Sunday, April 26, 2015

Peace and Unity in Baltimore





















From Julie Stecker:

I’ve seen a lot of frustrated posts ending in, "Stay classy, Baltimore." Today, during the march that led us from West ‪#‎Baltimore‬ to downtown, I witnessed true class. Peaceful protestors who followed the guidelines we were given, parents explaining to their children why we march and showing them firsthand that protests must be a part of any free society, and people looking out for one another's safety and security. A woman bumped into me by accident, apologized profusely, asked me my name, asked if I was from Baltimore, and thanked me for being there. When we were reading the guidelines that said what to do if you were wrestled to the ground, a man overheard us and said, "That's not going to happen to any of you on my watch." I experienced the most beautiful parts of the Baltimore community today. But the media that I love and respect will make the story about the people who showed up just to cause destruction and chaos. Do not forget the story of peace and unity that took over the streets of Baltimore today. Do not let destruction be the story we remember. ‪#‎FreddieGray‬ ‪#‎JusticeForFreddieGray‬

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

GRADUATION OF THE GRACE PALEY ORGANIZING FELLOWSHIP RECIPIENTS

The months of learning and community-building have flown by! This year's Grace Paley Organizing Fellowship is drawing to a close and on the evening of Sunday, May 3rd our extraordinary group of fellows will be graduating. It is a night to celebrate the fellows and their work, as well as the great tradition of Jewish community organizing they're entering.

Please Save The Date and join us for a reception and graduation ceremony:

Sunday, May 3rd
7-9pm
Location tbd (Manhattan)

RSVP to leo@jfrej.org

Saturday, April 4, 2015

Mothers Demonstrate at Migrant Detention Center in Texas

           Nadia Prupis     April 2, 2015    Common Dreams

Demonstrators outside the Detention Center
About 40 women being held at the privately-run Karnes Family Detention Center in southern Texas launched a hunger strike this week to demand their release and the release of their families, vowing on Tuesday not to eat, work, or use the services at the facility until they are freed.
Nearly 80 women being held at the center, many of whom are said to be asylum seekers from Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala, signed a letter stating that they have all been refused bond despite having established a credible fear of violence if they are sent back to Central America—a key factor in the U.S. government's process for screening detained immigrants to allow them amnesty.
"We deserve to be treated with some dignity and that our rights, to the immigration process, are respected," the letter reads. "You should know that this is just the beginning and we will not stop [the hunger strike] until we achieve our goals. This strike will continue until each of us is freed."
The letter also states that many of the children held in the camp are losing weight and that their "health is deteriorating." Many of the families have been detained for as long as 10 months.
One woman, 26-year old Honduran mother Kenia Galeano, decried the center's treatment of the families in a phone interview with McClatchy on Tuesday. "We’re many mothers, not just me," she said. "We want freedom for our children. It’s not right to continue to detain us."
Galeano, who shares a room with three other mothers and their children, also said that her two-year-old son has become depressed and lost weight due to the culturally inappropriate food.
According to the letter, some of the mothers were also left behind in the detention center, while their children were granted bond. "We have come to this country, with our children, seeking refugee status and we are being treated like delinquents," the letter reads. "We are not delinquents nor do we pose any threat to this country."
Karnes, which is run by the private corrections company GEO Group, has come under fire in the past for its treatment of the children who are detained there, with reports of weight loss and forced separation from their mothers, but the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) department has denied those allegations.
ICE also claimed it was unaware of any residents actually participating in the strike, saying in a statement on Wednesday that the agency "fully respects the rights of all people to voice their opinion without interference, and all detainees, including those in family residential facilities such as Karnes, are permitted to do so."
It also said it was investigating claims that members of a nonprofit advocacy group encouraged the women to take part in the hunger strike—a charge which activists deny.
Cristina Parker, immigration programs director at the Texas-based immigrant rights group Grassroots Leadership, told the Guardian on Tuesday, "This is something that has been rippling through the centre almost since it opened. I don’t believe at all that they were coached into doing this."
According to Parker, the center is now blocking access to internet and telephone facilities for all of its detainees, regardless of whether they are participating in the hunger strike.
At least two women who signed the letter were also placed into isolation with their children in Karnes's clinic, leading about half of those who initially pledged to take part in the hunger strike to drop out, according to the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services.
Johana De Leon, a legal assistant with the nonprofit, told McClatchy that other mothers were warned they could lose custody of their children if they participated.
In addition to its mistreatment of children, Karnes has also been accused of sexual misconduct by guards and denial of critical medical care for detainees, among other charges. The Department of Homeland Security inspector general reported in February that there was no evidence to support the allegations.
[Nadia Prupis is a Common Dreams staff writer.]