<![CDATA[Showing Up for Racial Justice - SURJ

<![CDATA[Showing Up for Racial Justice - SURJ - NEWS FROM SURJ]]>Sat, 24 Apr 2021 23:05:51 -0400Weebly<![CDATA[news from surj! march 2020]]>Tue, 03 Mar 2020 21:52:25 GMThttps://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/news-from-surj/news-from-surj-march-2020

A Black queer feminist lens gets us all free

Join Charlene Carruthers, a strategist, writer and leading community organizer in today’s movement for Black liberation, for a conversation with SURJ. Charlene is the founding national director of BYP100, founder of the Chicago Center for Leadership and Transformation, and author of Unapologetic: A Black, Queer, and Feminist Mandate for Radical Movements. The call will highlight the importance of applying a Black queer feminist lens to all of our movement work, including the work of SURJ. Join us for this conversation as we celebrate National Women’s History Month.

Register here: bit.ly/surjcharlene
Invite friends on Facebook here!

Join this webinar for chapters to get involved in SURJs electoral strategy around the country! This will be a chance to hear how your chapter can get involved in moving your family, friends, and members to vote for racial justice.
March 9th 8 ET / 7 CT / 6 MT / 5 PT

Register here: bit.ly/electoralstrategychapters
Invite other SURJ Chapter members on Facebook here!

SHERIFFS, WHITE SUPREMACY AND ORGANIZING
strategies FOR COLLECTIVE LIBERATION

Join this conversation about the role of sheriffs in upholding white supremacy and the strategic need to run local campaigns that can hold them accountable, or kick them out of office in our work for collective liberation. Our guest speakers are from Political Research Associates and Sheriffs for Trusting Communities.

Register here: bit.ly/surjsheriffcampaign
Invite friends on Facebook here

book review: Dub Brings Ancestral Voices
to Offer Decolonial Pathways Forward

Dub: Finding Ceremony by alexis pauline gumbs

The book gives visceral feeling to what social justice activists talk about as mutual interest and collective liberation in ending colonization and white supremacy. That all are affected differently, but in the end, life across species and spirit are all harmed by these systems and histories. Learning from this work of intersectional Black feminism can lead us all to healing and freedom. Read More! Except of review by Chapter Network Director Z! Haukeness Out now! Purchase here, any major outlets, or your local book store.

#QueersAgainstPete statement on the suspension of the Pete Buttigieg campaign

SURJ is happy to have been a part of the Queers Against Pete coalition. Here is a statement following Buttigieg's ending of his campaign:

#QueersAgainstPete welcomes the news that former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg is suspending his campaign. We formed our collective to call attention to the ways that Mayor Pete’s platform would fall particularly hard on economically vulnerable LGBTQ2IA+ communities: from his opposition to Medicare for All, decriminalizing border crossing, or cancelling student debt, to his ongoing failure to meaningfully address criticisms from Black Lives Matter South Bend. #QueersAgainstPete feels that we must fight for policies that move every member of the LGBTQ2IA community towards liberation, not make small changes at the margins that only benefit those already in proximity to power. Read more!

WET'SUWET'EN SOLIDARITY - KKR CAMPAIGN

Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs and community members in Canada are fighting to protect their land from the Coastal GasLink pipeline, despite having rights and title to their land since time immemorial.

The Coastal GasLink pipeline poses grave risks to the land, air, water, and climate, and to the Indigenous women living near the fracked gas pipeline route.

Tell JP Morgan Chase and KKR to stop banking on Coastal GasLink today.

This June, TC Energy — the massive oil and gas company behind Coastal GasLink pipeline and the KXL pipeline — is planning to finalize their sale of 65% of the pipeline to KKR and AIMCo. TC Energy expects to make $600 million dollars off the deal. TC Energy is JP Morgan Chase’s largest fossil fuel client. Sign this petition to KKR and JP Morgan Chase, and demand they stop funding Coastal GasLink.

Wet’suwet’en law upholds their title to their own lands, which is also recognized by the Supreme Court of Canada. Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs have explicitly denied consent for the Coastal GasLink project, and have ongoing lawsuits-- and yet construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline continues bulldozing their land. They call for continued international solidarity like we’ve seen with the shutdown of railroads.

Sign the petition now. Help organize offline events and actions. Find the KKR toolkit with sample emails, social copy, and graphics here. You can also support the Wet'suwet'en directly by using and/or sharing their toolkit and donating here and here.

]]><![CDATA[News from surj! February 2020]]>Tue, 18 Feb 2020 18:56:57 GMThttps://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/news-from-surj/surj-news-february-2020

SURJ FAITH WEBINAR: ROME WILL DESTROY US

We are excited to be offering a webinar for Christians addressing some challenging texts in the Gospel of John in the Bible that are often interpreted in ways that perpetuate anti-Judaism/anti-Semitism. The webinar will be on February 24th at 8pmET/5pmPT. Read more about it at the registration link here.

Invite friends on FB here

Only internationalism can save us

frieWant to learn about how we make anti-imperialist internationalism concrete and relevant to your work? Lara Kiswani, Director of the Arab Resource and Organizing Center, and Melanie K. Yazzie, co-founder of the Red Nation, will be in dialogue about why internationalism is crucial if we are to build movements that can win. On this call, we’ll talk about what we can learn from movements in the Global South, about what internationalism asks of those of us who live in the center of empire. We’ll look at some concrete examples of the ways organizers in the US link their local work with struggles in other parts of the world. And we will emphasize the ways that when we build internationalist movements we are connecting to a worldwide majority of people who are demanding a different world, and in fact we become part of it.

Register here: bit.ly/internationalismsurjcatalyst

Invite friends on FB here:

A Black queer feminist lens Gets us all free

Sheriffs, White supremacy
and organizing for collective liberation

SURJ Electoral CAmpaign

Join this call for chapters to get involved in SURJs electoral strategy around the country! This will be a chance to hear how your chapter can get involved in moving your family, friends, and members to vote for racial justice.
March 9th 8 ET / 7 CT / 6 MT / 5 PT
Register here!

Queers against pete

SIGN this letter to show that you do not want Pete Buttigieg to be the democratic nominee!

