms 4 Housing Toy Drive--if you can’t make it by 10am, use the text alert system for the latest information on event location.
Location: 2847 Peralta Street, Oakland

Wednesday, November 20 • 7:00 – 11:00pm
Stop the Violence - Fascists out of Berkeley
Student organizers are asking the Bay Area community to join them and stand in solidarity with DACA students and students of color - creating our own community safety by showing up in numbers to express our shared outrage at the UC Berkeley campus being used as a venue to popularize and enable right wing violence. Ann Coulter, a known right-wing provocateur is scheduled to speak at UC Berkeley - as before coming with outside, right-wing street-fighters and agitators, who specifically target QTBIPOC students in addition to Muslim and Jewish students. UC Berkeley has committed tens of thousands of our tuition dollars to protect the event instead of addressing the actual threat of fascists attacking students and disrupting an already traumatized campus community.
Location: The Campanile, S Hall Road, UC Berkeley

Friday, November 22 • 7:00 – 9:00 pm
QT House Party Fundraiser for TGIJP
Join the SURJ Bay Area Queer and Trans Committee for a house party and fundraiser. We plan to show a film, raffle some awesome items, and raise funds to support our partner, the Transgender, Gender-Variant and Intersex Justice Project (TGIJP). TGIJP has recently rented a space in Stockton that will offer stabilization beds, shelter beds, and other programming, and they have put out a call to support this space. Please invite your friends, come be with us in community, and help support TGIJP! RSVP and accessibility info available at the event link above. If you can't attend, you can donate here instead!
Location: Berkeley (RSVP for exact location)

Saturday, November 23 • 12:00 – 3:00 pm
March for Housing Now - Our City, not Scarcity!
Join us for the march at the end of the Bay Area Housing Week of Action. Who deserves to have a home in Oakland, Berkeley, or Richmond? Who makes these decisions? In the midst of the housing crisis, speculators are buying up houses, apartments, and public land. In Oakland, there are four vacant units for every individual unhoused person, 25% of whom are children.
Location: Mosswood Park, 3612 Webster Street, Oakland

Friday, December 6 • 6:30 – 8:59 pm
Save the Date: Migrant Power vs the Wall: Building Bay Solidarity for All
Join SURJ Bay Area, the Interfaith Movement 4 Human Integrity, and the Migrant Welcome Committee for an evening of sharing, solidarity, and action as we learn what's really happening in Border cities from California to Texas and what we can do to support asylum-seekers and migrants at the border and in our communities.
Location: TBA

Saturday, December 7 • 2:00 – 7:00 pm
Abundant Beginnings Fundraiser - Let's Get Free!
Support Abundant Beginnings, a community education and empowerment initiative that is re-imagining how communities can grow learners who think critically, live responsibly, and create meaningful change. This is an all-ages fundraiser Day Party with DJ, dancing, auction, a healing center, and more. Support these Radical, Amazing, Powerful Young Activists and Freedom Fighters! Come Dance With Us!
Location: 7th West, 1255 7th Street, Oakland

Sign the Petition: No Militarized Police Equipment
Oakland Police Department currently uses militarized equipment on Oakland's Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities with no oversight or regulation. SURJ Bay Area has joined the fight to give power back to the people of Oakland to decide if, when, and how cops can use and acquire militarized equipment. Two easy ways for you to Show Up and support the ordinance to Regulate Military Police Equipment in Oakland are: Sign and widely share this petition, and sign up to volunteer at farmers markets to collect post cards from community members.

A Racial Justice Guide to Thanksgiving for Educators and Families
Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and for many among us, this holiday is not a celebration about turkey and the Mayflower. The Center for Racial Justice in Education has compiled a list of resources for educators and families to discuss Thanksgiving by keeping Native narratives central to the discussion, and to help navigate difficult conversations about Thanksgiving. These resources are useful in the classroom and beyond. This resource will be continually updated.

Unhoused Provisions Drive - It's Cold in these Streets!
The nighttime temperatures have dropped significantly, and so many of our unhoused brothers and sisters are not ready for this change. The city of Oakland isn't providing adequate shelter to the hundreds of unhoused people, and it's getting cold. Find information about what is needed and how you can help.

Support Asylum Seekers at the Border
Next week seven SURJ Bay Area members and friends will travel to Tijuana in solidarity with the organization Al Otro Lado and the migrant community in Tijuana. Our delegation will work with Al Otro Lado staff to provide direct services to asylum seekers and support their everyday work. You can help us deliver much needed cash and material aid to Al Otro Lado by donating here. SURJ delegates are self-funded, so 100% of your donation goes directly to Al Otro Lado.

Donate to Support Undocumented Kincade Fire Victims
The UndocuFund for Fire Relief in Sonoma County is currently raising funds to assist the victims of the Kincade Fire, which burned more than 75,000 acres. An estimated 38,500 undocumented immigrants live in Sonoma County; unlike other victims, undocumented immigrants do not qualify for assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
In the wake of the 2017 Tubbs Fires, UndocuFund distributed $6 million to nearly 2,000 families who lost homes, possessions, and earnings in the fires. With the 2019 Kincade fires, UndocuFund calls on you to help again. Donate here.

Demand the University of Alabama Rehire Dr. James Riley
The University of Alabama has seemingly pushed for the resignation of its Dean of Students and Assistant Vice President — a Black man who had been in the job just seven months — for past tweets that made honest, straightforward statements about racism in America. The University of Alabama needs to rehire Dr. Riley immediately and make clear it will stand up for the rights of Black students, faculty, and employees. Learn more and sign the Color of Change petition to reinstate Dr. Riley.

Fire LAPD Officers Lee and Robles for the Murder of Grechario Mack

Sign and share the petition to fire the Los Angeles police officers who murdered 30-year-old Grechario Mack, father of two daughters. On April 10, 2018, Mack was in the midst of a mental health challenge inside the the Crenshaw-Baldwin Hills Mall when LAPD Officers Ryan Lee and Martin Robles shot him and then stood over him – he was still alive – and fired two more rounds into his body, killing him. Black Lives Matter Los Angeles is calling on LAPD Police Chief Michel Moore to fire the two police. Learn more about the case and sign the petition 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.

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