Let's Talk About Money!

Moving money is one important way that white people can advance justice, whether by empowering communities of color or funding movement organizations. But deciding where to give, and how much, can be a challenging and emotional process. Over our next two chapter meetings we will come together to understand our own relationships to money and class and how they inform our decisions about giving money. These important discussions will help us create plans for our giving that align with our values, while also working to resolve feelings, such as anxiety or guilt, that may be rooted in our relationships with class and money. The first meeting will focus on unpacking these relationships, while the second will focus on how we decide about who to give to and how much—so please register for both the December and January meetings.

In the meantime, you can move some money today to support Release Aging People in Prison (RAPP), whose second annual Gala is coming up on December 2nd. Donate to help RAPP celebrate Families on the Frontline: Generations of Resistance. The Gala will honor leaders in the movement and offer tribute to the women, femmes, and nonbinary people of RAPP, whose unwavering dedication sustains communities, builds chosen families, and fuels the ongoing struggle.

There are also many upcoming opportunities to join the SURJ NYC Anti-Mass Incarceration Working Group in canvassing for RAPP. Canvassing takes place at the Staten Island Ferry Terminal (Manhattan side), on Thursday, November 21st; Friday, December 6th; and Monday, December 16th from 6pm-8pm, and is followed by food and conversation. Please join us!

Not Sure What To Do Next? Come To An Orientation!

If you are new to our work, welcome! We’re the New York City chapter of Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ). Whether you’re feeling angry or bleak or numb or fired up, we’re so glad to have you with us! The next four years are going to be hard, but the fights for racial justice in New York City need us now more than ever, and we’re ready to fight by your side.

Not sure what to do next? Come to our SURJ NYC Orientation on zoom on Thursday from 6:30pm - 7:30pm. You’ll learn about the work we are doing on issues ranging from policing to housing to immigration, the partners we work with, and how you can get involved. 

Can’t make it on a weeknight? Sign up to get action security trained—we need all the marshals we can get helping keep us safe while we’re in the streets for all of the protests to come.

In the past year we have fought for a city budget that funds our communities not criminalization, participated in civil disobedience to stop the genocide in Gaza, worked alongside our partners in challenging the New York State parole and immigration detention systems, supported the families of people killed by the NYPD, and more. With Trump in office, attacks on our communities and rights are going to escalate and we need each of us to fight back and keep building the future we want.

We’re so glad to have you with us!

SURJ NYC

Whether You’re Ready to Fall Apart or to Fight, Come and Be with Us

When I woke up to the election news this morning, my gut sank into my toes. 

Then, I started texting SURJers. I sent "I'm really glad to be seeing you today" to folks who I have a meeting with this afternoon, and "the fact of how good we take care of each other is a port in the storm today" to my Indigenous solidarity team, and "I'm really glad to be fighting beside you tomorrow" to some of the folks planning our chapter meeting.

Because of this community, this morning I have both the comfort of dozens of people I love and respect, and deep clarity about what to do next. This is my organizing home, and it’s what keeps me going.

If you could use a port in the storm, a place to feel the grief and rage and shock and despair you might be feeling in this moment, come and be with us. If you’re twitching out of your skin, ready to throw down to fight for the world we want right now, come and be with us. 

We’ll be doing both tomorrow night, 6:30-8:30PM, at our November chapter meeting. RSVP here. If you can’t wait that long, join SURJ National’s mass call tonight.

If you can’t make either, sign up for one of the actions below. The fights for racial justice in NYC need us now more than ever, and we’re ready to fight by your side.

There are thousands of people on this email list, and I don’t know most of you. But I am entirely sincere when I say that I am so so grateful to be with y’all this week, fighting for the world we want.

In love and power,

Grace from SURJ NYC

It's Election Day!

Election Day is here. New York City polls are open until 9pm. Find your polling place here and don’t forget to flip your ballot over to vote YES on Prop 1 and NO on Props 2-6!

(Proposal 1 would enshrine reproductive and LGBTQ rights in the New York state constitution. Proposals 2-6 are a dangerous power grab by Eric Adams to weaken checks and balances in NYC’s charter.)

Already voted? Join the SURJ NYC Election Circle in phone banking throughout the day.

No matter the results of the national election, we know there is so much work to do in the fight for racial justice in New York City. Work like this:

After five years of delays, a discipline trial has finally been scheduled for Lt. Jonathan Rivera, who beat, tasered, shot and killed Allan Feliz after illegally detaining him in a traffic stop. Rivera has a long history of misconduct and abuse and this trial will help determine if he is fired.

November 12th, 13th and 15th, we have the opportunity to show up for the family of Allan Feliz and demand accountability for his murder.

We need volunteers to help take notes during the trial, provide lunch for the Feliz family and their supporters, and pack the courtroom and press conferences to show the mayor and the NYPD that New York City is watching. Sign-up here for in person and remote opportunities to support.