Queers Against Pete is a multiracial grassroots group of LGBTQIA individuals from across the country working to disrupt the narrative that Mayor Pete Buttigieg represents or has the support of queer communities. SURJ has been partnering Queers Against Pete to undermine white queer support of Pete, and stand with Black, Brown and working class LGBTQIA+ communities who would be most negatively impacted under a Buttigieg presidency. We have a clear assessment that a moderate winning the democratic nomination would weaken our chances of defeating Trump in November, and put us in a worse position if a Democrat wins the White House. Mayor Pete has been courting the LGBTQ community for the democratic nomination, but consistently supports moderate policies that disproportionately and negatively impact marginalized LGBTQIA+ communities-- including his opposition to free public college and Medicare for all, his support for increasing our already booming military budget, and his track record of of demolishing affordable housing for South Bend residents. We are reaching out to our LGBTQIA + members to ask you to consider joining 4,000 others in signing on to this Queers Against Pete letter, and share with your networks as we continue building our collective efforts to defeat Trump and win big in 2020. Follow @QueersAgnstPete to join the #QueersAgainstPete movement

International solidarity with Wet'suwet'en

Now is the time for International Solidarity with Wet'suwet'en! Join or organize an action to support Wet'suwet'en land defense against colonial invasion and resource extraction and upholding of Wet'suwet'en law.

You can get a sense of what has been happening by watching this 7-minute video from the Unist'ot'en Camp, entitled "Reconciliation is Dead." Canada has no treaty with Wet'suwet'en and no legal claim whatsoever to their lands. Please reach out to us at anticolonialsolidarity@gmail.com if you would like support about planning an action, including talking what would be most appropriate regarding the Indigenous Peoples whose land you are on.

Here is a new Facebook page tracking upcoming solidarity actions across the globe. Check the comments section to see upcoming actions and post actions you are organizing. There are upcoming events in Ohlone Territory-San Francisco and here in Oakland, Lenape Territory-Manhattan. There are Canadian Embassies & Consulate offices all over the U.S. which could be targeted for actions. Here is a list of the offices.

Canada and industries continue to be shut down, with major actions shutting down rail lines, ports, government offices, banks, police stations and more. These actions are led by Indigenous Peoples, as well as people of color and white settler allies. The rail shutdowns are costing Canada *BILLIONS* of dollars in lost revenue and putting pressure on the Canadian government to shift their genocidal patterns and offering white settlers in Canada the opportunity to reflect on the relatively very small inconvenience they are experiencing within the perspective of the deep violence that Indigenous folks have been experiencing for centuries.

Some of the companies funding this pipeline are based in the U.S.! KKR is an investment firm that bought 65% of Coastal GasLink Pipeline Project and they have a San Francisco office as well as 3 other US-based locations. Help flood their phone lines and tell them to DIVEST from this genocidal project: (415) 315-3620; 555 California St 50th floor, San Francisco, CA 94104.

You can donate, here and here.

There will be an upcoming call/webinar very soon to offer further support and connection around solidarity actions. Please email us at anticolonialsolidarity@gmail.com if you would like to be added to our mailing list for further info.

In solidarity,
Berkley, Dylan, Griffen, Roger, Scott & Z!

Indigenous Solidarity Network

]]><![CDATA[NEWS FROM SURJ! JANUARY 2020]]>Thu, 09 Jan 2020 17:43:01 GMThttps://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/news-from-surj/january-09th-2020

Then check out our January newsletter to find more ways to show up for racial justice this month, including:

Catalyst Project's No War, No Sanctions study guide on escalation with Iran
No Fascist USA! and other webinars.
Welcoming new staff members working to support the chapter network
Job posting for an organizing and administrative role with SURJ national.
New Word is Resistance podcast from SURJ Faith

In these times, the need to unseat Trump and grow our movement for the long haul is more needed than ever. Let us continue to show up powerfully in solidarity with those most directly impacted by imperialism, militarism and white supremacy.

CATALYST PROJECT:
NO WAR, NO SANCTIONS TOOLKIT

We encourage folks to read and engage with an important and timely resource from our comrades at the Catalyst Project - Catalyst Project’s study guide: “No War-No Sanctions” - A study group curriculum to support action to stop war on Iran. In it you’ll find incredible resources on social movements in Iran, history of US intervention in Iran, information about recent politics and questions for reflecting and discussing.

There will be a day of action on January 25th. It’s called for by Code Pink and endorsed by a wide range of organizations listed on their website.

No Facist USA! Webinar

Upcoming Webinars!

February 27th 8 PM ET
Webinar on Internationalism Hosted by Catalyst Project and SURJ
Melanie Yazzie - Red Nation
Lara Kiswani - AROC (Arab Resource and Organizing Center)
bit.ly/internationalismsurjcatalyst
(More details coming soon)

March 11th 8 PM ET
Conversation with Charlene Carruthers and SURJ
Charlene Carruthers is a strategist, writer and leading community organizer in today’s movement for Black liberation. She is the founder of the Chicago Center for Leadership and Transformation and author of Unapologetic: A Black, Queer and Feminist Mandate for Radical Movements.
bit.ly/surjcharlene
(More details coming soon)

Welcome New Staff

Misha Heij-Mariano
I’m Misha, a working class queer femme living in western MA on occupied Pocumtuc and Nipmuc land and I come from small town northeastern PA. My work with SURJ started in 2015 as an organizer with our local chapter, Western Mass SURJ. We are organizing a reparations campaign involving moving money and popular education alongside a coalition of organizers for racial and economic justice. I was a coach for three years for SURJ chapters in the northeast and will continue to coordinate the poor and working class caucus. I love working with chapters to support leadership development, education and training, and building anti racist groups for collective liberation. I learned to organize around gender and violence as a kid as a response to what was happening to me and around me. The reproductive justice movement lifted me up, educated me, and brought me into the movement for racial justice. I’m a chronically ill survivor witch herbalist, distribute plan b for free, and continue always to collaboratively build networks for care, healing, mutual aid, and anti fascism. I live with my femme partner and our two sassy cats.

