October 25, 2020
⭐ New or updated content | ☎️ Phone calls | 📋 Petition | 🍎 Education | ✊ In-person or remote action | 💵 Donations | 🚗 Driving
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Tuesday, Oct 27, 7:00-8:30pm
Register here
Feeling the jitters about election day approaching? Join us for a call on how you can take action this election season! From getting involved with election defense, to fighting evictions, to ending incarceration, there are so many ways to take action right now in this crucial moment!
This call is open to all whether you've been involved with SURJ Boston for years or have never come to an event before! All are welcome!
Every Wednesday 12 to 1 PM
Want to host your own?
Register here for action hours and invite friends to action hours on Facebook. Now with extended dates through December!
Overwhelmed by the number of actions you see each week? SURJB Active Members guide participants through calls, emails, petitions, fundraisers and more as we build the movement for racial justice! We provide more context on the calls to action and insight on how our actions help to advance the struggles we are working on.
Are you feeling anxious and stressed about the election? Not sure what to do to be ready for November? One option is to sign up for our Election Defense Team which is preparing to take action to defend people's voting, the results, and against fascism: Sign up here to join our network!
Ready to organize yourselves and your neighbors to protect the vote on election day and after? Sign up here for more information on action trainings and to join us for a meeting on Sunday November 1st from 11am-1pm to strategize how we can be sure folks can vote safely and ensure their votes are counted!
October 31st, 1:00-2:30pm
Need some info or space to process? Join us for “Don’t Get Tricked; Get Ready!” on Zoom. We’ll be trying to make the election less scary by talking through scenarios and spending some time in breakout groups mapping resources and thinking through plans. Join the zoom call here!
Monday, October 26th at 2:00 PM
Want to take action from home? The next phone zap with SURJ National to pressure election officials in swing states to defend the election and count all vote is tomorrow ! Register here for the Action Zap on Monday or for the other upcoming Zaps on October 28th and November 2nd.
On November 6, Student Immigrant Movement will be virtually celebrating their Quinceañera of Rebellion. Join them to honor the stories of resistance and persistence of undocumented youth. Every week leading up to the gala they will be highlighting a SIMmer!
Get your tickets here.
In honor of their 15th anniversary, a donor has stepped forward to match all donations made in September, up to $4,000. Help them reach this donation goal by becoming a Dream Sustainer here.
Comfort Kitchen has launched a takeout pop-up & fundraiser to support 3 local organizations including Student Immigrant Movement. Order here on Monday October 27th and Tuesday October 28th from 5:30-8:30.
Join AARW in their demands that all charges be dropped against movement leaders who have organized in response to ICE Director Tony Pham and the violence he inflicts on immigrants, refugees, and poor Black and Brown people.
⭐️💵 A Home for Thy Chea and His Family
AARW has launched a fundraising campaign to support Thy and his family secure long-term housing. Thy Chea was unjustly deported to Cambodia in August 2018. After being ripped apart from his family and community in Lowell, Massachusetts, this past February, we were able to welcome Thy home and celebrate his return! Donate to support Thy and his family, and share with your networks. DONATE: https://bit.ly/thyshome
⭐️💵 Support the Black Immigrants Bail Fund
Policing, incarceration, and deportation are rooted in white supremacy and anti-blackness. Black immigrants make up about 7% of the total non-citizen pop. in the U.S., but they represent over 20% of immigrants facing deportation because of the criminal punishment system. Donate to the Black Immigrants Bail Fund (a fund co-run by the Haitian Bridge Alliance and African Bureau for Immigration and Social Affairs) to join them in the call to #abolishICE.
Over 100,000 MA households are at risk of eviction following the expiration of the eviction and foreclosure moratorium earlier this month. Read this report for more context. Governor Baker refuses to support the Guaranteed Housing Stability Act, instead pouring millions into a band-aid eviction diversion program. THIS IS NOT ENOUGH.
