August 2022

What's Going On?

The vigils are on fire! People are expanding the sharing with personal stories, resources and thoughts. It's an amazing space to stand in and we hope you join us for our next vigil this Sunday, August 14 at the Chilmark Library. If you can't make it in person, join us via Zoom. Sometimes the library wifi is a bit iffy and it takes a bit to get us started or it doesn't work at all. We're doing our best to record the presentations. You can go to the MVBLM YouTube page and watch many of them. Please like the page when you're there to enable improved services. The island is hopping with things to do. Check out our weekly emails for current activities. A few more things...

Steve Mulroy wins in TN: We're happy to report that Steve Mulroy handily defeated incumbent Amy Weirich for Shelby County District Attorney. Thank you to all who supported Mulroy's candidacy. We're hopeful this will have a positive impact on Pervis Payne's case and lead to his quick release. Abortion Conversations Recap: Some folks requested we send out the information about how to discuss abortion from last month's newsletter again. You can revisit all of the content here. Scholarships Available Thanks to Generous Donors: You may have heard, Sassafras Earth Education is partnering with MVBLM to offer an Indigenous Awareness, Cultural Sensitivity & Competency Training. There's still room if you'd like to join us this Saturday and next. How long have you been coming or living on the island? The Wampanoag people have been here for 15,000 years. Learn from the original stewards of the land. Contact Leah or Lexi if you'd like to attend. The New Georgia Project: Thank you to everyone who participated in the New Georgia Project event last Sunday. The event raised $130,000. Your support will definitely have an impact on turning Georgia around. We need speakers: We depend upon the group to share. If you haven't done it yet, we'll help you plan and support you through it. Please contact Dana Nunes if you'd like to present at an upcoming vigil. 

Click here to access MV BLM's Website. Share it with friends and family!

Honoring Black and Brown Lives

July 31: Watch the honoring (Part 1 and Part 2) of Al Bright by Bob Reardon. You can also read what Bob shared here as a small portion of the video is missing. August 7: Watch the honoring of Samuel Celestine by Andy Celli. Your participation in the Sunday vigil keeps it going. Please sign up to present. See the names of those previously honored here. Details of how to present are included in the document. Use this resource to find stories of Black women who were killed and amplify their stories.

Angst to Action

Want to be a Global Citizen? Find out more about what MVBLM Todd Bernstein's organization, Global Citizen, is doing to make a difference. His work offers us all a model for turning our angst into action. Whether it's organizing the largest Martin Luther King Day of service in the country (celebrating it's 27th year) or supporting many community events from early literacy to leadership workshops, Global Citizen is making a difference.

Mass Incarceration Read this article highlighting the inequality of sentencing and charging Black and Brown Massachusetts residents. What can we do about it? One immediate option is to post bail for people. Jails are filled with people awaiting trail because they can't pay bail. The Massachusetts Bail Fund will post up to $1,000 per person. Getting out of jail as quickly as possible can allow people to keep their job, stay housed, reduce their incarceration time and help keep families together. Consider what you can do.

The Massachusetts Bail Fund

More To Do

Friends with Benefits -- A Black Girl's Anxiety: If you do nothing else today, watch Jae Nichelle read her powerful poem about anxiety. I promise you'll want to watch it again. You can follow her here. Environmental Racism: The impact of redlining lives on. Read how Black and Brown communities (redlined areas) "are noisier, hotter, have poorer quality air and water, and residents live with more chronic diseases." Discrimination at the Federal Level: It may come as no surprise, but the National Science Foundation has discriminated against funding applicants for decades. According to Ellen McGirt -- "The independent federal agency has an $8 billion annual budget and funds about 25% of all federally supported basic research at colleges and universities in the U.S. Four researchers reviewed over a million proposals submitted between 1996 and 2019 and found an alarming, racist trend." The impact -- shutting off academic careers for Black and Brown people. Read more here. VoteChat: Check out this new initiative (VoteChat) from the Emancipator and Northeastern University. It's a chat bot that gives people real time information about how to vote in their community. Given all the new laws, people are looking for answers about where to vote, if they need ID, etc. Now they can get them in one place. 

Listen to Shed, a podcast series featuring interviews with islanders working to end systemic racism. Eric Adams leads each discussion using the unique lens of a therapist. Listeners are invited to "shed their old beliefs about race and make room for a new understanding of it's impact and implications."