Sarah Stockholm is an organizer, popular educator, Theatre of the Oppressed practitioner and writer from rural working-class communities in South Dakota with over a decade of experience waitressing and working for collective liberation. She has worked on a variety of organizing issues including Palestinian & Indigenous solidarity, tenant protections, climate justice, police accountability, and US militarism. Sarah loves spending time with her sisters, dancing to live music and rock climbing in the Pacific Northwest where she currently lives.

Job Postings

SURJ will be hiring for two new positions. Applications are due January 20th.
Lead Organizer for Western North Carolina - Southern Crossroads
Executive Assistant
Find out more details here

Queers against Pete Petition

Sign this petition from Queers Not Here For Mayor Pete - an effort to get 500 queer LGBTQ people to sign a letter of support declaring our opposition to his candidacy.

The Word is Resistance Podcast with Rev Anne Dunlap

There is something on the other side of the end of the world. Rev. Anne Dunlap discovers belovedness running like currents through the servant song of Isaiah 42 and Jesus's baptism. Listen here!

]]><![CDATA[News From SURJ NOVEMBER 2019]]>Mon, 11 Nov 2019 17:35:42 GMThttps://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/news-from-surj/november-news-from-surj

Exciting news from SURJ this month including a very powerful webinar with a panel of folks working with various Indigenous organizations reclaiming Indigenous land. Also a toolkit re-released called Re-thinking "Thanksgiving". We are also continuing to build our partnership with WFP (Working Families Party) by giving feedback to them on a platform for 2020 that they are building. We are partnering with them on creating a network of folks who pledge to be racial justice voters; sign the pledge below. There is an inspiring interview with folks form Justice LA and WP4BL telling about some historic victories and upcoming work there. And last but not least, some announcements for chapters about the Chapter Survey and Chapter Dues.

Solidarity funding for indigenous sovereignty

Working Families Party
and SURJ Platform Development

Following up on the SURJ webinar with Working Families Party Executive Director Maurice Mitchell we will be hosting a call for SURJ members to give feedback and help develop the Working Families Party Platform for 2020. (if you missed the webinar you can view it here: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/connecting-the-dots-series.html)

The call is November 18th 8 ET / 7 CT / 6 MT / 5 PT
Register here
Invite your friends on Facebook here

The Working Families Party, a close ally of SURJ Action, is developing a platform that is an expression of the multiracial working class movement we are building. We invite SURJ Action members to participate in a workshop to talk about building a political party of our dreams for working class people of all backgrounds, the role that a platform can play in building a movement, and to help design our party platform. The workshop will explore the history of other radical platforms (think Black Panther Party!) and engage our members in developing the party's platform. All are welcome to join. WFP is working with other national racial and social justice organizations to develop this platform, and we want folks to contribute their knowledge and experience!

SURJ ORganizing stories: down to the nitty gritty
Justice LA and WP4BL Stopping Jail Expansion

View the trailer here
Full interview will be coming soon here!

Take the Racial Justice Voter Pledge

Show your commitment to being a Racial Justice Voter sign here!

Historically, the far right has used the politics of animosity, racial and gender resentment and fear to mobilize white voters.

By taking this pledge, you’re joining a movement to write a new chapter to organize white communities to show up for racial, economic and gender justice. You pledge to vote for racial justice and to organize others in your community to do the same.
Once you sign this pledge, we’ll send you information on how to reach out to white friends, family members and colleagues to invite them to join you in becoming SURJ voters.
We'll send you reminders to help you show up to every election, to learn more about SURJ candidates running locally and opportunities to deepen your skills around effectively reaching other white folks around the importance of showing up for racial justice.

Show your commitment to being a Racial Justice Voter sign here!

Rethinking "Thanksgiving" toolkit

This is a toolkit with educational and action resources related to settler colonialism initially made as a resource for non-native people to be part of deconstructing "Thanksgiving".

Chapter network

If you are part of a chapter make sure that your chapter fills out this 2019 Chapter Survey by November 21st! This will help us plan for the coming year and better support your local work!

Chapters should also be working with your coach or a SURJ staff to figure out what you will be paying for chapter dues. If you are not part of a chapter and/or would like to make a personal monthly contribution to SURJ please do so here:
SURJ (c4)
SURJ Education Fund (c3)

]]><![CDATA[News from surj! September 2019]]>Tue, 17 Sep 2019 15:30:11 GMThttps://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/news-from-surj/news-from-surj-september-2019

We have some great local victories to celebrate that SURJ chapters have participated in! We also have an update from our support of the miners blockade in Harlan County demanding justice from Blackjewel coal company. September 11th marked our 10 year anniversary. Continuing with our celebrations, we have a fabulous call coming up in a few weeks!

SURJ 10 years of Racial Justice

SURJ 10 Year Anniversary webinar:
10 Years of Racial Justice

September 25th 8 ET / 7 CT / 6 MT / 5 PT
Register here: bit.ly/SURJ10YEARS
Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/2433893166718653/

Join us for a webinar with Patrisse Cullors, Makani Themba, Carla Walllace and Pam McMichael to discuss the past, present and future of SURJ as it relates to the broader movement for racial, economic, social, and environmental justice. Pam McMichael and Carla Wallace are long time movement organizers and co-founders of SURJ. They have played leadership roles throughout the past 10 years and will share some history and future priorities. Patrisse Cullors and Makani Themba are revered movement leaders who will share their perspective of how SURJs work fits in a broader context and what is needed moving forward. Patrisse Cullors is an artist, organizer, and freedom fighter from Los Angeles, CA. Co-founder of Black Lives Matter and founder of Dignity and Power Now, she is also a performance artist, popular public speaker, and a New York Times bestselling author. Makani Themba is Chief Strategist at Higher Ground Change Strategies based in Jackson, MS. A social justice innovator and pioneer in the field of change communications and narrative strategy, she has spent more than 20 years supporting organizations, coalitions and philanthropic institutions in developing high impact change initiatives. This is a public call, open to all, please share!

Host a local 10 year event

We are asking local chapters affiliates and members to host local events to honor the 10 year history of SURJ as it relates to local work. Here is a toolkit with suggestions for hosting events, fundraising, and spreading the word about the 10 year anniversary.

