⭐️🔥RALLY: DELAYED STATE ACTION IS BREAKING OUR HEARTS
Mon. 2/14, 3:00-4:30pm - MA Statehouse steps and on Zoom
Recently, bills that organizers have been pushing for across movements have been delayed in the MA State House. This Valentine’s Day show love for your community by demanding legislative action around decarceration, housing, immigrant, Indigenous, racial, and climate justice on the steps of the State House! Livestream on Zoom
🔥 ACTION HOURS
Every Wednesday 12-1 PM, as well as every 2nd and 4th Wednesday at 7 PM, SURJ Boston members will guide you through actions curated from our BIPOC-led partners' priorities for that week! We also offer training in how to host action hours for your own community from 1-1:30 PM on the last Wednesday of the month. Action hours are open to all! Bring friends! :) Register here!
Housing Justice
No fault evictions should never happen, especially during a pandemic. Mutual aid is standing with neighbors facing evictions — join us to stand in solidarity with neighbors across the city.
⭐️🔥MONDAY: VALENTINE’S RALLY WITH FAIRLAWN APT TENANTS ASSOCIATION
The Xoxo Housing Justice Vday Weekend Series continues on Monday at 4p at 15 Bismark St. in Mattapan. Rally with Fairlawn Apartment residents as they deliver a petition to the Fairlawn management office demanding that DSF group finally negotiate a fair agreement.
⭐️☎️✉️PUSH A HOUSING JUSTICE LEGISLATIVE AGENDA
Three important bills--which if passed could be major wins for housing justice--are still on the table at the state house. Call and email your legislators today to voice your support for 1) The COVID Housing Equity Bill 2) lifting the ban on rent control and 3) the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase (TOPA) Act.
🎉🍎 VICTORY FOR 6 HUMPHREY’S PLACE!
After 4 years of organizing, the residents of 6 Humphrey’s Place in Dorchester won a huge victory: their building was bought by the Boston Neighborhood Community Land Trust, ensuring permanent affordability and community control. Read City Life/Vida Urbana’s year end recap to learn about other updates.
Indigenous Solidarity
Updates on 5 MA INDIGENOUS LEGISLATIVE AGENDA BILLS:
- Bills to protect Native American heritage and improve educational outcomes for Native students were favorably voted out of committee!
- The bills to institute Native-informed curriculum in public schools and for statewide Indigenous Peoples Day did not move out of committee, but will be reintroduced in January 2023.
- The bill to ban Native sports team mascots statewide still sits before the Senate Ways & Means Committee.
☎️✉️ LEGENDARY NATIVE POLITICAL PRISONER LEONARD PELTIER, 77, IS SICK WITH COVID-19 #FREELEONARDPELTIER:
- Call the White House (202-456-1111) Tues-Thurs from 11-3 and say you support COVID release and the commutation of Leonard Peltier's sentence. You can also email.
- Sign the online petition.
- Please also email/call elected officials from your home district to let them know you support commutation & COVID release for #LeonardPeltier. Find reps here.
Contact us with any questions. See our document for further ways to take action.
Public Education
JOIN THE PUBLIC ED RAPID RESPONSE TEAM!
Can’t make meetings, but still want to hear about just-in-time actions you can take to support public education? Fill out our interest survey!
🔥Boston Teachers Union (BTU) COMMUNITY FORUM ON CONTRACT UPDATES
February 16, 6:00-7:30PM
This month, find out why BPS rejected all of our proposals for racially and linguistically diverse staff and ethnic studies, and how you can help. Register and find multilingual flyers at btu.org/engage. Interpretation will be available.
✉️ ☎️Support Families for COVID Safety
As they call on the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) to fix pool testing, allow remote learning, and make our schools safer!
Are you a BPS student, parent or teacher? Complete the COVID cafeteria safety survey to help us keep COVID safety measures in place, particularly during mealtimes: bit.ly/CafeteriaSurvey. Spread the word at your school and your networks!
📋SAVE MISSION HILL SCHOOL!
Boston Public Schools will publish an "Emergency School Review" of Mission Hill School very soon, and they need to hear from you. Join Boston Education Justice Alliance and Boston Teachers Union: fill out this form and add your own comments, which will be sent to key administrators and local elected officials.
Prison Abolition
⭐️Phone Bank for Prison Moratorium Bill
February 17 & 24, 5-7pm
Phone bank to help pass the Prison and Jail Construction Moratorium Bill and stop the new women's prison! http://bit.ly/nonewprisonvolunteer
💵Cambridge HEART virtual fundraiser!
