Monthly Archives: January 2019

We Are #RedForEd, Educators and Students Fighting for Quality Public Education for All

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https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/redfored/

From Oakland to Los Angeles, educators are dedicated to providing the quality public education every child deserves, regardless of their zip code. Educators will not stop until their students have the resources they need to succeed, including:

  • Smaller class sizes
  • More nurses, librarians, counselors and psychologists
  • Less testing and more teaching
  • Safer schools
  • Stronger oversight and regulation of charter schools
  • Support for community schools
  • Competitive wages to keep quality educators from being priced out of living where they teach
  • Adequate funding

Educators want to be in the classroom with their students. Yet far too many are challenged to teach with dwindling resources, deteriorating schools, and class sizes that prevent them from giving each child the attention they deserve. Administrators unable to recognize that schools are not banks, and children are more than test scores have cut resources and ignored educators for far too long. The national #RedForEd movement has unified educators to fight back for their students. Across California, educators are boldly proclaiming: “We Are Red For Ed, and our students deserve better!”

Demanding change is bold and it can be a difficult choice to make. Educators on the front line need our solidarity and support more than ever. The fight is happening in LA and Oakland. Take time today to send them a message of encouragement.

Please add a personal message of support in the comment box. We’ll be sending these messages to educators leading this fight in their communities.

Want to take it a step further?

  • Plan a walk-in at your school
  • Wear Red for Ed in solidarity with Los Angeles and Oakland educators on January 11, 2019.
  • Share your support on social media using #RedForFed #WeAreCTA #WeAreLA #WeAreOEA

https://can2-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/petitions/photos/000/117/312/original/red-for-ed-logos.jpg

 

Milwaukee, January 10, 2019: Emergency Response Protest: No Wall! Asylum for Refugees!

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Hosted by Milwaukee Coalition Against Trump and Young People’s Resistance Committee

Dontre Hamilton Park (Red Arrow Park)

920 N Water Street, Milwaukee. 6:30 – 8 P.M.

Trump’s failing plan to use federal employees as hostages to obtain funding for his border wall will not be accepted by the people! Immigrants seeking asylum are not criminals, our communities will not fall for the lies that the Trump administration spews.

Trump’s Oval Office address attempted to dehumanize and criminalize immigrants and refugees, and divide our communities by racial lines, claiming that “Unlawful immigration drives down wages and job opportunities” and among the hardest hit are African Americans and Latino Americans. We know that this is simply not true, and that we must be united in our fight against Trump.

Join the Milwaukee Coalition Against Trump this Thursday to push back against Trump’s racist agenda.

WHAT TO BRING
Yourself and friends!
Posters / signs
Energy!!!

CO-SPONSORS
Young People’s Resistance Committee
MALC Young Workers Committee

DEMANDS
No Border Wall!
No Militarization of the Border!
Asylum for Refugees!
Legalization for All!
No Government Shutdown!

CHANTS
Legalization, not deportation!
Say it loud, say it clear, immigrants are welcome here!
When I say “Trump”, you say “NO WALL!”
Trump, el burro, no al muro!
Legalizacion, no deportacion!
Se ve, se siente, Milwaukee esta presente!
Aqui estamos, y no nos vamos. Y no nos echan, nos regresamos!
El pueblo unido, jamas sera vencido!

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Madison, January 11, 2019: Unite Against Fascism – Poster Making

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Madison Labor Temple, 1602 South Park Street, Madison, 6 – 8 P.M.

The racist and fascist 3% United Patriots are attempting to rally in Madison on January 12. Many across the state are organizing against their vile message and to shut down and demobilize their organizing before they can grow.

On Friday, Jan 11, join for poster and sign-making at the Madison Labor Temple (1602 S Park Street) from 6-8pm. Supplies will be provided (but feel free to bring extras). The Labor Temple has a restaurant on-site to purchase dinner.

For more info on the Unite Against Fascism rally, where we are meeting the fascist rally to counter them, check the Facebook event here: https://www.facebook.com/events/488318554908626/

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Milwaukee, Feb. 1, 2019: Fight Back Friday!

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Fight Back Friday!

815 E Locust Street, Milwaukee, 4 – 6 P.M.

We love working in Milwaukee Public Schools, but know our days are also challenging and stressful. That’s why Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association (MTEA) welcomes all MPS educators and education workers to the Riverwest Public House Cooperative for “Fight Back Friday.” This event will be held on the first Friday of every month from 4pm to 6pm, and will offer local educators and education workers a space to connect, rejuvenate, and advocate for our students and profession.

