SURJ Boston

Movement for Black Lives

Fundraiser for Black Youth Organizing

in support of ReThink
Join us this Friday, October 18, 6:00 - 8:00 PM
65 Burroughs St, Jamaica Plain
RSVP: Eventbrite: Fundraiser for black youth organizing

Rethink develops the authentic leadership of youth of color in New Orleans. We support young people in seeing their personal and collective struggles in a larger political context and then translating solutions into mechanisms for change. Rethink is building people's individual and collective power to fight while simultaneously living into visionary alternatives to the system. I hope you can come out and hear from them yourselves and think about supporting their work. The global south has always been a catalyzing force of change. If you can't make it, donate to ReThink online.

Vigil in Support of Black Lives Matter

First Thursday of each month, 5:30 - 6:30 pm. Lawn of First Baptist Church, 633 Centre St, Jamaica Plain. Guest Speaker, Reading of Names, Silent Vigil, Announcements. Continuing every month since December 2015.

Confronting White Supremacy

Ongoing Solidarity with Victims of Operation Clean Sweep

Check out Boston Users Union's demands on Twitter, and contribute material aid - arrange pick up/drop off by direct messaging @classymscassie on Twitter

• Gift cards: Dunkin' Donuts, 7-11, McDonalds, Panera, CVS, Target
• Backpacks
• duffel bags
• sleeping bags
• adult sized hoodies
• new socks

Keep the Conversation Going: Police Brutality is Every Day

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests confirmed this week that Capt. Danilecki of the Boston Police Department, responsible for much of the violence against those counterprotesting Straight Pride, was also involved in operation clean sweep. Read more about Danilecki's role in Operation Clean Sweep.

We continue to call on the anti racist, anti fascist community to emphasize that the violence of 8/31 is something that Black and brown communities, poor people, people who use drugs, homeless people, and LGBTQ+ people experience every day. Disarm, defund, disband the police!

Housing Justice

Building a Truly Affordable Boston

Wednesday, October 16, 3:00 - 5:00 PM

• We need YOU to join the Coalition for a Truly Affordable Boston's most important action to change the IDP... and win affordable housing!
• Attend the action, and help build art, phonebank, and volunteer! RSVP to Attend the Action and/or Volunteer.
• More than 1000 people have signed postcards & petitions to call for REAL AFFORDABILITY NOW. Now we take the action to City Hall to show massive outcry for affordable housing. Learn more at affordableboston.org!
• To really engage people most impacted by displacement and gentrification, and to make an impact on the City's decisions, the coalition is making this action very VIBRANT - full of fun, creativity, and art! Please donate here to help make the action possible!

RALLY TO SUPPORT FAMILIES AND ELDERS FACING DISPLACEMENT AT FAIRLAWN APARTMENTS

Thursday, October 17, 5:00 - 7:00 PM
15 Bismarck Street, Mattapan MA 02126

Families and elders are struggling to keep their homes at Fairlawn Apartments in Mattapan, a 400+ unit complex, and your solidarity is needed! Join us to demonstrate community love and people power - and stop unaffordable, unjust rent increases of hundreds of dollars. The rent hikes we're seeing here are a case in point - we need rent control in Boston! Before the rally, sign the petition so we can reach 500 signatures: http://www.clvu.org/fairlawn_tenant_association_petition.

TAKE THE RENT CONTROL PLEDGE - WE CAN BRING RENT CONTROL BACK TO BOSTON!

• Communities of color, immigrants, working families - we all deserve affordable, healthy housing.
• Renters, homeowners and small landlords across the country are rising up and winning rent regulation.
• In Boston, real estate giants and their friends at the state house banned rent control 25 years ago. Rents - and property taxes - have spiraled out of control ever since, pushing families and whole communities out of our city
• We need to place limits on big corporate greed in order to protect our neighborhoods.
• Sign the pledge here.

Immigration Justice

Teach-In: Confronting White Christian Nationalism

Sunday, October 20, 2:00 - 4:00 PM
Old Cambridge Baptist Church, 1151 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge

In this Teach-In on Confronting White Christian Nationalism, Fatema Ahmad, Deputy Director of the Muslim Justice League, and Chris Messinger, Community Organizer and Social Justice Trainer, will guide participants in understanding the dynamics of white Christian nationalism, how it fuels the targeting of particular communities, and how we can respond in confronting the perpetuation of this ideology of hate and violence.