Please keep calling your legislators in support of the bill! Demand long-term stability for renters, small landlords, and homeowners through the passage of the Guaranteed Housing Stability Act.
Join Boston residents and City Life/Vida Urbana for a protest at Boston Housing Court (24 New Chardon Street) on Thursday, October 29 10am-12pm. Demand that MA residents can stay in their homes and that the Guaranteed Housing Stability bill be passed to prevent mass evictions! Details on the event here.
Thursday, October 29 6:30-8pm ET
From City Life/Vida Urbana and the Boston Tenant Coaliton: "Join for a community conversation via zoom on what homelessness looks like in Boston, and why supportive housing is a solution. We will hear from those most impacted by homelessness, discuss supportive housing proposals like the Pine St Inn's proposal to build over 200 homes for people experiencing homelessness, and ways you can support." Details and registration link here.
📋 SIGN TO PROTECT ESSENTIAL AFFORDABLE HOUSING PROJECT!
We are still collecting signatures. The lawsuit has not been dropped. Boston residents-- sign the petition and send an email to demand Monty Gold to drop the lawsuit against the Pine Street Inn's project - one of the largest affordable and supportive housing projects in Boston. Help us reach our goal of 1900 signatures by Monday!
✊ VOLUNTEERS NEEDED: CANVASS & FLYER TENANT ASSOCIATION BUILDINGS
We need all hands on deck now to build defense against a wave of evictions. Get trained with City life/Vida Urbana to get the word out about rights people have under the national eviction moratorium and about Residential Assistance for Families in Transition, or RAFT (rental assistance) while we continue to fight for the Guaranteed Housing Stability Bill to be passed. Please sign up using this form.
Learn about upcoming events and actions happening in real-time and how to get connected with SURJ B’s Housing Justice group and support the Boston area housing justice movement. Sign up here.
We’re nearly halfway to our goal! As Indigenous organizing ramps up in October and November for Indigenous Peoples Day and the National Day of Mourning, and the continued push for the Indigenous legislative agenda, please join SURJ Boston in raising $1000 for the United American Indians of New England (UAINE). Donate at this link and email us at SURJBindigenousSolidarity@googlegroups.com to let us know how much you gave.
The Massachusetts Center for Native American Awareness has created an extensive list of resources for learning: 21-Day Racial Equity Indigenous Challenge – Fighting White Supremacy Since 1492.
You can do your own self-guided study, and/or you can join the Boston Knapsack Anti-Racism Group from Nov. 4-Nov. 25. Knapsackers are doing a short Zoom check-in midway through the 21 days, and then having a longer Zoom discussion on Nov. 25 before the National Day of Mourning.
☎️ CONTACT YOUR REPS: CHANGE THE STATE FLAG AND SEAL and Ban Racist Mascots!
The House of Representatives has not yet voted for a review of the racist Massachusetts state flag and seal. Call and email your reps TODAY during this extended legislative session and urge them to vote to change the flag and seal, and to ban Native mascots! Follow the link for an easy way to send messages to your elected officials.
We appreciate and acknowledge that we live (and are guests) on Indigenous land. We want to be mindful and respectful of this, treating the land (and our environment in general) like any place we would be as a guest. To get informed about the land you live on: native-land.ca and usdac.us/nativeland
Join our Confronting White Supremacists Announcement List to hear from us about opportunities to learn more and take action against non-state white supremacists and fascists in New England.
PRA is a “social justice think tank” doing key research and political education work on the full spectrum of far-right activity and ideology in the US. Their fall webinar series is packed full of learning opportunities.
Read more about each topic and register for webinars here.
Our mutual aid partners (Cape Verdean Association of Boston, 12th Baptist Church, and VietAID) continue to remind us that critical supplies like food and sanitary products continue to be in high demand. As this crisis continues and our society adapts to this “new normal” we cannot let our neighbors be forgotten, now is the time to give if you can. PLEASE DONATE EACH WEEK YOU ARE ABLE to help our neighbors stay afloat in a crisis that disproportionately affects those already most targetted by racism and white supremacy.
