Events

Mourning the Loss of Black Lives: Rally and March

Ethan HW

MOURNING THE LOSS OF BLACK LIVES: RALLY & MARCH

Wednesday 7/12/16      5-7pm 

Pliny Park, Brattleboro (corner of Main St & High St Downtown)

stop killing black people
image by Micah Bazant

Black drivers are nearly five times more likely to be searched after a traffic stop in Vermont than white drivers. In this same state that prides itself on its progressive politics, Black people are incarcerated at more than 10 times the rate of white people, which is double the national average. (Data from Center for Criminal Justice Policy Research at Northeastern University)

As a response to recent and ongoing killings of Black people by police around the country and the reality of white supremacy in our everyday lives, members of the Brattleboro community are collaborating with Vermont Partnership for Fairness and Diversity, Lost River Racial Justice and Brattleboro Solidarity in calling folks together for a nonviolent rally. Please join us at Pliny Park on Wednesday, July 13, from 5-7pm to mourn the loss of Black lives and lift up the work of racial justice organizing here and across the country.

We invite folks to participate in the following events and actions:

+ Publicly sharing our grief and calling for change in a nonviolent gathering and march.

+ Speaking the names of the 136 Black people killed by police so far in 2016.

+ Writing letters to elected officials to demand an increase in people of color and community oversight of Vermont Police Academy curriculum and allocating funds for implicit bias training.

+ Build connections around future community response actions and regional racial justice organizing.

Lost River Racial Justice is hosting a meeting, training, and sign-making session in coordination with and preparation for the rally on Tuesday 7/12 at the Root Social Justice Center at 7pm. Please come fragrance free. Event page here: https://www.facebook.com/events/672512639567301/?notif_t=plan_user_joined&notif_id=1468234661364372

#BlackLivesMatter #AltonSterling #PhilandoCastile #BrattleboroBlackLivesMatter

Media Coordination:

We want the ripples of this march to extend even beyond Southern VT! To that end, we’re asking that you post pictures, quotes, updates, videos, etc, with the hashtag ‪#‎brattleboroblacklivesmatter‬, in addition to all other relevant hashtags (‪#‎blm‬, ‪#‎blacklivesmatter‬, ‪#‎surj‬,‪#‎standingupforracialjustice‬, ‪#‎endwhitesilence‬, ‪#‎nojusticenopeace‬,‪#‎sayhername‬, ‪#‎M4BLPledge‬) to your social media accounts.

Please post on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, anywhere and everywhere about this event!

#brattleboroblacklivesmatter

4/3: Love Letter Writing Party: We Love Our Muslim Neighbors

Ethan HW

i love muslim neighbors

Sunday, April 3rd
10am-12pm
The Root Social Justice Center
28 Williams St, Brattleboro

 

 

Community, please join us in a love-letter writing party, where we will gather and write letters of appreciation to our Muslim, Arab, Sikh and South Asian neighbors!

With mainstream media, politicians, and law enforcement promoting negative and harmful messages about Islam and Muslim cultures, there are real and frightening impacts. We are seeing increased attacks, harassment, profiling, and violence against Muslim, Arab, Sikh and South Asian people.

Join us in reaching out to our neighboring Muslim communities and building relationships of solidarity. Letters written at this party will be hand-delivered to the Islamic Society of Western MA in early April, and similar deliveries may be planned to other local Islamic centers and communities if there is sufficient interest.

Simple materials will be provided, bring extra art supplies if you’d like!

Hosted by Lost River Racial Justice and Western Mass Jewish Voice for Peace.

3/31: Open Community Meeting to Move Lost River Racial Justice Forward

Ethan HW

please join usPlease join us on THURSDAY March 31st
6:30-8pm at The Root Social Justice Center, Brattleboro.

 

Lost River Racial Justice is having it’s first open community meeting for those interested in getting more involved with racial justice organizing in the tri-state area!!

 

Join Us! Come meet with members of Lost River Racial Justice, a chapter of the national organization Showing Up for Racial Justice*, to learn about the work that we’re doing in Windham County, VT; Franklin County, MA; and Cheshire County, NH.  We will briefly update folks on our current projects & then spend the majority of time plugging folks in to existing working groups and listening to what you want to do! Current working groups include: Film Committee, Ready Response Team, SURJ Liaisons, and Media/Website/Communications. We are excited to brainstorm new working groups based on folks’ interest.

About LRRJ: For the past six months, LRRJ has hosted film nights, a rural racial justice study group, and attended actions and events to uplift the voices and experiences of communities of color. LRRJ operates as a closed collective of women and/or queer and/or transfolks, all of whom currently identify as white. Our organizational vision is to create a committed multi-racial closed collective that operates as a steering committee to hold the vision and unity of the group, while working groups are open to all identities interested in engaging in the work of the organization. We are excited to continue with the work we have been doing and take on new projects based on folks’ interest and capacity!

Accessibility: The Root is wheelchair accessible. Please come fragrance free to make this space accessible to as many folks as possible. Childcare provided as needed–please contact us at  by 3/20 if you would like childcare.

*Although SURJ nationally focuses specifically on engaging more white people in the fight for racial justice, Lost River is explicitly invested in multi-racial organizing as we fight to uplift the voices and experiences of communities of color in our region.