SURJ Boston

Housing Justice

Save the date! DotNot4Sale Community Dinner 10/17 6 PM

On Wednesday, October 17 from 6 to 9 PM, Dorchester Not For Sale will hold our next Community Dinner and Forum. How do we prevent displacement of ANY current residents as new development explodes in our neighborhood? We focus again this month on housing affordability in new development and what is truly affordable for us to stay here and what we need to fight for together. DN4S is building a multi-racial, multi-cultural, multi-lingual, multi-generational REAL resident-led community process that centers Dorchester residents most at risk of displacement in decision-making about the future of our neighborhood. We need ongoing financial support. Please make a donation today! Follow us on Facebook: facebook.com/DotNot4Sale

Support renters at 6 Humphreys Place in Dorchester

On Friday 10/5, City Life held an amazing rally with musicians from HONK! in solidarity with the courageous Dorchester rooming house renters fighting no-fault eviction. Greg Joseph McCarthy wants to "clear out" the entire building! #BackOffMcCarthy ! Please sign the petition to support the renters here and see photos from the event here.

SUPPORT WOMEN FACING EVICTION AT OUR LADY'S GUILD HOUSE

Keep calling and signing the petition! It’s at over 1100 signatures so far; help it get to 1500! CALL realtor Marc Roos's office at (617) 236-8600 and ask him to stop the unjust evictions of these elders. Simply ask Roos to stop the pending no-fault evictions at Our Lady's Guild House. Fill out this form to let CLVU know you called. Use the hashtags #StopRuthlessRoos and #KickTheEvictionHabit in your social media. Support women facing eviction at Our Lady’s Guild House.

Take a minute to sign two petitions from Reclaim Roxbury - Stop Gentrification on Warren St!

Over halfway to the goal of 1000! Sign now!: Developers want to destroy Roxbury's history. They want to build a giant building next door to the Joseph Warren House, which has National Importance. They want to destroy that legacy in Roxbury and erect a building that will overshadow it and ruin its sanctity. Show your opposition to this new development, and add your support to taking back our neighborhood from greed and developers!

Almost halfway to 500! Sign now!: The Tommy's Rock Neighborhood Association (TRNA) stands in opposition to a proposed development at 125 Warren Street. The overdevelopment of Roxbury is destroying the history and integrity of this diverse African-American community. TRNA seeks your support in stopping this destructive project. Please sign and leave a comment to go to the mayor and other decision makers!

Immigration Justice

jericho walks in burlington, ma

Jericho Walks are a silent interfaith prayer and act of solidarity. The walks draw inspiration from the Battle of Jericho, in which the community marched around the city of Jericho seven times, causing the city walls to fall. The Jericho Walk of today is a silent, peaceful, and prayerful walk to bring down the walls of our unjust immigration system and is open to people of all or no faiths. These walks are planned by Burlington Area Clergy 4 Justice (A.K.A. BAC4 Justice... don't you love it!?) and take place at the ICE Field Office in Burlington, MA. They will be happening on the following Tuesday afternoons:
• October 16
• November 20
• December 18

Contact Laura Wagner at lwagner@uumassaction.org for more information.

#justice4siham fundraiser

The #Justice4Siham campaign has been working tirelessly to reunite activist Siham Byah, who was deported to Morocco, with her son Naseem who is still here in the US and struggling with depression. He is in desperate need of counseling to cope with the trauma brought upon him by ICE. Please consider donating to and sharing the GoFundMe page, and checking out a video about the fundraising campaign.

Resist Racial Profiling & Surveillance: Stop CVE and YPIP!

Recently, the Muslim Justice League and Asian American Resource Workshop led creative community canvassing in Roxbury Crossing to engage people in awareness of Boston's involvement in and significant spending on racial profiling programs, including "Countering Violent Extremism" and the "Youth & Police Initiative Plus", which unjustly criminalize Muslims in our community and particularly target Somali youth. Follow Muslim Justice League and Asian American Resource Workshop for photos and info to amplify and learn more / sign the Stop YPIP petition.

no business with ice

ICE is terrorizing immigrants at the border and in our communities. We can fight back by refusing to be complicit with institutions that cooperate with ICE. Sign the pledge.