If you are hosting your own local event for the 10 year anniversary please put the details here! and feel free to share with the local leads list to give others ideas.

Three Local Victories

LOS ANGELES STOPPED THE JAIL PLAN

It is with excitement that I share with you that today we had a historic vote to stop jail construction in LA county. Our chapter has been involved in the Justice LA and Reform LA campaign and I am excited that we are able to claim victory! More info below. August 13th, 2019, Dahlia Ferlito, White People for Black Lives and SURJ Leadership Team

Today, Justice LA and many other organizations and community members accomplished what we were told was an impossible feat. For nearly a decade, the specter of a massive $3.5 billion jail plan loomed over the people of Los Angeles. We resisted the creation of more cages, we reclaimed the calls for public safety, we reimagined our county with community-based care, and we won. In February of this year, we successfully defeated the women’s jail plan, and today, the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 in favor of cancelling the contract with McCarthy to build a mental health jail! READ MORE

A WIN IN LOUISVILLE CAMPAIGN TO GET POLICE OUT OF OUR SCHOOLS

After a two year campaign, the Jefferson County School Board, representing one of the largest school districts in the country, voted to end contracts with outside police forces.
BLM Louisville, our strategic partner, set the political vision for the demands, calling for No Police, and a shift of funding to mental health counseling, conflict resolution, restorative justice and other programmatic focuses that actually support children and youth in our schools. LSURJ helped build the coalition of over 10 community groups (including LGBTQ, teachers, Latinx and immigrant groups including Mijente Louisville, the statewide Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, peace groups, the ACLU of Kentucky and others. READ MORE. August 14th, 2019, Carla Wallace, SURJ Leadership Team and LSURJ Co-founder and organizer.

NYC PARTIAL JUSTICE FOR ERIC GARNER

As we celebrate recent wins in LA and Louisville, SURJ NYC wanted to share an update on the firing of Officer Daniel Pantaleo, the NYPD cop who killed Eric Garner in Staten Island in July 2014. Though this fight for justice is far from over, firing Pantaleo is an important win for the police accountability movement in NYC. Action asks to support the ongoing fight are at the end. READ MORE September 4th, 2019 Yours in struggle, SURJ-NYC

Solidarity with Harlan county miners blockade

Since our last e-mail sent to our membership asking for folks to support with financial and in person resources we have raised $3000 and have had 10 people visit the camp to offer support. Here is an article from Sonja de Vries of LSURJ (Louisville KY).

Sonja de Vries, September 10th, 2019
The Black Jewel coal miners had already been blocking a train full of coal for over a month when our small group made up of State Representative Attica Scott, Climate Justice activist Deanna Rushing, and SURJ members Pam McMichael and Sonja de Vries from Louisville came to offer material and moral support. The miners and their families greeted us warmly, tired but full of determination and strength that they attributed in large part to the solidarity of the community around them and people from all over the US and the world.

They scoffed at the fact that CEO Jeff Hoops had announced that it was hard on everyone and that he himself had to pay for his own jet fuel now.

Felicia, one of the organizers and wife of Curtis, a coal miner, said " People have come from all over and some of them don't like coal, but they support us in our struggle."

James, also a coal miner told us that some people had been on vacation when their checks bounced and they found themselves stranded with no money. Others had been hauled off to jail because their child support checks had bounced. The consequences were having a devastating ripple effect. All of the folks there were clear, until Black Jewel paid them what they were owed, they would stay and the coal train would not move.

In remembering the moment one coal miner decided to step onto the tracks they said "When you've had a mountain on your back, it's not that much to stop a train."

SURJ LEadership team meeting reportback

Hey, I'm Carla from Louisville, Kentucky and this is Kari and Erin and we're here at the Highlander Center, which, as many, many of you know is deeply part of the change that’s happened in this country and in the South— 87 years of a commitment to an intersectional approach, to undermining racism, to working for economic Justice, to bringing us a different way of doing this work— popular education and a deep root in all who have gone before us. What all the South brings is Highlander! We’re wanting to bring you greetings from our retreat, from our SURJ Leadership retreat. In Tennessee! And we spent some of our time over the last few days talking about our electoral work and how excited we are about the opportunity to do some intense and amazing work the over the country that different people can participate in. We also talked about the importance of centering the South as a part of that work, and more broadly as a part of the work that we do, we always want to think about the ways that the South is central to what we do. And also centering poor and working-class folks as central to what we do as part of our strategies. This year we brought on five new leadership team members who joined us here at Highlander for the first time. So a lot of what we did was getting to know each other, building with each other, so we have a strong foundation for the year to come. We know that the SURJ base is amazing, is doing incredible things and we are really excited about continuing the partnership that lifts up, supports, and makes visible and stronger that work. So excited about what's coming next! And we gave a big send-off Pam McMichael, who has been with SURJ and a part of SURJ since the very beginning, so we said some kind of goodbye to her during our retreat here at Highlander to thank her for all her many years of brilliant service, vision, action. We appreciate you! We love you! Mad love from Highlander!

SURJ Faith The Word is resistance podcast

"What Jeremiah sees here in the 4th chapter is climate devastation."
Check out our latest episode, in which Rev. Anne Dunlap shares about how her recent trip to Santa Fe and the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts helped deepen her understanding of what's necessary for true reconciliation to occur, what white folks have lost that's necessary to find. https://soundcloud.com/thewordisresistance/seek-until-we-find-it

]]><![CDATA[News from surj! July 2019]]>Tue, 16 Jul 2019 21:24:19 GMThttps://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/news-from-surj/news-from-surj-july-2019

Lots of great things coming your way!
The 10 Year Anniversary of SURJ was kicked off in July with more celebration to come in September. It was a wonderful way to kick it off with a webinar with Angela Davis in the same week. We have two great webinars coming up in August with Dean Spade and Mab Segrest. Much more below!

Angela Davis Webinar

We had an incredible webinar with Angela Davis on Tuesday July 9th
Listen/Watch to the webinar here!
Closed Captioning here!

