Baltimore Activist Alert - June 18, 2014

20] Progressive Round Table – June 18
21] Visit the office of Rep. Sarbanes – June 18
22] Building power in the community – June 18
23] Growing up in Birmingham, Alabama – June 18
24] See a film at the Jerusalem Fund – June 18
25] Pan-African community talk series – June 18
26] Get Money Out of Maryland Meeting – June 18
27] "Too Poor for Pop Culture" – June 18
28] The situation in Iraq – June 18
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20] – The June Educate Congress letter supports the 21st Century Civil Rights Agenda. On June 18 from 1 to 3 PM, Progressive Democrats of America will host a special Progressive Round Table highlighting the 21st Century Civil Rights Agenda. Topics will include updates on voting rights, Constitutional Pay Equity (ERA), restoration of voting rights for people with past felony convictions, the Robin Hood Tax, ending racial profiling (Trayvon's law), environmental justice, healthcare justice and voting rights for the District of Columbia. Join in person at the Rayburn House Building 2103 or via Live Stream at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Io_I4t2JW_Y. Go to www.pdacommunity.org.

21] – As part of the national "Educate Congress" Campaign Letter Drops, on Wed., June 18 at 4:30 PM, the Pledge of Resistance will go to Rep. John Sarbanes’ office, 600 Baltimore Ave., Suite 303, Baltimore, MD 21204. While inside, we will deliver a letter calling on him to vote for the 21st Century Civil Rights Agenda and to support an end to the use of killer drone strikes, which we believe to be illegal and unconstitutional. Let Max know if you can sign on to the letter and go to Sarbanes’ office--410-366-1637 or mobuszewski at verizon.net. Are you a constituent?

22] – On Wed., June 18 at 6 PM at the United Black Fund, 2500 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. SE, there will be a talk not just about jobs, but also about power. Tackle powerlessness. How can we build power in our community? Contact ONE DC at organizer@onedconline.org. Call 202.760.4875.

23] – On Wed., June 18 from 6:30 to 8 PM at Busboys & Poets, 2021 14th St. NW, 14th & V Sts., hear about Amos Townsend and Randall Jimerson who grew up in Birmingham, Alabama, the city that Martin Luther King, Jr. had referred to as “the most segregated city in America.” At the height of the civil rights movement, since one was black and the other white, the two boys never met, each sheltered in his own race-defined community. But both were deeply touched by the violent and exhilarating events around them in the early 1960s. Fifty years later, they come together to report on what that experience was like for each of their families and how it shaped each of their lives. With today’s young people in mind, they share their lifelong commitment to justice. Go to http://bbpbooks.teachingforchange.org/book/9780807154373.

24] – On Wed., June 18 from 6:30 to 8:30 PM, see the film La Vallee des Larmes (The Valley of Tears) at the Jerusalem Fund, 2425 Virginia Ave. NW. Marie, a Montreal publisher specializing in memoirs by war survivors, receives an anonymous document, the condensed story of Ali, a young Palestinian who grew up in a refugee camp in Lebanon. Intrigued, she begins a search for the author and enlists the help of Joseph, a Lebanese man who is painting her office. Go to http://www.thejerusalemfund.org/ht/d/EventDetails/i/45900.

25] – Get over to the Emergence Community Arts Collective, 733 Euclid St. NW, on Wed., June 18 from 6:30 to 8:30 PM to discuss African/Black Women, Gender, and the Way Forward, as part of the Pan-African community talk series. Email mjibaf@msn.com/aaprpmd@gmail.com or call 202-294-5593.

26] – The June 2014 Get Money Out of Maryland Meeting, the 28th Amendment – National Perspectives and Local Action, is happening at the Govans Presbyterian Church, 5828 York Road, on Wed., June 18 at 7 PM. Get an eye-witness account of the recent hearing in the United States Senate and participate in planning to pass the Democracy Resolution in the 2015 session of the Maryland General Assembly. Visit http://www.getmoneyoutmd.org/events. Call 410-435-7333.

27] – D. Watkins will make a presentation of "Too Poor for Pop Culture" as a zine release and will do a reading on Wed., June 18 at 7:30 PM @ Red Emma's, 30 W. North Ave., Baltimore 21201.. His essays for Salon and elsewhere, chronicling the struggles and hustles of Black Baltimore and his own trajectory from street dealer to creative writer, are no doubt the first shots fired by a major literary talent in the making. This is his first printed collection of essays—published as a Red Emma's zine. Call 443-602-7585. Go to http://www.redemmas.org.

28] – On Wed., June 18 at 9 PM, hear about the situation in Iraq. The Call-in Number is 712-432-1212, and the Meeting ID is 446-724-667#. RSVP to rustiandgael@unitedforpeace.org. Phyllis Bennis, Institute for Policy Studies and Nicholas J. Sandy Davies, author “Blood on Our Hands” will discuss the crisis in Iraq and Syria and the threat of US military intervention. How can the antiwar movement respond?

As the situation in Iraq deteriorates, the “Never Learn” caucus is demanding no US military intervention in the form of ground troops, air strikes, Special Operations and weapons deliveries. The unfolding tragedy in Iraq is a direct consequence of the illegal American invasion and occupation of that country. The least helpful idea is for the United States to involve itself militarily in Iraq or Syria. US military intervention, whether directly or by providing arms, will increase the suffering of people in those countries and enhance the risk of a wider regional conflict.

To be continued.

Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218. Ph: 410-366-1637; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/.

"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs