March 2018 Event Highlights

March’s events consisted of ongoing Anti-Mass Incarceration work, support for farmworkers’ rights, and showing up to protest the death of Stephon Clark. For more information about future events, sign up for our mailing list!

Ongoing: Call Your State Senator to Support Reform of New York’s Bail and Discovery Laws

Want to start helping #FREEnewyork today? Make a quick call to your State Senator to ask them to co-sponsor two recently introduced bills (or thank them if they are already co-sponsors): S3579-A, a bail reform bill introduced by Senator Gianaris, and S7722, a discovery law reform bill introduced by Senators Bailey and Benjamin.  

March 11-15: Freedom Fast for Farmworkers’ Rights

On March 11-15, organizers from the Coalition of Immokalee Workers fasted outside the the hedge fund offices of Wendy's board chair. Wendy’s has resisted workers’ demands that it join many other large food buyers and sign onto the Fair Food Program, a system that ensures farmworkers in Florida are harvesting food under livable conditions and have a voice on the job.

Wednesday, March 14: Day of Action in Albany

To fight mass incarceration across New York State, on March 14th, JLUSA brought the #FREEnewyork Town Hall Tour to Albany with a Day of Action. Activities included a lobby day, a legislative campaign launch, and a blow-out Albany Town Hall.

Wednesday, March 21: Rikers: Innocence Lost Film Screening

The Incarceration and Public Health Action Network at Columbia showcased the short film Rikers: Innocence Lost. After the screening, there were panels featuring the filmmaker and project leaders, people from the film and leaders from organizations working to Close Rikers.

Wednesday March 28: Decarcerate Brooklyn Event

At this event, participants heard from directly-impacted people on how the movement to close Rikers Island prison could affect communities in Brooklyn. Darren Mack, a leader within Just Leadership USA (a SURJ NYC accountability partner) spoke at this powerful forum along with Tina Luongo (Legal Aid) who appeared on a panel of advocates responding to Brooklyn elected officials.

Wednesday, March 28: Justice For #StephonClark

Stephon Clark was a 22 year old black father of two gunned down by police in Sacramento, CA. He was murdered by Sacramento Police officers on March 18, 2018, in his own backyard. They shot him over 20 times claiming they thought he had a gun, but only his cellphone was found at the scene. Read more about why the incident cannot be tolerated. SURJ members participated in a Manhattan rally to protest Clark’s murder.

February 2018 Event Highlights

Even though February is a short month, SURJ-NYC had a lot going on. See the descriptions below for some highlights. If you are interested in hearing about future events, sign up for our mailing list!

You Can’t Deport a Movement. Emergency Rally for Ravi Ragbir Immigrant rights activist, Ravi Ragbir, was scheduled to report to the immigration building to be deported on February 10th. New Sanctuary Coalition and their allies called for an emergency rally to show solidarity with Ravi and immigrant communities across America. Thankfully, Ragbir was granted a temporary stay of deportation.

The Long Arc of Justice: Revisiting the Civil Rights Movement. SURJ members attended this talk and had a structured debrief at the the Brooklyn Historical Society. Historian Jeanne Theoharis discussed her new book, "A More Beautiful and Terrible History: The Uses and Misuses of Civil Rights History," which challenges the contemporary memory of the civil rights movement as peaceful, widely supported, and non-confrontational.

February Chapter Meeting SURJ-NYC’s monthly chapter meeting took  a look back at the first year of the Trump presidency to think about how to build sustainable activism rooted in motivation rather than urgency (purpose, not panic!). We discussed how to avoid the habits of white supremacy, white saviorism, and apathy/overwhelm in this political moment, and then work to identify long-term solutions that foster purposeful engagement.

VOCAL-NY Ally Teach In. VOCAL-NY had their second educational teach-in focused on Overdose and the War on Drugs. From the beginnings of the racist and failed drug war decades ago, to 2017 where over 64,000 people died from overdose, VOCAL-NY discussed how we got here, where we are now, and what we need from our Mayor and Governor to save lives and strengthen our communities. There was also a naloxone training, so participants could learn how to save a life!

Screening of Rikers: an American Jail. Folks attended this screening of this riveting new documentary from Bill Moyers, which brings you face to face with women and men who have endured incarceration at Rikers Island. More than 7,500 people are detained at Rikers Island on any given day; almost 80% have not been tried for anything. The film was followed by a powerful panel discussion, including activists from Just Leadership USA.