Dean Spade Webinar

Solidarity Not Charity: Mutual Aid for Survival and Mobilization

Dean Spade
August 15th at 8 ET / 7 CT / 6 MT / 5 PT

Register here!
http://bit.ly/deanandsurj

Invite your chapter members and friends here:
https://www.facebook.com/events/352849315385011/

Widespread, effective social movements usually include mutual aid strategies as part of their work. Mutual aid is work that directly addresses the conditions the movement seeks to address, such as by providing housing, food, health care, or transportation in a way that draws attention to the politics creating need and vulnerability. Famous examples of mutual aid projects include the Black Panther Party's Free Breakfast Program, the Young Lords Party's hijacking of New York City's tuberculosis testing mobile unit to bring TB testing to high-risk, medically neglected neighborhoods, and feminist organizing to provide underground abortions in the 1970's. In this webinar, we will look at why mutual aid is an important part of building participatory movements, and what is difficult about mutual aid in the current political climate. We will also look at what principles and methods characterize politicized survival work and how it intentionally departs from charity frameworks.

Dean is a long-time activist, educator and writer covering a myriad of issues, largely rooted in the intersections of racial justice and trans liberation.

Here is a video Dean and Ciro Carillo recently put out on this topic:
https://bit.ly/2XEE1W0

Mab Segrest: Memoir of a race traitor

Save the Date!
Mab Segrest, long-time racial justice organizer and friend of SURJ will be giving a public talk about the re-release of her movement classic book: Memoir of a Race Traitor: Fighting Racism in the American South
August 28th 8:00 ET / 7 CT / 6 PT / 5 ET.
Register here!

SURJ Mutual Aid Strategy with Shawn Fisher

Check out these videos from SURJ Field Organizer Shawn Fisher about his work centered in Mutual Aid in the South. This is a key part of our organizing strategy that we are working to build up in the coming months and years.
Trailer
Full Interview

10 year SURJ all chapter call

Had an You can watch the call here!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ngNCcQgbXISw9bfh4o2Idvs5-YdYjJaf/view?usp=sharing
This is the slideshow that we showed highlighting the past 10 years of work and current chapter work across the country.
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1qxJewIuFGQy5xjWER-bysVcKHRaDNtKQ4r_q26xBNZ8/edit?usp=sharing
Be on the look out for more information about a national call with a multi-racial panel in September to continue the 10 year anniversary celebration.
Plan an Event for September!
We encourage you to plan a 10 year anniversary event locally in September. This could be making it the theme of your monthly membership meeting, planning a special event, and or sending out some reflections to your membership. This is a great opportunity to also tell the story of your own chapters history. We hope to continue to deepen the relationship between SURJ National and local chapters and think this is an opportunity to build that relationship. We will be sending a toolkit/facilitation guide in the coming weeks, we encourage you to pick a date since it is coming soon.

When they see us discussion guide

Many of you have likely seen When They See Us the Netflix series by Ava DuVernay. Here is a discussion guide that we put together to support using this series as a way to do political education, base building, and local campaigns against the injustice of the criminalization system. This was in a direct response to a call from Patrisse Kahn-Cullors, BLM Co-founder; that SURJ promote engaging with this series in meaningful ways. You can find the guide on our website:
https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/when-they-see-us.html

make a donation

In honor of our 10 year anniversary please make a donation that will be split between Highlander Research and Education Center and SURJ. Highlander has played a major role in the history of SURJ. actblue.com/donate/surj-highlander2019

Migrant Justice Report Back from Chapters

This is a sampling of some of the work that chapters have been participating in recently related to migrant justice work.

Sign up to help with phone banking

We welcome you to participate in SURJ’s summer phone bank to raise dollars and power to support the work of SURJ and two bad-ass Black-led organizations leading transformative criminal justice organizing work in the South.

You can sign up for a shift by clicking here.

This July, we’re raising funds to support SURJ’s critical work in white communities as well as resource the Racial Justice Action Center (RJAC) in Georgia and Women with a Vision in Louisiana. We’re asking folks to support the work that our chapter network is doing to build and mobilize its base in majority-white communities to contribute to winning campaigns. We’re splitting what we raise with RJAC and WWAV - both black-led organizations that have an incredible track record of winning criminal justice campaigns in the South.

In order to talk to all of these committed SURJ supporters, we need to fill 45 phone bank shifts in the evenings of July 29 - August 1st. The shifts run from 6 - 8:30 EST.

Raising resources to support movement work has always been a critical piece of organizing work. Will you commit to this important piece of work by registering for a shift? Never phone-banked before? We’ll be here to train and support you every step of the way.

Once you register, we’ll be following up with everything you’ll need to join the phone banks and be successful!

SURJ NYC & SURJ National
Calling In Workshop Resource Call

Register here:
https://zoom.us/meeting/register/0f372ece135676377c24e00bf0acd2b8
Share on Facebook Here:
https://www.facebook.com/events/917642238576355/?active_tab=about

One of SURJ’s core values is calling people in, not out. This work—in activist spaces and in our other communities—can be difficult, but is necessary to build a mass movement that people want to be a part of. Since the 2016 election, SURJ New York City has hosted monthly Calling In Workshops which aim to provide participants with tools and strategies to engage in these conversations. The workshops are further designed to identify opportunities for "calling in" versus "calling out” and to bridge an understanding between systems and structures of white supremacy and real conversations that address race and racism. Now, we want to share these workshops with SURJ chapters nationwide!

On August 12, facilitators from SURJ NYC will share resources and walk through the logistics of organizing these workshops. The August 12 call is an opportunity for people interested in being trained as Calling In workshop facilitators to do so, and to share resources nationally. The call will include:

A history of SURJ NYC Calling In workshops
Workshop content and lessons learned
Workshop logistics
Conversation role-playing
Slides, handouts, and other resources

It will be held on Monday August 12, from 8-9:30pm EDT. If you are interested in joining this conference call, please register here: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/0f372ece135676377c24e00bf0acd2b8

The Word is resistance podcast

Our last two "The Word Is Resistance" podcasts bring strong calls to prophetic action to close the concentration camps, and more. Check out Nichola Torbett: "Everything about how we’ve been living and about how the U.S. has been operating in the world must change. And soon." And Margaret Ernst: "This is an especially absolutely crucial time to be listening to the prophets who don’t prophesy because it’s their job but because they must tell the truth to survive."