Not able to volunteer? Consider making a donation to the campaign.

This is just one of many ways to continue to take action for racial justice and to build the world we want. The conditions may change, but the fight continues.

Onward,

SURJ NYC

Vote No on Props 2-6 (and Canvas with Us)

Did you know that there are six propositions on the back of your ballot? Flip it over and vote YES on Prop 1 and NO on Props 2-6!

Proposal 1 would enshrine reproductive and LGBTQ rights in the New York state constitution. Learn more about the NY Equal Rights Amendment here.

Proposals 2-6 are a dangerous power grab by Eric Adams to weaken checks and balances in NYC’s charter (the equivalent of a constitution for the city). They would give more power to the mayor and make it harder to pass legislation to benefit New Yorkers. They also create unprecedented special rights for the Department of Corrections and NYPD to expand how they avoid transparency and accountability. These proposals are on the ballot after the most rushed and undemocratic charter process in two decades. Learn more about Props 2-6 here. Want to do more? Donate today to help print more materials and expand the reach of paid ads to ensure New Yorkers know about these propositions.

In national election news, last weekend twenty SURJ NYC members and another twenty people from other SURJ chapters and White Men Against MAGA traveled to Chester County, PA to talk to voters. Chester County is a diverse, white-majority area where SURJ was asked to canvass for strategic impact by our partner Seed the Vote. We had a great time speaking with voters and had fun taking action together!

There were many residents who were not planning to vote or were not sure who they’d support: canvassers were able to move them to commit to voting for Harris through empathetic conversations. There were also many Harris supporters who needed help figuring out how to vote. This election is going to be close, and every vote counts. Can you join us to doorknock next weekend? We will be canvassing in Chester County, PA every day from Friday November 1st through Election Day. Sign up here!

Finally, regardless of the outcome of the election, our work continues! Sign up for our November chapter meeting on Thursday November 7th from 6:30-8:30pm where we’ll be together to process and move forward.

Onward, 

SURJ NYC

Mark Your Calendar for November 7th

We’re in the final stretch. There are two weeks till election day. Can you help us get out the vote? SURJ NYC members are going to canvass in Chester County, PA, a majority-white suburb of Philadelphia for the final five days of the election season. Sign up to canvass with us for any number of days from Nov 1st - 5th! We are organizing transportation and lodging. Can’t make it to PA? There are lots of opportunities to phonebank with SURJ as well. Try to join at least one phonebank!

And then, the election will be over. Then what? Maybe you have made calls, knocked on doors or donated money or maybe you have fought white supremacy in other ways–attending rallies or signing petitions or marching. No matter the result of the national election, the fight for racial and economic justice is by no means over; in fact it remains even more relevant and critical than ever. We live in a city with a crisis of police accountability, a state that continues to imprison our elders, a country that has demonized immigrants, and a world in which children are being killed daily. And our work, to bring white people into the task of creating a future where people of all races work together to care for each other and keep everyone safe and free, must continue. We are inspired by the words of Kelly Hayes in the Introduction to Let this Radicalize You; “[O]rganizing is the work of bringing worlds into being….Together, we will fight for this world, to keep it.”

So please join us at our November chapter meeting on November 7th from 6:30-8:30pm on zoom to share your experiences and feelings and deepen our relationships with each other. Regardless of the election results (or lack of results) we’ll be together to process what’s going on and figure out what’s next.

This meeting will also be a great place to learn about what SURJ NYC is doing after the election and how to get involved. If you are new to SURJ NYC, you will get an opportunity to meet long-term members one-on-one to explore making SURJ NYC your organizing home moving forward. And we will all leave with concrete actions we can take together in the near future to challenge white supremacy. We hope to see you all there!

Onward,

SURJ NYC

Get Ready for NYC Ballot Proposals

The presidential election has captured the nation’s attention in recent weeks. Our chapter has joined SURJ National to make calls to block MAGA and Trump. If we elect Kamala Harris, we’ll have more likelihood of success in our continued organizing post-election for racial justice and progressive policies. We’ll continue to throw down in the presidential race between now and November 5th.

But regardless of who wins the presidential election, we’ll need strong progressive voices in Congress and locally. In New York, we need to ensure we keep our state blue in the face of rising conservative power. There are also important proposals we’ll need to vote on, including some that organizations we follow identify as an attempted power grab by indicted Mayor Adams. 

Here’s what you can do:

  1. Research down ballot candidates using this guide, and vote for them on the Working Families Party line. In New York, the WFP needs 130K votes to keep their line.

  2. Vote YES on Proposal 1, which would enshrine reproductive and LGBTQ rights in the New York state constitution. Learn more about the NY Equal Rights Amendment here.