January 2018 Event Highlights

The first month of 2018 saw Anti-Mass Incarceration and Intersectional Feminist events, including a Study-into-Action meeting that looked into the intersection of prison abolition and gender justice. SURJ NYC also continued to support ongoing efforts by Jewish Voice for Peace and Court Watch NYC. Below are a few highlights of events that SURJ NYC supported or hosted this past month. For information on current or future events, join us and sign up for our mailing list!

Centering Intersectional Feminism for the Win Webinar: This webinar was designed for feminists of all genders who experience white privilege. This interactive workshop covered: a brief overview of intersectional feminist analysis, applying intersectional feminism to your organizing, body-based tools for increasing resiliency and decreasing white fragility, the relationship between whiteness and gender, and embodied approaches to anti-racist leadership development.

AMI Feminist Study-into-Action: The Anti-Mass Incarceration Campaign has its second Feminist Study-into-Action. This is a monthly conversation exploring the intersections of prison abolition and gender justice and the ways we can show up to these intersections in our anti-mass incarceration work.

#CLOSErikers Action Night: The JustLeadershipUSA Team (our accountability partner with the #CLOSErikers and #FREEnewyork campaigns) ramped up efforts to register members nationwide inside correctional facilities. This event included processing letters, entering data and writing responses, all to support to support JLUSA’s work.

#2MillionVoices Volunteer Night: Another Just Leadership USA event focused on voter registration for incarcerated members nationwide—an enormous project. The campaign is called #2MillionVoices for the approximately 2 million people incarcerated in the US today.

ONGOING: Sign Petition to End Deadly Exchange: Our friends at Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) are working to end U.S.-Israel police exchange programs through the Deadly Exchange campaign, which SURJ NYC has endorsed. These programs promote the exchange of worst practices between the Israeli military and the US and extend discriminatory and repressive policing in both countries. We invite you as our members to sign JVP's petition calling on the Anti-Defamation League to stop hosting seminars and programs that exacerbate the crisis of police violence in the U.S. and glorify militarization and oppression in Israel/Palestine. Collecting signatures on this petition is the primary strategy of the campaign at this time, and every single signatures helps.

ONGOING: Court Watch NYC: Court Watch NYC is a collaborative project with VOCAL-NY, Brooklyn Bail Fund, and 5 Borough Defenders. By joining Court Watch NYC, you will be the eyes and ears of accountability in Brooklyn and Manhattan courtrooms. Court Watch NYC volunteers will collect real-time data of what is actually happening in courtrooms, record the narratives that are not captured by the data in the courtrooms, and contribute to the accountability actions. Court Watchers will be required to go to a Court Watch Training 101 prior to their first watch shift and to choose court watch shift(s)—a wide range of court watch shifts will be offered and located in Brooklyn and Manhattan. Join the movement and become a Court Watcher by applying HERE!

December 2017 Event Highlights

December 2017 included many anti-mass incarceration events, workshops on “calling in” to help folks have productive conversations about race with family members who they may only see during the winter holidays, and, most excitingly, a fundraiser for our accountability partner, Project Reach! Below are a few highlights of events that SURJ promoted or hosted this past month. For information on current or future events, sign up for our mailing list!

Tuesday, December 5: Anti Mass-Incarceration Teach-In

This was an evening with VOCAL-NY to learn about mass incarceration, how you can be part of dismantling this racist system, and a new court monitoring program to hold the criminal justice system accountable to the needs of vulnerable New Yorkers.

Thursday, December 14: Very Merry Happy Everything Party & Fundraiser to Save Project Reach

Project Reach is a multi-racial, multi-gender youth center and organizing space that has been a home to young people and community organizations across NYC for over 30 years. They opened their doors to SURJ for our very first meeting. Rising rent and government budget cuts mean that Project Reach needs emergency funds to keep its doors open and its programs running in the new year. This event was a wonderful fundraiser that included food, drinks, a silent auction, music, and performances in celebration of Project Reach’s work and in solidarity to keep it going.

Saturday, December 16: Calling In 101 Workshop

Our Calling In 101 workshop is a regular event that is designed to increase participants' ability to engage in conversations around race and racism. We identify opportunities for "calling in" versus "calling out,” define white fragility and discuss how to navigate it, and learn tactics to address common microaggressions and racist statements. Participants should leave the workshop with tools for calling more white people into the movement for racial justice.

Sunday, December 17: Deep Canvassing in Sunnyside, Queens

Deep Canvassing is another regular activity that SURJ puts on in various neighborhoods in the city. It is a Base Building project that trains folks to use empathetic communication skills in order to call white people into racial justice work from their own doorsteps. We use personal stories in this work—think about a time when you wanted accountability for harm. It doesn’t have to explicitly be about race.