Greetings! Voter suppression and ICE/Border Patrol are effecting people's rights to live and advocate for themselves. Help support women leaving the Chittenden Regional Corrections Facility.
-Kina Thorpe, Educational Program Manager
Click here to for the quarterly Peace & Justice Center Newsletter
January 6, 2020
From January 6 to January 11 we will be taking our yearly intentional pause to focus on evaluating our work, connecting with each other, and improving our physical and electronic spaces (including new floors in the store!). During this time we will not be readily responding to emails or phone calls, so expect a response after we return. If you have an urgent/time sensitive matter, please call 863-2345 x1 and leave a message. We will get back to you as soon as we are able!
-Betsy McGavisk and Ashley Smith, PJC members and Community Voices for Immigrant Rights organizers
A powerful policing apparatus threatens the rights, livelihood, and safety of undocumented immigrants in our state. The combined forces of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and local police and sheriffs collaborate in their arrest, detention and deportation. 
 
Police and immigration authorities do so despite the state’s Fair and Impartial Policing Policy, which had intended to end such collaboration. But the policy contains loopholes allow it to continue, putting immigrants in jeopardy. 
 
For example, in November, a Chittenden County Sheriff detained an undocumented farmworker, Luis “Chiri” Ulloa, whose crime was being in the backseat of a car pulled over for speeding. By using the routine stop to ask for immigration documents, the Sheriff was able to hand Chiri over to border patrol, who shipped him off to a prison in New Hampshire where he is being processed for deportation. 
 
That is why activists in Migrant Justice and Community Voices for Immigrant Rights have come together in a campaign called No Mas Polimigra BTV (which in Spanish means “no more police-immigration collaboration”). We are demanding that the Burlington City Council pass a resolution that would tighten Burlington’s Fair and Impartial Policing Policy and prevent any and all collusion between the Burlington Police Department (BPD), ICE and CBP. 
Suppressed: The Fight to Vote weaves together personal stories from voters across Georgia to paint a vivid picture of voter suppression, which permeated the 2018 Governor’s race and undermined Stacey Abrams’ chance to become the first black female governor in the US. But voter suppression is not just a problem in GA or even just the 'Old South'. It affects millions of voters around the US.

This film will be screened at a dozen locations across Vermont starting on January 20 in Montpelier and Waitsfield. The final screening and discussion will be on January 29, 6:30pm at Main Street Landing Performing Arts Center.

The event is free but donations are encouraged.  RSVP in advance here! All proceeds benefit Fair Fight, founded by Stacey Abrams to fight voter suppression. You can also donate in advance here ! Want to volunteer? Click here . 

The Burlington event is sponsored by Lean Left VT, Essex Resists, Flip the Vote, and the Peace & Justice Center. Main Street Landing Performing Arts Center has generously donated the use of their facility for this important event. Learn more about Lean Left by visiting their website.
This is a partial listing. See more in our public  calendar . The PJC is not directly involved in all of these events.

January 6, Monday

January 7, Tuesday

January 8, Wednesday
  • 6 – 8pm, Families United, The Root Social Justice Center, Brattleboro
  • 6 – 8pm, RAD Organizing Team Meeting, 423 Main St, Bennington
  • 7 – 8:30pm, Bennington 350VT Local Group Meeting, 115 Hillside St, Bennington

January 9, Thursday

January 12, Sunday

January 13, Monday

January 14, Tuesday
  • 6 – 8:30pm, PJC board mtg

January 15, Wednesday


Email  us events for our  google calendar  and enews
PJC
Programs & Events

Community Voices for Immigrant Rights , Monday, January 6, 5:30-7:30pm, 241 N Winooski Ave. Join us as we work to amplify local organizing efforts in support of immigrant rights with an emphasis on Migrant Justice's No Mas Polimigra campaign. For new and seasoned organizers alike to join in defense of human rights. Free dinner from 5:30-6. Free child care available upon request, please email Women's March VT . Location is wheelchair accessible. FREE

Fair Trade Labels Presentation , January 25, 2-3pm, PJC. Explore the differences between Fair Trade Certifications, Membership Organizations, and Direct Trade better understand the Fair Trade Movement. Stay after to learn about volunteering at the PJC. FREE

Talking with Kids About Racism Wednesdays January 15, 22, and 29, 5:30-7:30pm at The Schoolhouse, South Burlington. This 3 part program is for all concerned about the impact of racism/ white privilege on kids. Talking about racism can be hard--especially with kids, but that does not mean the conversations should be ignored. Learn tools to discuss these issues with children in a meaningful and age-appropriate way. Co-Sponsored by The Schoolhouse Learning Center. Free childcare provided. Register here.