  3. Vote NO on Proposals 2-6, which would change our city’s charter to give the mayor more power relative to the City Council. Learn more here.

  4. Join JFREJ’s Political Education Town Hall on Oct 23 from 7:30pm-9pm to find out what to expect on the November ballot, how to make sure you’re registered, and much more.

Also, help spread the word! Often, we find we are the ones our friends and family turn to to fill them in days and sometimes hours before it’s time to vote. Start talking with your loved ones now so they know exactly what to expect on their ballot on election day.

Until Next Time,

SURJ NYC

Hurricane Helene Highlights the Importance of Our Political Work

At least 100 people have lost their lives to Hurricane Helene across the South. Millions remain without power, water, and cell phone service. In Western North Carolina, where SURJ had been knocking doors and making calls for weeks, the immediate relief need is so acute that SURJ can’t immediately resume calling or canvassing. The basic infrastructure of phones and roads is now lacking, and people are focused on meeting their basic needs. See the moving resources section below for ways to support the disaster relief financially.

However, far from being a time to “not politicize” disasters, it’s essential to draw attention to the existential threat that a Trump presidency would have on us. Project 2025, which was created to be implemented during a second Trump presidency, would cut relief to hurricane victims and eliminate the National Weather Service, NOAA, and FEMA. 

In the wake of disaster and in the face of the threat of this horrific approach to disaster response and climate change, we are doubling down on our conviction to stop a pernicious MAGA and elect Kamala Harris!

In addition to ongoing phonebanking, SURJ NYC is organizing two weekend canvassing trips to key swing states! Door-to-door canvassing is one of the most effective ways to increase voter turnout – it’s also a great skill-building experience and fun!

SURJ NYC Trip to Western NC
Friday, Oct 18th – Sunday, Oct 20th
SURJ NYC is heading to Asheville, NC for a weekend of canvassing with SURJ National. Our NYC chapter crew will spend the weekend together, canvassing beneath the Blue Ridge Mountains and staying together in Asheville, where we’ll knock doors with SURJ members from around the country. If you can commit to at least two days of canvassing, financial support is available for travel and lodging, if needed.

NOTE: there may be updates to this trip due to the dynamic situation in Asheville, but for now it is still on.

SURJ NYC Canvassing in Philadelphia
Friday, Oct 25th – Sunday, Oct 27th
The following weekend, SURJ NYC is going to canvass a little closer to home with UNITE HERE Philly! Join us for one, two, or three days. For those committing to at least two days of canvassing, financial support is available for travel and lodging, if needed.

For both trips, we will canvass, hang out, and stay overnight with other SURJ NYC members. Come for a fun weekend doing important work to elect Kamala Harris and local down-ballot candidates!

Are you interested in joining us for either canvassing trip? Fill out this form! 
Not sure if you can join but you’re curious? Fill out the form anyway!

If none of these dates work for you, please check out other canvassing options in swing states with SURJ National and Seed the Vote.

We can’t wait to see you there!

SURJ NYC

Canvass for Parole Justice

This fall, the Anti-Mass Incarceration Working Group (AMI) will be supporting our partners at Release Aging People in Prison (RAPP) by canvassing at the Staten Island Ferry Terminal. In this case, canvassing means having short conversations with people who are waiting to take the ferry. We ask them if they believe in second chances, share a little bit about the campaign, answer any questions they may have, and ask them to sign a postcard to show their state Senator Scarcella-Spanton that they are in support of the parole justice bills RAPP is hoping to pass during the next state legislative session. This is an excellent way to practice talking to people about important topics and we’ve found that people are more often than not happy to listen and sign.

Passing Elder Parole and Fair and Timely Parole would begin to mitigate the damage that New York State’s racist and draconian sentencing laws and parole system has done to Black and brown communities throughout New York State. Elder Parole would allow anyone who is 55 or older and has served at least 15 years to appear before the parole board and have a chance at coming home. Fair and Timely Parole simply ensures that the system works as most of us believe it does, determining whether someone can return home based on who they are today, and not on their initial sentence. Together these bills get us one step closer to abolishing the prison industrial complex.

The more state legislators co-sponsor the bills, the more likely it is that they will actually go to the assembly and senate to be voted on, at which point they will have enough support to pass. We believe that with enough support from her constituents, Senator Scarcella-Spanton can be moved to cosponsor this bill. We need your help to talk to our Staten Island neighbors, let them know what’s going on, and show the senator that her constituents support Parole Justice. We will be canvassing on Monday, 9/23, Monday, 9/30, Monday, 10/21 and Friday 10/25. Please sign up at these links to get the specifics and where we’re meeting each of these days. We will train you and provide you with at least 1 buddy, and we usually get a bite to eat together afterward.

