SURJ Boston

Public Ed

Askwith Forums – Black Educators and the Struggle for Justice in Schools

Thursday March 28, 4-5:30 PM at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. "Black educators were essential to the legal victory that was Brown vs. Board of Education, but over time, they saw the promise of greater access and greater equity grow dimmer, undermined by the way this now-iconic legal milestone was actually implemented." Read more about the forum here.

Housing Justice

     

Update from the boston people's plan assembly

This weekend, over 200 Boston residents attended the Boston People's Plan Assembly to build a plan for equitable development and an end to displacement. The series of assemblies, organized by housing justice organizations, is building a city-wide movement led by the people most impacted by Boston's displacement crisis. Check out this video from the first assembly in September 2018.

Members of the Housing Justice Action Partnership coordinated a crew of volunteers for the event, including many SURJ members. If you're tired of neighbors, friends, and family getting displaced, if you think the rent is too damn high, if you're tired of widespread luxury development, make sure you join Right to the City Alliance for the upcoming 2019 assemblies:
Saturday, June 29th
Saturday, September 21st
Saturday, December 7th  

Immigration Justice

JOBS WITH JUSTICE SIP AND STITCH FUNDRAISER

March 29, 2019, 6:30-9:30pm
375 Centre St, JP

Join Jobs with Justice for a "Stitch and Sip": we'll teach you the basics of cross stitch, then show you how to use it to create a radical work of art. All materials provided; no experience necessary. Please sign up via our ticket link so that we can be sure to have supplies and snacks ready: https://actionnetwork.org/events/sip-and-stitch-nite-with-esther.

CONFRONTING ANTI-MUSLIM OPPRESSION

Sunday, April 7, 2019 at 1 PM – 5 PM; Boston Workmen's Circle Center for Jewish Culture and Social Justice; 1762 Beacon St, Brookline

Hosted by Boston Women's Circle Center for Jewish Culture and Social Justice and Kavod House Boston, join the Jewish Muslim Solidarity Committee of Boston Workmen’s Circle and Kavod House Community to unpack how Islamophobia and anti-Muslim racism underpin both interpersonal bias and structural oppression, and identify ways to combat both. Attendance is limited to 50, so please RSVP: bit.ly/MuslimSolidarityWorkshop

Suggested donation: $10-20, to support Muslim Justice League and program costs. Accessibility: The workshop takes place on the second floor and requires ascending two flights of stairs; BWC is in the process of designing and moving into a mobility-accessible home for future events. The workshop is open to Jews and non-Jews.

MASS JOBS WITH JUSTICE ANNUAL DINNER: SOLIDARITY IS OUR SUPER POWER

Thursday, April 18, 2019
6:00 PM - 10:00 PM
Bolling Building, 2300 Washington Street,  Roxbury, MA 02119 (map)

Buy a ticket and join us for an evening of dinner, drinks, and dancing to celebrate another year of fighting on the side of justice! Since 1992, Massachusetts Jobs with Justice has been uniting workers, community members, students, and people of faith to defeat bad bosses and stop corporate greed, whether we’re taking on exploitation, deportations, underfunding of public schools, neighborhood displacement, or inaction in the statehouse.

For information, contact Gillian Mason at gillian@massjwj.net or 617-470-7409. This venue is wheelchair accessible, but please let us know if you require any other accommodations in order to attend.

End Southeast Asian Deportations

Support the Asian American Resource Workshop in protesting the deportation of Saray Im and other members of the Southeast Asian community! Sign & share this petition to Keep Saray Home.

CALL-IN TO SUPPORT ICE DETAINEE HUNGER STRIKE

Last month, approximately 70 I.C.E. detainees at the Suffolk County House of Correction launched a hunger strike calling for an end of abuse and for more humane conditions. Four people were held in solitary confinement in direct retaliation for participating in this hunger strike.

While the hunger strike has ended, we must continue the pressure for better conditions at the facility and for all detainees to be immediately released. Please read the full list of grievances sent from the detainees at http://thefangcollective.org/suffolkletter and call Sheriff Tompkins @ (617-704-6655), Suffolk County DA Rollins (617-619-4000), and Governor Baker (617-725-4005) to demand humane conditions and the shutdown of the ICE facility.

Funding Calls from Folks in Detention

The FANG Collective has supported the hunger strike with the cost of calls from organizers detained by ICE. The cost of calls from an ICE facility (or any facility of imprisonment) is another way the injustice system extorts our communities. It can cost $15 or more just to make a brief phone call out of detention. To help the FANG Collective cover the costs of the calls they've received, and help those detained stay connected to them, please contribute here: http://bit.ly/FANG-Collective

Boston Immigrant Justice Accompaniment Network

Join our network of members fighting the injustice of our racist immigration system of detention and deportation through rides, donations, letters, advocacy, home hospitality, and much more.

Join: bit.ly/joinBIJAN | Donate: beyondbondboston.org
Share: bit.ly/BIJANflyer | Host: bit.ly/BIJANhousing

Prison Abolition

SIGN: OPPOSE STATE SANCTION OF UNSANITARY, INHUMANE CONDITIONS IN MA PRISONS
For as far back as the Department of Public Health’s Community Sanitation Program inspections go, Gardner has been one of the worst maintained prisons in Massachusetts. Prisoners have reported black mold, filthy showers, dirty rust-colored water and animal feces routinely found throughout the facility. DPH records corroborate every claim, often showing that the same issues documented by state inspectors remain for years.
Please take a moment to sign our public letter asking CAC to reject the accreditation process.

SUPPORT PARTICIPATORY DEFENSE

SURJB is working to partially fund meals for Families for Justice as Healing's Participatory Defense weekly sessions. At these sessions, court-involved community members work together to defend themselves against the racist court system! Please note your donation is for Participatory Defense in the "additional info" line. Ongoing need is $75 per week, and any amount helps! Donate here.

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 LGBTQ/HIV+ prisoners' letters, learn about their struggles, and help out the Black and Pink family!

• Saturdays in Lower Allston: from 12 -3pm at Swissbäkers. Contact Eli at eli@newgreyhair.com or Facebook page; wheelchair accessible. Note: this drop in's last day will be May 25.
• Wednesdays in JP: 7-9pm at First Baptist Church, 633 Centre Street Jamaica Plain, MA.  Contact Annie at annieatwater@gmail.com; wheelchair accessible.
• Sundays in Cambridge: 3-6pm at Democracy Center, 45 Mount Auburn St in Cambridge; partially wheelchair accessible, no accessible bathroom.

Movement for Black Lives

BLM Boston Campaign 21

At the end of 2018 BLM Boston, SURJ Boston, and other local organizations raised $2,500 to support a Black woman and child fleeing domestic violence getting settled in a safe situation. Become a monthly donor to BLMB to help them create a pool of resources for urgent needs! PAYPAL for one-time donations is m4blmboston@gmail.com.

Vigil in Support of Black Lives Matter

4/2 at 5:30 PM in front of First Baptist Church 633 Centre St in JP. The vigil is a space to come together to take a stand against white supremacy, the rise of white nationalism, and to stand up for racial justice. Tina Chery from Louis D Brown Peace Institute will speak.