Centro Presente needs volunteers

Centro Presente needs volunteer ESL and Citizenship teachers. Email Meredith Gamble at mgamble@cpresente.org to get involved!

Boston Immigrant Justice Accompaniment Network

Support those caught up in the harm of our racist immigration system. Sign up. Please join us in taking action by ensuring members of our communities have the resources they need to fight their deportations and stay connected to their families. You can donate and share.

Prison Abolition

Black and pink mailapalooza

Black and Pink Boston, and LGBTQ prison abolition collective, is gonna get the fall off to a great start by tackling our backlog of letters, requests, art, poetry, and penpal profiles from our incarcerated LGBTQ family! We will also be welcoming our National Director, Dominique Morgan, to Boston so you will be able to meet him. Dates and times available at the RSVP link!

PLEASE RSVP THROUGH THE GOOGLE FORM

From Sunday, 10/14 to Saturday, 10/20 we will have volunteer hours across the city. You do not need to be LGBTQ to attend, but if you are cisgender and straight we expect you to come with openness and humility.

YOU NEED: a laptop computer and charger

WE PROVIDE: training, light snacks, community!

if you have never done data entry with us before, please arrive on time so we can train all the new people at once. PLEASE RSVP THROUGH THE GOOGLE FORM

DIVEST TO INVEST - DIVESTING BOSTON FROM THE PRISON INDUSTRY

Thursday, October 18, 6:00PM, at 45 Milk St., Boston

Please join New Leaders Council Boston, the Corrections Accountability Project and College Bound Dorchester to discuss a Boston-wide campaign to divest public and private funds from the prison industrial complex (which includes many ICE detention facilities). This will be an informational event for the public -- including Boston community organizations, student groups, criminal justice reform advocates, educators, and city employees -- to learn about Boston's connections to the private prison industry and to learn how other jurisdictions, communities, and individuals have managed to align their values with their investments.

COMMUNITY SELF DETERMINATION AND FIGHTING POLICE POWER

Sunday, October 21, 5:30 - 7:30PM, at 614 Columbia Rd, Dorchester

Join local organizers Sunday October 21st at 5:30 PM at the City School in Dorchester for a discussion on repression and self determination in our communities. The event will feature a panel of three amazing speakers, as well break out group discussions, and live music by Optimus a member of the group Foundation Movement.

Panel topics and speakers:
1. "Digital Colonialism," Mike Vincent
2. "When the Wars Come Home: the Domestic Front of the War on Terror," Michael Prentice
3. "We are the ones we've been waiting for: Transformative Justice and Community Self-Determination," Dara Bayer

The City School's main entrance door is around the corner from 614 Columbia Road, on nearby Ramsey Street, a small one-way street directly off of Dudley and next to Payless Shoe Store.

HELP FREE WAYLAND

Wayland "X" Coleman has tirelessly worked for liberation and prison abolition for the last 21 years, even while doing life without parole on a wrongful conviction. He needs financial support to raise $1500 in legal fees to begin the process of getting a new trial. This is the first step toward bringing Wayland home. http://gofund.me/free-wayland

BLACK & PINK VOLUNTEER DROP IN

Times are drop in/drop out, so come for as long or little as you'd like. You will need a laptop. Come read prisoners' letters, learn about their struggles, and help out the Black and Pink family!

• Saturdays in Lower Allston: from 12 noon - 3 PM at Swissbäkers. Contact Eli at eli@newgreyhair.com or Facebook page
• Wednesdays in JP: 7PM-9PM at First Baptist Church, 633 Centre Street Jamaica Plain, MA.  Contact Annie at Annieatwater@gmail.com

Public Education

Petition to demand PILOT Payments

A petition calling for our mayor and city councilors to demand our institutional neighbors contribute to the future of ours schools and community. Institutions such as Harvard, Northeastern, BC, BU which together neglected to pay $36 million in PILOT payments and continue to underpay. Sign the petition!

Movement for Black Lives

STANDOUT FOR BLACK LIVES MATTER

Thursday, October 25, 5:30-6:30PM, at Ashmont T Station, hosted by Dorchester People for Peace

BLM Boston Giving Campaign

PAYPAL for donations is m4blmboston@gmail.com. For longer range, recurring support join Campaign21 which moves us from emergency, crises driven giving to solidarity sustained giving.