Can’t make those dates but want to get involved? Join us at our monthly Anti-Mass Incarceration Working Group meeting tonight, 6:30pm-8pm on Zoom, and next month on Tuesday, 10/15, same time and place.

And be sure to mark your calendar - the first Parole Justice Advocacy Day of 2025 will be Tuesday, January 28! This is a great day of community and advocacy that is hugely energizing and heartwarming.

Onward,

SURJ NYC

Sign-Up for the Fall Community & Action Safety Training

If we want a world without police and prisons, white folks need to learn to stop relying on the police and start keeping ourselves and our neighbors safe. In doing so, we resist the ways that policing propaganda capitalizes on the fears of white middle- and upper-class people. We can also marshal at actions, leveraging the less-violent response that police often have toward white bodies and aiming to reduce overall risk for the community.

This month is our last installment for 2024 of Community & Action Safety 101, an in-depth training that teaches skills and tactics you can use as part of an action security team and in your daily life to work toward that world without police. The training takes place over two Sunday afternoons, a week apart, in person.

Here’s what a few of our participants have said about it:

“This training was a great reminder that new/alternative routes to safety are possible AND people are actively doing them already!! The lineage of where the training came from, and the training in general, was really encouraging, a concrete reminder there's so much reason to be hopeful and believe things can change/are changing.”

“By the end of the two-day training, I'd had the opportunity to thoroughly reflect on, discuss and practice risk assessment, de-escalation, and how to manage my own fear response in the face of power imbalance. These tools, along with learning about the history of community lead safety traditions within social justice movements, left me feeling empowered and prepared to volunteer as a marshal at an action the very next week.”

“I would really urge everyone who has any interest in community and action safety to take part in the training. I’ve taken part in my fair share of direct actions but didn’t think training was for me—I’m too old, I thought, and too tired, leave it to younger folks. Even if you don’t want to marshal, as white people showing up for direct action it’s important to understand the risks from police and what’s involved in helping keep our communities safe. I marshaled an action the week after I completed our training, and it was uplifting to be part of a team helping to make the action as safe as possible.”

The next two-part training will be on Sunday, September 22 and Sunday, September 29 from 12:00pm to 3:30pm in Bushwick.

We’re excited to continue growing this collective practice with you.

Onward,

SURJ NYC

Announcing the SURJ NYC Election Circle!

At last week’s chapter meeting, we launched the SURJ NYC Election Circle, a local home for everyone engaging in electoral organizing this fall. We’re working in coordination with SURJ National and are excited to announce that we’ll have a dedicated NYC breakout room on a lot of National’s “Many Over the MAGA” phonebanks. Come call white voters with us! 

We are also hosting additional Election Circle events to get to know each other and build our skills. All the details are in this document, which we’ll keep updated, so check back frequently! 

The first phonebank we will be at together is on Sunday 8/11, register here! The first Election Circle event is a zoom meetup on Thursday 8/15. We’d love to see you there whether you have been to a phonebank yet or not; it’ll be a chance to debrief, problem solve, practice, and build community.

We’re excited to work with you to defeat Trump and elect Kamala Harris, and electoral work is just one part of our strategy. Who’s in office affects the terrain on which we will continue to organize long after the election. Come join us in this fight and find a community that you can stay involved in no matter what happens in November. 

Onward,

SURJ NYC

Find Your Political Home With Us

Like many of you, we’re fired up to stop another Trump presidency, and we need your help! This Thursday we’re kicking off a team that will call white voters through SURJ National’s phonebanking program and also build a community that’s ready to keep working beyond the election, no matter the outcome.

We are excited to welcome you into that community, which is an important political home for many of us. To give you a sense of what it’s like, we asked Grace, a SURJ NYC member since 2016, to share her experience:

“In every movement moment in the last decade—when Trump was elected in 2016, when George Floyd was murdered by cops in 2020, when a literal insurrection happened in 2021—I have felt fired up to get shit done, to fight hard for a different world. It’s been unbelievably powerful to be in the streets or on zooms with thousands of people, feeling our collective power. 

Those moments are amazing, but they’re not what’s kept me going for the last 8 years. What’s kept me going is the people I’m in the streets with and the place I go to talk about it after: SURJ NYC. Our local chapter is where I go when I’m trying to figure things out, when I need to cry or scream or just show up empty, when I’m not sure if I’m doing the right thing. These people, here in this chapter, have become some of my most beloved friends and most trusted advisors.

This election is going to be a fight. I want to be fighting next to you, and I want to be in community with the folks I’m fighting next to.”

Join us on Thursday August 1st from 6:30-8:30pm on zoom. You’ll meet new people, find a community to fight alongside, and identify ways to get involved in this election and beyond.

If you can’t make it to the meeting but want to stay in the loop, fill out that registration form anyway! There’s a box to check to tell us you can’t make it, and we’ll follow up with you after the meeting. 