This week we’re asking folks to focus on the following items for 12th Baptist and CVAB:
For VietAID they are accepting the following donations:
We have drop off sites in Allston, Arlington, Belmont, Cambridge, Jamacia Plain, Roslindale, Roxbury, Somerville, and West Roxbury.
Please email surjbmutualaid@gmail.com for more information.
Due to the advocacy of folks like you, the Boston Public School Committee voted to suspend the exam system used the “exam schools” for this year! This past Wednesday, the 21st, over 100 parents and former students testified and the vote was made at 2 AM due to all of the testimonies. Thank you to everyone who made calls, wrote emails, signed petitions, and testified! To read more about this story, click here.
Please consider donating to the Unafraid Educators COVID-19 Relief Fund for students and families in Boston Public Schools who need financial support during this time. Also, please share the form with those who might need it.
Last week, officials from MCI Shirley took everything Wayland “X” Coleman owns in retaliation for his ongoing efforts to protect the health and safety of his fellow prisoners. Wayland has been organizing for mutual aid during COVID19, on top of decades of work fighting for people behind the wall.
📋SIGN THESE PETITIONS TO PROTECT OUR PEOPLE FROM POLICE AND PRISONS!
Support the Families for Justice as Healing demands for the new Boston Police Department contract with the city by signing this petition!
Friday, November 13
Main event: 7-8pm
This annual celebration honors the courage and persistence of ordinary people doing extraordinary anti-racism work! Guest speaker is Dr. Atyia Martin, founder of All Aces, Inc. & the before and after will feature 8 exciting, interactive virtual workshops on CCIs history, work, and visions for the future. Buy your tickets To Up Rising here, today!
Every year, SURJB works to support our parent organization - in recognition of the ways they are laying the infrastructure for anti racist organizing against the white problem of racism in New England.
SURJ Boston is a project of Community Change Inc (CCI), a Boston-based organization promoting racial justice and equity by challenging systemic racism and acting as a catalyst for anti-racist learning and action.
In 1968, as a result of the Civil Rights Movement and in response to the Kerner Commission which named racism as "a white problem”, CCI was birthed. CCI promotes racial justice and equity by challenging systemic racism and acting as a catalyst for anti-racist learning and action. CCI accomplishes its mission through education, advocacy and working in solidarity with others to organize for change.
Thursday October 29, 6:00-7:30 PM
Join us for this agenda-free meeting of the minds (and hearts!) of folks committed to doing the work of racial justice. Register for the watering hole here.
Sunday, November 8, 12:30-2:30PM
The November 2020 SURJ Brunch will be hosted by the SURJB Community Care Team and will take place on the weekend following the elections. We'll focus on creating a space that supports people in feeling grounded so that we can take stock of where we are and move forward strategically whatever the results may be. This brunch will be a collaborative effort with SURJ Action Partnerships who are actively organizing around the election.
Register here: tinyurl.com/2020surjbrunch. An email with a Zoom Link will be sent to you.
Contact Amelie Ratliff, amelie.ratliff@gmail.com with any questions
Knapsack is a multiracial/cross-class group of folks dedicated to the struggle for shared liberation. We engage in a variety of group discussions to build community and awareness, and take action to disrupt the systems of racism in the U.S.
and beyond. We support the efforts of racial justice leaders and organizations.
Join us in Knapsack meetings (all on Zoom for now):
See all upcoming meetings on our Meetup page, and please RSVP here if you can attend. More options are regularly added.
Join the Facebook discussions. This is an alternative to the Meetup group; it is not required to join this FB group to join/attend the Meetup group. All are welcome in both.
Moving From Talk to Action: Find classes and sign up on the WPCR website.
Feeling overwhelmed?
Commit to doing just one thing this week.
We can do this.
Click on green text to follow links for more info!