SURJ Boston

Prison Abolition

Oppose New Women's Jail!

Monday, April 1, 1pm, State House room A1

Women belong in their communities, not in jails! Please send testimony and attend the hearing on Monday to oppose this an all new jail and prison construction. Please email written testimony to the Chairperson of the House side of the Joint Committee: Chairperson, Danielle Gregoire.

SIGN: OPPOSE 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.

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! 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.

Boston Ujima Project        

Ujima, Solidarity Economics, & Reparations 101

Workshop - Saturday, May 11, 1-4pm
Suffolk University Law School, 120 Tremont St, Floor 5 in the Blue Room

Ujima is an ecosystem-based approach to community economic development. Our model democratically centers control with Boston’s working class communities and communities of color - those most impacted by and least consulted with about economic development projects in our city. Ujima uses a democratic process to invest in and shift resources toward businesses that meet our collective community standards, as part of a reparations framework of wealth and power redistribution.

1. Invest in Ujima today: find instructions in this pdf file.
2. RSVP for the workshop through this google form

Public Ed

People's School Committee Meeting

On Wednesday, BEJA and BPS community members lead by famiies at St. Stephen's Youth Project led an amazing march from the South End to the Bolling Building where they held a People's School committee hearing. Read coverage of the march at this link.

Stay tuned for more opportunities to join us in advocating for a more fairly, fully funded public school system.

Organize for the Promise Act

Know anyone in Wellesley, Weston, or Wayland that is interested in equity in Public Education?

Please have them contact Tonya Tedesco (tonyatedesco@gmail.com). In conjunction with BEJA & MEJA, we are doing suburban outreach to win support for the Promise Act.

Housing Justice

Check back next week for updates from our partners!

Immigration Justice

Rally to End Southeast Asian Deportations & Support Saray Im!

Monday, April 1, 8-9:30 AM
1000 District Avenue, Burlington, MA 01803

As part of the recent targeting of Cambodian American community members by ICE, community leader and refugee Saray Im is facing imminent detention and deportation. Please join us to take a stand against Southeast Asian deportations and support Saray at his ICE check-in.

• Fill out this form if you can provide a ride and/or need a ride to the rally
• Sign the petition
• Contribute to Saray’s legal fund

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.

CALL-IN TO SUPPORT ICE DETAINEES

While February's 70 person strong 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 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. Help FANG Collective cover the costs of staying connected by contributing through PayPal.

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

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.