See you there!

SURJ NYC

This election is a whole new ballgame

For months, we’ve been in the streets standing behind Palestinian organizers to send Biden a very clear message: your failure to protect Palestinians’ human rights is a threat to your candidacy. In part because of that organizing, he dropped out of the race. 

With Kamala Harris at the top of the ticket, there are new and powerful opportunities to organize. We have a responsibility to both get her elected and to hold her accountable to end the genocide and to enact progressive policies.

As ever, we are fighting for the conditions we want to organize under for the next four years—a quick glance over Trump’s campaign promises and Project 2025 makes clear how dangerous his presidency would be to every one of us. What’s different this time is that with a new democratic candidate, thousands of people are re-engaged in this race and ready to be organized. Many of us are fired up to defend against the racist, sexist vitriol that the Right will be throwing at Harris from every angle, as part of a coordinated strategy to win over white voters. This is what we call a “movement moment”: a time when lots of people are revved up and ready to get to work, and where we have a clear mandate to get in formation.

The energy is palpable. On Sunday night, over 44,000 Black women joined a call with Win With Black Women to organize to elect Harris. We know that people of color will overwhelmingly support the Democratic nominee, and that Black women especially are stepping up to do the work to put her in office.

This is our work to do too; we know that white people put Trump in office in 2016. It’s on us to take up the responsibility to out-organize MAGA in white communities. Last night over 13,000 people joined an energizing call with SURJ National to kick off a phonebanking and canvassing campaign that is laser focused on the most strategic parts of the white electorate.

Did you miss it? Watch a recording of the webinar here. We promise you’ll feel inspired and ready to jump into action. 

Are you ready to get involved? Do these two things:

  1. Join SURJ NYC at our chapter meeting next Thursday August 1st to get in formation with SURJ NYC folks working to defeat Trump and get prepared for whatever comes in November

  2. Sign up for SURJ National’s the Many Over the MAGA phonebanking team. The team kicks off tomorrow, July 24th, with an orientation.

As Jennifer Knox, the National Director of Organizing at Working Families Party, said to white folks on last night’s call, “You are so deeply needed in this moment; the mandate is very real for your leadership in this moment.”

Onward,

SURJ NYC

Action is the Antidote to Despair

Are you feeling overwhelmed by the news these past few weeks? A lot has happened. The NYC 2024-2025 budget passed with mixed results. Funding was restored for many key city services after months of intense advocacy by a huge coalition of New Yorkers and community organizations. But cuts remained for far too many programs and the budget contains a record-breaking $12B in police spending and $225M for building a cop city training facility in Queens.

Despite tireless organizing, Jamaal Bowman lost the NY-16 Democratic primary. We’re incredibly proud of the work we did alongside a broad coalition of organizations. About 1,000 SURJ members nationally supported the Bowman campaign and SURJ NYC and SURJ Westchester anchored canvassing efforts that reached over 3,000 households. We put up a good fight – AIPAC and other super-PACs had to spend over $23M to beat us.

On the national level, multiple Supreme Court decisions this week have terrible implications for democracy and November is fast approaching.

It’s easy to feel paralyzed and overwhelmed by all of this. If you’re feeling that way, know that we’re there with you. But we also know that, as Joan Baez said, “action is the antidote to despair.” We will sustain each other to keep fighting. Come to our chapter meeting this Thursday July 11th to find the community you need to move from overwhelm to action. We look forward to seeing you there!

Onward,

SURJ NYC

An Important Job for White People in Movement

We get people all the time coming to SURJ saying “Can you just tell me what to do?” Most of the time, we don’t have a simple answer. We say “there are lots of ways to plug in”, “what skills do you have?”, “what are you fired up about?” All of that is true and important. 
But right now, we have one very simple answer: Get trained in community and action safety. 

If we want a world where everyone is free, from Palestine to NYC, learning how to keep ourselves safe is important for everybody. But it’s a different kind of “important” for white folks. 

First, because white people’s fear is the justification for policing. Police departments convince wealthy and middle class white people that they’re in danger—and that policing is the only thing that will protect them—to get more and more budget money. (They churn out propaganda to make it happen.) 

If we learn ways to keep ourselves and our neighbors safe, we will be less afraid and won’t rely on cops for safety.

Second, because cops are less likely to get violent with white people. As action security, we form a physical barrier between cops and protestors, using our white bodies to help decrease the risk of violent police interaction.

Volunteering as action security is a way our whiteness can be useful.

As white people, practicing community safety is a tangible way we can protect ourselves and our neighbors from violent policing. To do it well, we need to work on skills like de-escalation, assessing risk, managing our own fear response, and more.

Our Community & Action Safety 101 training will teach you essential tactics for action security and how those tactics can be used in our daily lives.