]]><![CDATA[News from surj! June 2019]]>Mon, 17 Jun 2019 17:58:42 GMThttps://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/news-from-surj/news-from-surj-june-2019

Hello! We have less than 1 month until our conversation with Angela Davis! and also until our 10 year anniversary chapter call! Register and share the information below. We also have an important ask for your involvement against Christian Zionism in support of Palestine. The latest BOLD podcast is out and also an ask for chapters to submit ideas for local reporting on local actions in your area. Finally we have information about our Rural, Urban and Small City/Suburban working group calls. We are particularly encouraging folks who live in rural areas to get on these calls!

Join us for a call with Angela Davis!
Tuesday July 9th, 8 ET / 7 CT / 6 MT / 5 PT
Register here: bit.ly/surjangeladavis
Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/2703052713101503/
More information coming soon!

10 year anniversary

SURJ is turning 10 this year! We will be having a series of events that will kick off on July 14th with an all chapter call. We would like every SURJ chapter represented and all members are welcome to join.
Register here: bit.ly/surj10years
Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/events/2283780538504737/?active_tab=about

Confront christian Zionism

Hi Everyone ~

A powerful opportunity to confront Christian Zionism is nearing and we need your help! CUFI (Christians United for Israel), which claims 5 million members, is a Christian Zionist organization. In spite of its strong political influence on the Hill, CUFI has operated largely under the radar and received little attention in comparison with groups like AIPAC, while using its political leverage to ensure ongoing U.S. support for Israel’s colonization and military occupation of Palestine.

Christian Zionism is an ideology that is deeply entrenched in white nationalism, anti-Muslim racism, anti-Semitism, and other systems of oppression. Some of you may remember that the Movement for Black Lives Vision Platform got huge blowback (and groups lost funding) over their unequivocal support for Palestinian rights and self-determination.
https://www.fosna.org/countercufi
FOSNA, in partnership with JVP, AMP, SURJ-Faith, USCPR, and others, is holding a direct action, Rise Against Racism: Counter CUFI, which will happen July 7- 8 in Washington D.C.

Linda Sarsour and other prominent people of faith will be supporting the action at a panel on Sunday, which will be followed by a direct action training and the action. For those who have participated in trainings before or actions, there are lots of roles and this is a great opportunity to participate in organic escalated direct action directly in solidarity with Palestinians.

We are asking that chapters support actively recruit folx to come to DC and sponsor those who wish to go and don’t have the means.

You can support the action by:

Recruiting a set number of people to the action The registration form is here.
Making a donation toward the action
Endorsing the action by signing, and encouraging other partner organizations, to sign the statement.
Share the action widely over your list and social media

For those who want to think more about Israel and anti-semitism, we have a lot of materials, as we understand this is an important issue necessary for organizing our base.

Please contact Anne Dunlap at faith@showup4rj.org or Jeff Ordower LT member, at ordowerj@gmail.com with any questions or to make a time to talk.

In Solidarity

Update 1: Reform LA Campaign

For this months SURJ Organizing Stories: Down to the Nitty Gritty, we hear from Ash Overton, SURJ campaign manager who is working closely with LA SURJ affiliate White People for Black Lives on the Reform LA campaign. The interview talks about some of the overview of the campaign which is a broad multi-racial coalition, and the role that WP4BL and SURJ will be playing to move white people to vote for the ballot initiative in March 2020.

Watch the trailer
Watch the full interview

bold podcast

EPISODE 3: Wow! We cover a lot of ground on the new BOLD podcast...an interview with Taina Vargas-Edmond (FB: @Taina Vargas-Edmond / IG: @tainaangeli / Twitter: @tainaangeli) of Initiate Justice (FB: @Initiate Justice / IG: @Initiatejustice / Twitter: @Initiatejustice) and Ivette Alé (FB: Ivette Ale / IG: @hi_femme) of CURB (FB: Californians United for a Responsible Budget / IG: @CURBprisons / Twitter: @CURBprisons). Also, a powerful piece by Rahsaan Thomas, an incarcerated organizer fighting for the right to vote. Check the pod on mass incarceration and radical futures. https://soundcloud.com/ms_werd/bold-e03-mixdown/s-2difO

Submit your action ideas to us for our reports from the field section! Do you have a local action coming up that you would like highlighted on this national podcast? Submit your suggestion here!

rural, urban, small city/suburban calls!

Rural Calls are particularly open for anyone who is connected to SURJ you do not need to be part of a chapter to be on the rural calls. We are looking for anyone who is currently trying to do SURJ work in rural areas. Please join us!

RURAL
June 19th at 8 ET / 5 PT
Every 3rd wednesday.
https://zoom.us/meeting/register/efa9d3da7dd10c108c34be5db4a05ad8
Here is the FB event;
https://www.facebook.com/events/379842609303154/

URBAN
July 8th at 8 ET / 5 PT
Every 2nd Monday
zoom.us/meeting/register/2fdd6f6aa4ebd37734538d7d4481ef37

SMALL CITY/SUBURBS
Every 4th Wednesday
https://zoom.us/meeting/register/9e58e6fe1bb2ba9adc2040ba88984b7b

]]><![CDATA[News from surj! May 2019]]>Wed, 22 May 2019 14:00:17 GMThttps://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/news-from-surj/news-from-surj-2019

News from SURJ! We're excited to announce an upcoming call with Angela Davis! See the save the date below. Another important save the date is for the SURJ 10 Year Anniversary All Chapter Call. We've got new Leadership Team members! Meet them below. Check out an interview with Western Mass about their Reparations Campaign, and a victory from LSURJ (Louisville SURJ) to get a racist monument removed, and continue celebrating the 100th podcast from Word is Resistance by checking out some of the top episodes from the past few years!

Angela Davis with Surj

10 year anniversary all chapter call

New SURJ Leadership Team Members

SURJ is pleased to announce that this round of our leadership team (LT) expansion process is complete. After receiving over two dozen applications and interviewing fourteen individuals, we are delighted to welcome five new members to our team. The LT works closely with SURJ staff to make decisions about strategy, structure, and accountability. We look forward to our continued work to shape transformative change toward our collective liberation. Click here for full bios!