DRIVING LICENSES FOR ALL PHONEBANK

Thursday, October 17, 6:00 - 9:00 PM
145 Tremont Street, Boston MA

Come phonebank with us in downtown Boston to help all Massachusetts residents, regardless of immigration status, access the basic right of a driver's license! Please bring a laptop/tablet/other Internet device, and sign up here so that we'll be able to contact you with more information.

MUSICAL PROTEST AGAINST DETENTION WITH HONK!

Sunday, October 13, 8:30 - 10:00 PM
South Bay Detention Center (meet up at the corner of Southampton St. and Bradston St. in Boston)

Join Resist the Raids, Massachusetts Jobs with Justice and bands from the Honk! Festival of Activist Street Bands to show musical solidarity with our friends, family and neighbors who are locked up in Suffolk County House of Correction and the ICE immigrant detention center. Bring your drums, horns, pots and pans to break the silence around incarceration, raids and deportations. We want our folks home where they belong! Honk! down the walls!

RISING TOGETHER: 40 YEARS IN COMMUNITY

Friday, October 18, 6:00 - 9:00 PM
Pipefitters Local 537, 40 Enterprise St Dorchester, MA 02125

AARW turns 40 this year! Join us to help us celebrate! This will be a night of community and pan-Asian food as we honor the achievements of some of the Asian American community leaders in Greater Boston. All proceeds will provide critical funds to Asian American Resource Workshop (AARW).

SUPPORT DATA EQUITY NOW! SHOW UP FOR ALL COMMUNITIES IN MA

Tuesday, October 15, 10:30 AM
Massachusetts State House- Gardner Auditorium

Currently, when demographic data is collected, they are combined to produce statistics as a single summary of an entire racial group (i.e. Black, Latinx, Asian, White). Without accurate data broken down by detailed sub-ethnic groups, critical needs of some communities could be left unmet. There is a bill in the State House to disaggregate racial data by ethnic groups and a broad coalition is calling for mass turnout to support. We are expecting there to be opposition and we need as much support as we can get!

SUFFOLK COUNTY to terminate Ice CONtract

With the recent news of Suffolk County terminating its contract with ICE, please read a statement from BIJAN to better understand the complexity and impacts of this decision (excerpt below):

"Any time a contract with ICE is ended, that is a win for people power. But we can’t fully celebrate the decision of Suffolk County to end its contract with ICE. We can’t celebrate because we fear our community members will be moved to other ICE jails instead of being set free. We can’t celebrate because the space that has caged these members of our community will simply be used to cage different members of our community." Read the rest of their statement here: https://www.facebook.com/BeyondBondBoston/posts/3202484076489878.

Prison Abolition

COLLECT SIGNATURES FOR MASS POWER CAMPAIGN TO RESTORE THE #Right2Vote

The signature collecting for the Mass POWER campaign has begun! We have 100,000 signatures to get by November 20th, so we need all hands on deck. To sign up to canvas, please fill out this form.

Donate Retired Cellphones!

Our friend Jude Glaubman is collecting retired cell phones for women leaving incarceration. If you have phones in usable condition to donate, get in touch with Jude at jglaubman@thecouncil.us

SIGN UP TO BE A MEAL CAPTAIN FOR FJAH PARTICIPATORY DEFENSE!

Looking to feed the movement? Families for Justice As Healing is asking allies to provide meals to support their participatory defense meetings, where people fighting cases get together to plan their legal defenses and find community support. These meetings are based on the model of Mothers in Charge, a Black woman-led organization in PA.

SURJB is seeking meal captains to:

• coordinate a meal happening every 2 months (doesn't mean you DO everything, but you make sure everything HAPPENS)
• get groceries, cook for 15, deliver to FJAH in Roxbury

Interested? Fill out the form and if you have questions email Ray at rachelbish91@gmail.com.

BLACK & PINK VOLUNTEER DROP IN

Black and Pink’s mission is to abolish the criminal punishment system and to liberate LGBTQ+/HIV+ people through advocacy, support, and organizing.

These drop ins welcome any kind of abolitionist energy, whether reading and entering mail into the database, writing letters, playing cards, or chatting. Formerly incarcerated and court involved people especially encouraged to attend. Cis, straight and/or free world allies are welcome!

• 1st/3rd 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.