To get involved, sign up for the next three part training on Thursdays, July 11, 18, and 25, 2pm-4pm.

We’re excited to continue growing this collective practice with you.

In solidarity,

SURJ NYC

SURJ for Bowman Day

SURJ for Bowman Day is Saturday June 8th!

All eyes in this Democratic primary cycle are on defending “The Squad,” our movement-aligned champions in Congress, and SURJ NYC’s electoral work this Spring is laser-focused on re-electing Rep. Jamaal Bowman, whose NY-16 district includes parts of the Bronx and Westchester County. This Saturday, June 8th, SURJ NYC and SURJ Westchester are putting together an epic day in the city and Westchester, and we want you to be part of it!

12:00pm-2:00 pm, Central Park

This month’s SURJ NYC Chapter Meeting will be in Central Park, focused on base building for the chapter’s #CareNotCriminalization campaigns + SURJ NYC & Westchester canvassing for Jamaal Bowman.

2:00pm, Canvass Launch from Central Park!

Directly after the chapter meeting, we will launch canvasses for Jamaal Bowman, carpooling from Central Park to take people to Irvington to knock doors!

NOTE: Please sign up for canvassing 11:00am-4:00pm even if you are joining the later shift leaving from Central Park, and please fill out this transportation form so we can match drivers with passengers and make sure every canvasser has a ride!

6:00pm

After canvassing in Irvington, SURJ NYC is invited to a nearby house party fundraiser 6:00pm-9:00pm with Jamaal Bowman in person, co-hosted by a comrade from SURJ Westchester.

SURJ NYC, SURJ Westchester and SURJ national members getting ready to canvass in Hastings on Hudson for Rep. Jamaal Bowman

And get ready for another big collaborative weekend with SURJ NYC, SURJ Westchester, and SURJ National June 14th-16th!

Friday, June 14th

Art Build for Bowman

6:00pm-9:00pm, All Angels’ Church, 251 West 80th Street, NY 

Join SURJ NYC and SURJ Westchester for an art build for Jamaal Bowman! We'll be creating materials for the home stretch of the campaign and others to use for SURJ gatherings in New York and beyond. No art expertise is needed! Anyone is welcome - your friend, your neighbor, or your family members! Food will be provided! Folks are welcome to come and go on a rolling basis until 9pm.

Saturday, June 15th

Bronx Power Up Block & Build Training (registration link to come!)

9:00am-12:00pm, Co-op City, Bronx

Join SURJ, Movement for Black Lives, and Working Families Party for a training on building independent political power for the multiracial working class.

Then come…

Canvass with SURJ NYC & SURJ Westchester for Jamaal Bowman

1:00pm-5:00pm, Irvington, NY

And then join us in the Upper West Side for the big evening finale!

Bring Your People: A SURJ Community Meeting

6:00pm-8:00 pm, All Angels’ Church, 251 West 80th Street, NY

​​Join SURJ NYC, SURJ Westchester, and SURJ National to gather in community, take stock of this moment, and commit to action. We’ll share food, laughs, and music and connect with other regular people coming together to learn our part. No experience with SURJ or organizing necessary. Join us and bring your people!

Sunday, June 16th

Canvass with SURJ NYC & SURJ Westchester for Jamaal Bowman

11:00am-4:00pm, Mamaroneck, NY

This Isn't Just About One Election or One Candidate

A month ago, SURJ NYC member-leader Jess D went to Pittsburgh with other SURJ members to help re-elect Rep. Summer Lee, knocking doors and speaking to constituents not only about Lee and her record, but about the stakes of the race. Rightwing donors and Super PACs were pouring millions into the primary in an effort to punish Lee, an early and unequivocal voice in Congress calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, and Jess thought it was crucial to stop them from ousting her and the other members of “The Squad.”

One of those Squad members is back here in New York: Rep. Jamaal Bowman (NY-16), who represents parts of the Bronx and southern Westchester County. SURJ is strategically coordinating with the Bowman campaign to speak with voters in majority-white parts of his district about why we need a leader like Jamaal. This weekend, teams of SURJ NYC and SURJ Westchester chapter members and friends are going to Hastings-on-Hudson to knock doors of registered Democrats to re-elect Bowman. Jess, who will be leading those teams, explains:

I'm canvassing with SURJ to re-elect Jamaal Bowman and stand up against the continued targeting of Black and POC progressives by right-wing super PACs. While I believe true justice and equity come from grassroots movements, it's critical to have politicians in office who hear us and can amplify our efforts!

SURJ will be canvassing this Saturday and Sunday and every weekend until the June 25th primary.

Can you join me?