March 1st, 7-8:30pm, RSVP and Donate here.
You're invited to a grounding evening rooted in our values of liberation, dignity, and self-determination. Come enjoy music, and an incredible line-up of speakers who have helped to craft this vision, and proactively respond to community needs. With your support, Cambridge HEART will be able to launch into our next phase and establish ourselves in the community as an alternative public safety program.
⭐️💵ALERT: Mouse Infestation at MCI Shirley - Read & Give
On 1/10, #DeeperThanWater organizers broke the news of a rampant rodent infestation at MCI Shirley. Since then, the administration has taken minimal action to stop the health risks and loss of food rodents cause incarcerated people. Share the post and help #DeeperThanWater pay for a year’s worth of sanitary food for lead organizer, Wayland Coleman.
Mutual Aid
🔥💵 Help us redistribute resources to our neighbors!
While many of us have had our lives return to “normal,” this pandemic is still negatively impacting our neighbors, particularly those of color, more than ever. Please lend support where you can!
We have porches set up as donation drop-off sites please email us to get the address for a drop-off site of your choice: Belmont, Cambridge, Jamaica Plain, Medford, Somerville, and West Roxbury.
Donations have been extremely low as of late. Please help us pick it up if you can!
Urgent needs:
- The Cape Verdean Association of Boston (CVAB): Food & essential supplies are still GREATLY needed, please give what you can: See the full updated list of needs here. Food and supplies to stay safe from COVID-19 are in the greatest demand.
- Volunteers to help with the food pantry on Tuesday and Friday afternoons. More information here.
If you would like to donate funds to our partners as well/instead: (We’d appreciate an email at surjbmutualaid@gmail.com to let us know you donated!)
Confronting White Supremacists
📣 🍎 News and Resources
Take some time this week to educate yourself and others and re-commit to combating organized white supremacists.
- Latest news: “Natick Woman Charged in Capitol Riot May Not Be on 2022 Ballot”, Patch
- Start here: "Takeaways for well-meaning white people", Community Change Inc.
- For reference: "Confronting White Supremacy New England"
- For a local focus: “Did a Boston cop participate in the Jan. 6 attack?”, Boston Globe
🍎 SURJ NATIONAL: UNITED VISION PROJECT
SURJ National and the United Vision Project are organizing white people away from white nationalism.
Watch the recording of the kick-off call to learn more.
Join a texting training on Monday, February 15, 7PM
💵 📋 Fundraisers and Petitions
Give what you can and share with your networks:
- Support the MassUndocuFund:
- MassUndocuFund is a fund that works to provide direct financial support to undocumented immigrants during the COVID-19 crisis. As families continue to be impacted by the Omicron wave, support our community members with limited access to relief during this crisis!
- Support activist Wayland X. Coleman get safe food while in prison!
Sign your name in support:
🍎 Dig Deeper
SOLIDARITY FOR RACIAL JUSTICE: STUDY GROUP AND ACTION CIRCLE
Join community members from across Massachusetts at Massachusetts Recreational Consumer Council's Racial Justice solidarity study group Tuesdays at 6pm followed by action circle at 7pm, both virtual. We will push for reparations for slavery and racial equity from the War on Drugs municipality by municipality across Massachusetts Learn and apply with community standing in solidarity for racial justice for cities across Massachusetts today. Change can't wait. Register today!
COMMUNITY READ OF "HOW THE WORD IS PASSED"
The New Democracy Coalition and Massachusetts Peace Action are hosting a discussion of "How the Word is Passed" by Clint Smith and what actions anti-racist activists can take in response.
Boston KNAPSACK ANTI-RACISM GROUP
Engage with us as we discuss: Whiteness Hurts (study group), books, and more. See our upcoming Zoom discussions / meetings; RSVP if you can attend.
Knapsack Facebook discussions are an
alternative to the Knapsack Meetup group; it is not required to join this FB group to join/attend the Meetup group.
WHITE PEOPLE CHALLENGING RACISM
Moving From Talk to Action: Find workshops and sign up on the WPCR website.
sign up for updates on specific issue areas
Sign up to receive communications directly from SURJ Boston groups around political education opportunities and ways to take action.
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.
Feeling overwhelmed?
Commit to doing just one thing this week.
We can do this.
Read more about SURJ Boston and ways to get involved on our website.