Western Mass SURJ is in the midst of a reparations campaign to purchase a house for movement partners with BLM413 and Out Now. Watch the interview with chapter leaders Misha Heij Mariano, Jess Kuttner, and Ingrid Avison. Learn more and donate here.

Watch the trailer here.
Watch the full movie here.

Word is resistance 100 episodes!

Thanks to everyone who made our celebration of the 100th episode of "The Word Is Resistance" such a great success. We had so many new listeners our All-Time Top 10 list changed several times. Thanks to everyone who shared! And check out our Top 10 Lists here!

Louisville SURJ Victory

After a two year battle led by Louisville Showing Up for Racial Justice, and anchored in accountability to the vision of Louisville’s and the nation’s Black Liberation leaders—that confederate statues must come down---Louisville's Landmarks Commission voted May 9 to uphold the appeal by the City calling for removal. This clears the way for a take down of the Castleman Statue, which to more and more people, has come to represent the confederacy, slavery, and ongoing racial oppression today.

This two year battle that included LSURJ volunteers going door to door work to educate and pressure people in one of Louisville’s most affluent and politically powerful neighborhoods, demonstrations and direct action, forced the larger Louisville community and elected officials to engage a long overdue conversation on why symbols of white supremacy are part of an overall atmosphere of oppression and injustice.

The historical context of this “man on the horse” is simple: it is a registered Civil War Confederate Monument. It was erected during a period of public art designed to define the powerful, define the rules, define geography in a city. It was the period when the Ku Klux Klan grew as a terrorist organization and when Jim Crow was becoming the law of the land. In short, it is a promotion of white supremacy.

Removing the Castleman statue is only one piece of a community agenda that must include challenging racism in the courts, jail and prison systems where people of color and the poor, including poor white folks, are disproportionately targeted by a criminal justice system that clearly “sees color and sees poverty”. Our work must address inequities in housing, in our schools and in every single institution in our community—building a coalition of all the ‘locked out’ to say no to the white supremacy culture and structures keeping us from our mutual liberation.

LSURJ's other campaigns include ending Cash Bail in partnership with The Bail Project, and getting police out of the schools in partnership with Black Lives Matter Louisville and others. In each of these struggles, getting clear on how our work supports the mission of SURJ is critical to making accountability effective and real. When we organize, and focus on our work to undermine support for white supremacy and the economics it keeps in place, and build a broader base of white folks for racial justice—wins that lead us on stronger into the next struggle and build for liberation are possible.

]]><![CDATA[News from surj! april 2019]]>Sun, 14 Apr 2019 20:07:09 GMThttps://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/news-from-surj/news-from-surj-april-2019

We are so excited (and a bit amazed) to be celebrating the 100th episode of "The Word Is Resistance," our podcast designed for white Christians. #100 reflects on what we as white Christian folks can learn from the Christian observance of Palm Sunday. Listen to it here!

Check out our Celebration Toolkit to find more ways to engage with our 100th episode.

Donate to surj and highlander center

@MattMcGorry is using his birthday to support the anti-racist work of the @HighlanderCenter and the SURJ @showingupforracialjustice National Network. Wish him a happy birthday by donating here: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/surj-highlander2019
Happy birthday Matt!

Click here or the picture to watch the video!

#Freemasonique

Join the national call to find out more how to support the #FreeMasonique defense campaign on April 18th at 8 ET

Stay tuned for more information about a national week of actions the first week in May.

surj organizing stories: down to the nitty gritty

Interview with Tynan Krakoff, SURJ Coach, and SURJ Columbus Leader. Tynan shares upcoming action opportunities for the #FreeMasonique campaign, as well as lessons learned from his work on the #FreeBresha, #FreeTheBlackPride4 and #FreeTheBlackFriday14 defense campaigns.

Watch the trailer here.
Watch the full interview here.

Sign and share the petition to demand Prosecutor Ron O'Brien #DropTheCharges

Donate to Masonique's legal fund

SURJ CAMPAIGN AND BASE BUILDING ORGANIZING TRAINING
This online training is meant for people who would like an update on campaign and base building organizing in a SURJ context, have not had an organizing training before, or who are newer to the work of SURJ. Each chapter/affiliate should send a cross class or poor and working class team of 2-5 people from each chapter (if only middle class people are available let us know). This training will give a breakdown of the various organizing and campaign approaches and components that SURJ chapters and affiliates are engaged in and tools for developing skills around campaign development, bringing new white people into the work, developing leadership, maintaining accountable movement partnerships, and working for economic justice. This training will take place Mondays at 8-10 ET / 7-9 CT / 6-8 MT / 5-7 PT from May 13th to June 24th (skipping May 27th for Labor Day). APPLICATIONS ARE DUE APRIL 25TH
To Register, contact chaptersupport@showup4rj.org or your chapter point people.

SURJ COACHES AND CHAPTER LEADERS ORGANIZING TRAINING
This is an online training for coaches and chapter leaders who are in positions to move chapters to a deeper and more impactful level of campaign and base building organizing. Chapter leaders should have at least 1 year experience in SURJ, have had some organizing training, have participated in a campaign, and are committed to being an organizer within SURJ for the next year. Poor and working class people of all roles in the organization are encouraged to apply. We will be covering base building skills for growing chapters, building and sustaining leaders, navigating complicated multi-racial partnerships, deepening facilitation and coaching skills, understanding racial capitalism and working for economic justice. In addition to coaches, 20 chapter leads will be accepted into this training. This training will take place Sundays at 5-7 ET / 4-6 CT / 3-5 MT / 2-4 PT from May 12th to June 23th (skipping May 26th for Labor Day). APPLICATIONS ARE DUE APRIL 25TH
To Register, contact chaptersupport@showup4rj.org or your chapter point people.

SURJ ORGANIZING STORIES: DOWN TO THE NITTY GRITTY
LOUISVILLE SURJ CASH BAIL PROJECT

Interview with Sonja de Vries of LSURJ talking about their work on canvassing to address cash bail in collaboration with the Louisville Bail Project and others. Hear some stories of working with Anne Braden, and how she sees the the work around cash bail chipping away at capitalism, patriarchy, and mass incarceration.