Bowman is fighting for a broad progressive agenda including quality public education, reproductive rights, universal health care, and climate justice. And this primary race is about so much more: it’s a referendum on Gaza and universal human rights. It’s a proxy fight for the direction of the Democratic Party and for a viable political alternative to the far right. Jamaal Bowman is not afraid to stand up to his own party leaders, and he is the leader we need to stand up to rightwing authoritarians. Only a true people’s champion like Bowman can expose rightwing populists like Donald Trump as fool’s gold.

As SURJ Director Erin Heaney said on a recent webinar:

For too long, white people have let communities of color save us - thanking Black women, black voters for coming through for Democrats. This is not a viable strategy: we need to take responsibility for organizing our folks – white people– into the multi-racial coalition we need to win. This is part of why we engage in elections.”

White voters may well make the difference in Rep. Jamaal Bowman’s nationally important race, and the priority ask of those of us in the New York metro area is to canvass!

Let’s go!

In the Streets, on the Campus, at the Doors for Palestine

Last Tuesday, on the second night of Passover, an affinity group of SURJ-NYC members participated in an “Emergency Seder in the Streets” organized by Jewish Voice for Peace-NYC. With 2,000 others, we sat outside Senator Schumer’s home in Brooklyn in dissent as he shepherded the approval of a $95 billion aid package with military funding for Israel. Speakers at the Seder included Jewish faith leaders and Palestinian organizers alike, carrying on a ritual and proclaiming this a Passover like no other.

At the end of the Seder, 250 of us participated in an act of civil disobedience, blocking traffic in the street, demanding that there can be no business as usual during a genocide. Mass arrests by the NYPD included four members of our SURJ affinity group. We sang of freedom and resistance on the buses while waiting to be transported to 1 Police Plaza as the MTA bus drivers of the Transport Workers Union Local 100 refused to be complicit in the arrests and walked off.

Are you ready to join us?

We encourage everyone to rise to the maximum courage of your convictions. Fill out this form to take action in the streets for Palestinian solidarity with SURJ NYC. If you’ve filled out the form previously but are reconsidering the level of risk you’re able to take, please fill out the form again. We are also connecting anyone who fills out the form to ways to support the NY-area campus encampments!

Same struggle, different frontline

The very same night some of us were at the Seder in the Streets of Brooklyn, other SURJ organizers were in Pittsburgh in support of Rep. Summer Lee’s reelection. It is essential we not concede the electoral frontline to rightwing authoritarians or the centrists we cannot count on to stand up to them. Lee has been one of the earliest, strongest, and most consistent supporters of a permanent ceasefire and cutting military aid to Israel. We knocked on doors, talked to people at the polls, and eventually celebrated Summer’s landslide win over her opponent, who was recruited and funded by wealthy, powerful rightwingers hell bent on punishing the members of the Squad who have stood with Palestine.

This is a watershed moment

People are rising up to demand an end to this genocide. At Columbia University, after the school suspended students active in the university encampment, students occupied Hamilton Hall, which was then stormed by the NYPD. Across the country, students and faculty are building encampments on university campuses (follow updates on the telegram app)! We’re demanding our elected officials take a stand and promising consequences if they don’t. At SURJ, we’re taking the lessons and skills we learned from Black organizers during the uprisings of 2020 following the police killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and continuing to fight. This struggle for racial justice is local, national, and international, and we know there is no collective liberation without Palestinian liberation.

Show up for Racial Justice. Show up for Palestine. Show up for Jamaal Bowman

The next battle in the fight to Defend The Squad is Rep. Jamaal Bowman’s NY-16 US congressional primary on June 25th. Since his first election in 2020, Rep. Bowman has been a leader on issues like public education, reproductive rights, Medicare for All, and climate justice. SURJ will engage in a few ways, launching with two key online events:

  • Wednesday, May 8th, join SURJ in conversation with Rep. Jamaal Bowman to hear about why this race matters and why we need white people across the country to show up. This webinar will highlight all aspects of the national SURJ-for-Bowman campaign, including phone banking.

  • Thursday, May 9th, 6:30pm - 8:00pm: SURJ NYC Chapter Meeting: All Out for Bowman! SURJ NYC is teaming up with SURJ Westchester to door-knock to re-elect Jamaal Bowman! Knocking doors is pound-for-pound the most effective way to move voters, and it’s the priority ask of all of us in the NY metropolitan area.

By taking action in the streets and on our campuses, by showing up for and re-electing Jamaal Bowman and our bravest members of Congress, we can change the political calculus on Palestine and a broad progressive agenda. We are determined to send a powerful message to the President, the Democratic-controlled Congress, and those who aspire to join them, that supporting Israel’s war crimes is morally indefensible and a political liability. All of our efforts are important, and there is no hierarchy of roles in this movement! We hope you’ll continue to join in this fight for justice. Let us know if you’re interested in future civil disobedience actions, and join us next Thursday at Chapter.

