April 2022

What's Going On?

Let's celebrate the first Black woman supreme court justice -- Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson! Read this thoughtful piece from AAFP regarding her confirmation process. While you're on their site, check out their Master Class as well as many upcoming events. We have a podcast for you. If you haven't listened to it yet, Seeing White is a great series on whiteness in America.

Please subscribe to MVBLM on YouTube. More supporters will give us access to additional services. Next vigil: Please contact Dana Nunes if you'd like to present at an upcoming vigil. For those of you joining us, please use this Zoom link on the first Sunday of each month at 10:30 AM. Our next vigil will be Sunday, May 1 at 10:30 AM. If you get a pass code prompt, please use this: 125857. Send us an email at Hello@mvblm.org if you're having trouble connecting. We'll be going live (in-person) over Memorial Day weekend. Join us at the Chilmark Library at 10:30 AM on May 29 for our first weekly vigil of the year.

Click here to access MV BLM's WebsiteShare it with friends and family!

Honoring Black and Brown Lives April 3: Jenoah Donald, killed in 2021 by Vancouver, Washington police, was honored by John Freeman. You can read John's presentation here. 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.

Fund This! Bring Under-served PA Youth to the Island: Under-served BIPOC youth from Philadelphia, PA will be visiting MV the week of June 16 - 23. We need your help to bring them here. Please contact Eric Adams and make a donation to support this important program. (Photo credit to Vineyard Gazette)

And This! You're invited for refreshments and learning on August 7 at the home of Geraldine Brooks. Find out more about America’s most important and effective voting rights group: the New Georgia Project Action Fund founded by Stacey Abrams, and now led by special guest, Nse Ufot. In exchange for an individual contribution of $500, we will gather to hear from Nse about the New Georgia Project Action Fund’s groundbreaking work, and its plans for 2022, 2024, and for promoting voting rights and voter participation in Georgia and other critical battleground states. 

Angst to Action

Stop the Execution of Melissa Lucio Melissa Lucio is facing execution on April 27, 2022, in Texas for the murder of her 2-year-old daughter Mariah — a crime that never occurred. Mariah died two days after accidentally falling down a steep flight of stairs and Melissa has maintained her innocence on death row for more than 14 years. Sign the petition.

Vote for Housing: It's Town Meeting time. If you're on the island, attend your town meeting and vote in favor of the housing bank warrant article. Meeting schedule: Tisbury, W. Tisbury, Oak Bluffs, Edgartown -- April 12; Chilmark -- April 25; Aquinnah -- May 10. 

More To Do Know your candidates: Find out who's running in your island town and vote in the upcoming elections. Vote Forward : Sign up now to join their letter writing campaign for the mid-term elections. Read: Reducing Racial Disparities through Decriminalization in Massachusetts: What seems to work and what makes matters work. Watch: Sapelo, a WGBH piece about last remaining African American enclave of the Saltwater Geechee people off the coast of Georgia. Reparations: Discuss proposed reparations for families of the Tulsa Massacre. Don't Forget Ukraine (Click on image below)