Every month we will feature a different activity or speaker to keep the event fresh. Come and join others fighting to make our public schools the best possible place for our students.

Milwaukee, January 21, 2019: 18th Annual MLK Jr. Justice Program & March

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18th Annual MLK Jr. Justice Program & March

1927 N Vel Phillips Avenue, Milwaukee, 1 – 2:30 P.M.

The MLK Jr. Justice Coalition invites You & Your Family to Celebrate the Life & Movement of Dr. King Jr. – Honoring community members who have put into practice King’s call for non-violent civil disobedience.
Guest Performers: Singer Pansy Williams, Musician/Artist David Nunley, Jazz Saxophonist Juli Wood, & Actor DiMonte Henning.
Speakers: Ald. Milele Coggs – Joyce Ellwanger – George Martin
(March to the King Statue – 3 blks. – 2:30pm – Open Mic)

Jan. 16, 2012 Dr. King day Milwaukee.
Detroit Martin Luther King Day demonstration through Downtown Detroit on January 15, 2007. The march draws upon the legacy of Dr. King’s peace and social justice work. (Photo: Robert Akrawi)., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

Birmingham institute cancels human rights award for Angela Davis over her Palestine activism

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https://bit.ly/2RAAuV2

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The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute canceled its prestigious human rights award for Angela Davis following outcry from “concerned individuals and organizations.” Davis, the Black revolutionary feminist icon, grew up in Birmingham under the Jim Crow apartheid regime.

“Upon closer examination of Ms. Davis’ statements and public record, we concluded that she unfortunately does not meet all of the criteria on which the award is based,” the institute wrote in a statement on Sunday.

While the institute has not provided specifics on the concerns or their award criteria, it is clear that Davis’s support for Palestine is one of the main reasons for the reversal.

A statement from Birmingham’s mayor revealed that these concerned individuals were from the “local Jewish community and some of its allies.”

The only public objections to Davis’s award is a December 2018 article from Southern Jewish Life:
“Her 2015 book was entitled “Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement,” and she frequently compares Israel’s treatment of Palestinians to police shootings of African-Americans. She has also said Israel gets its tear gas to use against Palestinians from the same company that supplies the police force in Ferguson.

There is a national effort among advocates for the Palestinians to get police departments to refuse joint training with Israeli police on best practices for fighting terrorism and enhancing emergency response.

She also connects Israel with one of her primary causes, the abolition of the prison system in the U.S., which she calls the “prison-industrial complex.” Palestine under Israeli occupation is “the worst possible example of a carceral society” as the world’s “largest open air prison,” she has stated.

Davis compares Israel to apartheid South Africa, but has stated that Israel is worse in its treatment of Palestinians. She refers to the security barrier Israel erected following a long series of deadly suicide bombings by Palestinians in Israel in the early 2000s as an “apartheid wall.”

Davis has called for “political prisoner” Marwan Barghouti to be released from jail. A leader of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, Barghouti is serving five life terms for participation in murders of Israelis. A leader of the First and Second Intifadas, in 2014 he called for an end to Palestinian security cooperation with Israel and advocated a Third Intifada.

Davis also was a supporter of Rasmea Odeh, who was convicted of a 1969 bombing in a Jerusalem grocery store, killing two students. A member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Odeh was deported from the U.S. for immigration fraud, lying about her terror ties and not disclosing her terrorism conviction. Davis spoke at Odeh’s farewell celebration in Chicago in 2017.”
Attempts to frame Rasmea Odeh as a “terrorist” fall into the attempts to criminalize Assata Shakur, Mumia Abu-Jamal, the Black Panther Party and Davis herself in the same light. 

The cancelation comes roughly a month after Marc Lamont Hill was fired from CNN for speaking up about Palestine at the UN.

CNN and the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute each claim to care about civil rights and human rights until it comes to the application of those rights for Palestinians.

The Israel lobby is increasingly isolating itself by attacking revered Black activists for speaking up about Palestine. 

​As backlash like this continues, more and more people will understand that Palestine is a human rights issue that must be included in the global call for freedom, justice, and liberation.
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Available at Haymarket Books
Read more about Rasmea Odeh’s activism, forced confession and Angela Davis’s support for her at Ebony. 

You can also read our statements of support for Marc Lamont Hill and Rasmea.