In solidarity,

SURJ NYC

How to Have an Antiracist Holiday

This time of year, we’re expected to buy into a particular story about the founding of this country—a story that paints a rosy picture of two peoples sharing a meal, a story that covers up colonial violence with cranberry sauce. As antiracists, we know that we can’t participate in that kind of whitewashing. But it’s hard to know what we should do instead.

If you’re struggling with how to act from your antiracist values during Thanksgiving (or if we’re being honest, “Thankstaking”), we’ve got you. Here’s what we recommend:

  1. Observe the National Day of Mourning on Thursday

  2. Give money to support Indigenous organizing with Indigenous leadership

  3. Take time to unlearn settler colonial myths about America

  4. Skill up to talk to the people you love (or are at least related to) about your understanding of settler colonialism, both on this land and abroad

  5. Take action to support Indigenous organizing with Indigenous leadership

We’ve got resources for all five right below. 

As you move to break cycles of colonial violence in yourself and in your communities this week, we hope you’ll feel all of SURJ NYC at your back. We’re with you.

In solidarity,

SURJ NYC


NATIONAL DAY OF MOURNING

Tune in at noon at http://uaine.org/ to commemorate this day with those at Plymouth Rock for a “day of remembrance and spiritual connection, as well as a protest against the racism and oppression that Indigenous people continue to experience worldwide.”

GIVE MONEY

Setting up a recurring gift—and sharing this ask with your friends and family—is part of the crucial work of moving resources back to Indigenous communities. Gifts to the Manna-hatta Fund support the American Indian Community House, which serves the health, social service, and cultural needs of Native Americans residing in New York City. Whether you’re a new donor this year, or have already made a long-standing monthly commitment, please fill out  this reporting form to help us understand our members’ giving and inform SURJ NYC’s ongoing fundraising strategies.

SURJ NYC was part of the campaign to #FreePaulWhite, a Black bisexual migrant who survived over three years of abuse in ICE detention. Now Paul has been deported to his country of origin, one of the most dangerous places in the world for the LGBTQIA+ community. Many of you have given generously before, and we hope you can do so again, as Paul is in need of more funds to stay safe on reentry: bit.ly/gofundmePW 

UNLEARN

SKILL UP

If you want to learn more or are preparing for challenging conversations at family gatherings, whether about current events or about the ongoing role of colonialism in America, these resources can help:

TAKE ACTION

SURJ NYC’s Indigenous Solidarity team—now an official working group of the chapter!—works year-round to move resources to Indigenous communities, uplift Indigenous leadership, and support decolonial learning and action. Sign up for the Indigenous Solidarity email list HERE to get updates about IS actions and events.

Rest in Power O’Shae Sibley

“The name filled the intersection, ringing with unity and power, but you could hear the keening of absolute bereavement underneath.” Such was the mourning at the recent vigil for O’Shae Sibley, a Black gay man, who was stabbed to death at a gas station in the Midwood neighborhood of Brooklyn on July 29. 

O’Shae—a dancer—and his friends were voguing to Beyoncé’s Renaissance in the parking lot while they filled their car with gas after celebrating a friend’s birthday at the beach. Also at the gas station were a group of young men, who took issue with O’Shae and his friends’ expression of Black queer joy. These men began harassing the dancers, using hateful homophobic and racist slurs. The verbal harassment turned physical, culminating in one of the young men—alleged suspect Dmitriy Popov—stabbing O’Shae, who died from his injuries.

In the coming weeks and months, you can expect to hear more about this horrible killing in the media and in court transcripts. Much will be made about security camera footage, witness statements, and the killer’s identity and state of mind, and how the latter may or may not have influenced his decisions. There will be talk of how the killer allegedly claimed he was Muslim, and that the voguing offended his faith; there will be racist, anti-Muslim rhetoric in response to this claim.

Make no mistake, though: this murder was an act of hate violence against a Black gay man.

As much as New York gets represented in media and culture as a safe place to be openly, proudly queer, there is still deadly violence against queer people, especially queer people of color. There have been at least 45 instances of hate violence against LGBTQ+ people in New York this year. 

What can we do to prevent such violence and keep our communities safe? First, we can accept that hate violence can and does happen here. Complacency is dangerous. We can train to intervene to try to de-escalate tense situations when we encounter them. We can reject narratives that portray Muslims as inherently homophobic, and fight back against anti-LGBTQ legislation across the country.

And we can continue to celebrate Black queer people, to make it known that we will always fight against racism and homophobia, and that we keep us safe.

In September, SURJ NYC will be offering a community and action safety training. While this is not specifically a bystander intervention training, it covers de-escalation skills that are useful in a wide range of situations. Sign up for the next two-part training on Saturday, September 23 & Saturday, September 30, 1:00pm-4:30pm.

To give material support to O’Shae Sibley’s family, you can donate to their GoFundMe.

In solidarity,

SURJ NYC