Watch the trailer here.
Watch the full interview here.

National Call to Organize White Men Against Patriarchy and White Supremacy

This is a call to action. Join us in creating a national network of white men organizing other white men to be more effective accomplices to People of Color, women, femmes, trans and gender non-conforming folks in the struggle for collective liberation. While white men benefit most from white supremacy and patriarchy, our allegiance to these systems also damages us: in exchange for dominance, we deny ourselves the ability to work in solidarity with others and permit our own exploitation by more powerful people and institutions. By choosing instead to stand and fight with those disempowered by white supremacy and patriarchy, we can achieve mutual interests of justice, liberation, and self-actualization. This is an affinity group: anyone, regardless of race or gender, is welcome and encouraged to join.

Our first national call will be Monday, April 29th, 8:30 pm-10:00 pm EDT. Please register here. Why are white men largely absent from feminist and anti-racist organizing and how might we change that? How can white men best support the organizing and leadership of others? On this call, we will discuss the need for this work, learn about the work people are already doing, and consider where each of us can plug in to engage our organizations, institutions, and communities.

If you have any questions or concerns, please email Josh Schott at josh.d.schott@gmail.com. We look forward to seeing you on the call!

Facebook event is here:
https://www.facebook.com/events/272160897001908/

Repeal the Ban and support the No ban act

Sign this petition by MPower Change to support the NO BAN Act in Congress. "I'm calling on you to cosponsor and publicly support the NO BAN Act, which would repeal Trump's Muslim, asylum, and refugee bans—and limit the statutory authorities used by the administration to enact them....."

Understanding Racial Capitalism

We had an amazing call with Robin DG Kelley on understanding racial capitalism that has been deeply informative for our local and national work. We had 1300 people register. You can watch the video and other videos from this series here. Stay tuned for more webinars in coming months.

Calendar of upcoming SURJ webinars!

Indigenous Solidarity Network: Tuesday May 7th at 8 ET
Register here.

All Chapter Call April 18th improving webinar and conference call facilitation. Register here.

All Chapter Call May 18th with Ash Overton, SURJ Organizer with a report back on the listening project. Register here.

See more calls on the calendar!

BOLD Podcast

EPISODE 2:soundcloud.com/user-682532119/bold-e02/s-aINrH Hot for your earbuds, BOLD: Conversations About Race. Listen to our conversation with author and activist Paul Kivel, featuring the poem “ID Check” from his son Ariel Luckey. Our second report from the field is straight from a @blmlosangeles led #boycott24 action at 24 Hour Fitness on Sunset Blvd in Hollywood, where #albertramondorsey was killed by LAPD in October.

]]><![CDATA[News from SURJ! March 2019]]>Mon, 11 Mar 2019 15:48:04 GMThttps://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/news-from-surj/surj-newsletter-march-2019

This month we are excited to announce that Robin DG Kelley will be speaking on a webinar covering issues we all need to understand in order to be effective in the fight against white supremacy: racial capitalism, how capitalism requires white supremacy to maintain itself, and the need to center class and the economy in our work for racial justice.

understanding and organizing to end racial capitalism

March 13th, 8 ET / 7 CT / 6 MT / 5 PT Register here: https://bit.ly/2Gx5Aqm
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1978030439173046/

SURJ works to undermine white support for racism, and broaden the base of white folks showing up for racial justice as part of a powerful multi racial movement for transformative change. But what about this unjust economic system? How does racism help keep capitalism in place? What examples do we have of poor and working class white people and People of Color joining together to challenge an unjust system?

Join a conversation with leading activist scholar Robin DG Kelley on what racial capitalism means for our work and how class impacts white people’s role in the fight to end oppression. Kelley’s work has explored the history of social movements in the U.S., the African Diaspora, and Africa; black intellectuals; music; visual culture; contemporary urban studies; historiography and historical theory; poverty studies and ethnography; and more.

For a sample of Kelley’s work watch this video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--gim7W_jQQ

SURJ Chapter/affiliate call on racial capitalism

Following our webinar with Robin DG Kelley, there will be a follow up SURJ Chapter call on Economic Justice and Racial Capitalism on April 2nd 8 ET / 7 CT / 6 MT / 5 PT. This is a call for SURJ chapters and affiliates and will be a chance to hear from other chapters/affiliates around the country about their work, challenges, victories, and campaigns for economic justice and resisting racial capitalism. Register here.

Join the surj leadership team!

Showing Up for Racial Justice is thrilled to announce that we’re expanding our leadership team (LT). The LT works closely with SURJ staff to make decisions about strategy, structure, and accountability. With more staff and a growing network, our leadership team needs committed, loving people who want to work together toward shifting culture. Please see the role description and check out the criteria to see what we’re looking for. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds who long for transformative change and collective liberation. Applications close this Friday, March 15th. You can find out more about the role and apply for the leadership team here!

Tracking the Far Right

This month's column focuses on the Proud Boys and the Alt-Lite. The Far-Right is a menagerie of ideologies, individuals, and groups spanning a broad spectrum of the movement. Since around 2016, a clear delineation has existed that separates these groups and followers into two general camps, known respectively as the “Alt-Lite” and the “Alt-Right”. The dividing line for these groups is the question of White Nationalism, with the Alt-Lite being multiracial and defined by Misogyny, Hyper-Nationalism, and in militant opposition to the Left.Across the nation, one of the most militant, violent, and organized groups straddling the Alt-Lite/Alt-Right divide, are The Proud Boys. Read more!

The first 2 podcasts for Lent from "The Word Is Resistance" take on questions of wholeness and doing the work to dismantle imperialism and anti-semitism. Check them out here or on iTunes, Stitchr, or TuneIn."
Ash Wednesday Stardust and the Muck
The Pillars of Imperialism

Connecting the Dots: Border Militarism, US Domestic and Foreign Policy,
and the Myriad Connections of Racial Capitalism

Visit this page for call recordings and upcoming call announcements for this political education series that will run throughout the year.
http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/connecting-the-dots-series.html

Donate to SURJ!

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