POC Affinity Group Thursday, January 30, 6-8pm at the PJC. This program is led by people of color, for people of color. It is a monthly gathering for POC to come together to share their experiences and explore their identities. You do not have had to attend previous meetings in order to come. FREE

Toxic Whiteness Discussion Group Thursday, February 13, 5:30-6:30pm at the PJC. This space is held for white people to specifically process how white supremacy culture is harmful to them. The hope is that by joining this space, white people will be better able to allow for the emotional needs of people of color to take priority in multi-racial spaces. FREE

For more info on these events visit our website or contact  program@pjcvt.org
Want to see more of the PJC more often?

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Bloody November
-Mark Hage, VTJP

November was another bloody month in Occupied Palestine.

The Al Quds Center reported that Israeli occupation forces killed 43 Palestinians last month – 3 in Hebron, 1 from Jenin, 1 from Jerusalem, and 38 in Gaza. The center also revealed that 526 Palestinians have been killed since Donald Trump’s announcement of occupied Jerusalem as Israel’s capitol two years ago.

Trumping the Race Card
In Trumping the Race Card: A National Agenda - Moving Beyond Race and Racism Rodney Patterson ( author, consultant, and founder of the New Alpha Missionary Baptist Church in Burlington) provides an examination of race/racism in the U.S. He invites us to consider questions including:  
Are racism and prejudice the same or are they supporting ideologies? What makes a person a racist in the true sense of the word? Is there a way for us to trump the race card or overcome race and racism? Visit his website for more information on his book. This book is also available in the Peace & Justice Store.
Center Hours 
Monday-Friday: 10am-6pm
  
Store Hours
Closed Mondays 
Tuesday-Saturday: 10am-6pm
Sunday: 10am-5pm
 
Hours are subject to change. Call  (802) 863-2345 x2  
to confirm.
  
Location
60 Lake Street, Suite 1C
Burlington's Waterfront.
(Next to Skinny Pancake)   
Action Alerts: Women's March 2020,
Weatherize Burlington Apartments
Women's March 2020, January 18 at
Castleton University

Women’s March Vermont 2020 will have something for everyone near and far (including a livestream)! There will be actions to take onsite at Castleton University, offsite at an action/watch party, or from wherever you are with your phone.

Rising progressive star Rep. Summer Lee will be keynoting this town hall style event. Rep. Lee took office in Jan 2019 and is the first Black woman from western PA to be elected to the PA House of Representatives. Before she took office, Rep. Lee was a dedicated organizer, activist and advocate for social justice in her local community. Her legislative priorities include criminal justice reform; education, health care and energy policy reforms; a progressive tax structure for Pennsylvania and a $15 minimum wage for all workers.
 
Hosts for the afternoon are Mia Schultz and Sade Bolger.

As part of this event, Women's March is seeking donations to support women released from Chittenden Regional Corrections Facility. Items can be brought to the onsite event in Castleton on January 18th or to the Peace & Justice Center in Burlington from January 11th to 17th.

Much needed items include:
  • Clothes (Larger sizes like XL, 2XL, 3XL are most needed)
  • Hygiene products
  • Outerwear 
  • Shoes
  • Prepaid phones and minutes, grocery gift cards, and makeup for job interviews, etc. are desperately needed.

Event presented by Women’s March Vermont and Planned Parenthood Vermont Action Fund.
If you plan to attend in person, you must reserve tickets. You can do so by clicking below.
The Burlington City Council is considering requiring all landlords to weatherize the homes of tenants. Many landlords will lobby that they shouldn't have to weatherize at all (or should have a cap on how much it will cost them), that they should be able to take a long time to complete the weatherization process, and that they they should be allowed to put the cost of weatherization on to tenants.

All Burlington landlords should be required to fully weatherize renters' homes due to the impending climate disaster and the injustice of making tenants pay exorbitant utility bills. As owners of rental properties that already cost more than many people can afford, it is their job to make sure their tenants have livable homes.

Sign the petition to demand that landlords weatherize their buildings.
Peace & Justice Store
Peace & Justice Center | 802-863-2345 |  info@pjcvt.org  |  http://www.pjcvt.org
60 Lake St, Ste 1C
Burlington, VT 05401