Baltimore Activist Alert July 31 – August 14, 2016

Baltimore Activist Alert July 31 – August 14, 2016

"I speak as an American to the leaders of my own nation. The great initiative in this war is ours.

The initiative to stop it must be ours." -Martin Luther King Jr.

Friends, this list and other email documents which I send out are done under the auspices of the Baltimore Nonviolence Center.  Go to www.baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com.  If you appreciate this information and would like to make a donation, send contributions to BNC, 325 East 25th Street, Baltimore, MD 21218.  Max Obuszewski can be reached at 410-323-1607 or mobuszewski [at] verizon.net.

1] Books, buttons and stickers

2] Web site for info on federal legislation

3] Join Nonviolent Resistance lists  

4] Buy coffee through HoCoFoLa

5] Two friends are looking to buy a house in Baltimore

6] Affordable Housing Trust Fund on ballot – deadline Aug. 8

7] Tour of The Real News Network – July 31

8] Splashdance – July 31

9] Seniors Benefits Workshop – July 31

10] Register for Pax Christi National Gathering – deadline Aug. 1

11] Register for a Peace Camp – Aug. 1 - 5

12] Pentagon Vigil – Aug. 1

13] Marc Steiner on WEAA – Aug. 1– Aug. 5

14] “There is a Solution,” – Aug. 2

15] Philadelphia Peace Vigil – Aug. 2

16] Protest JHU drone research – Aug. 2

17] See the film “24 Hours After Hiroshima” – Aug. 2

18] Book talk “African Americans Against the Bomb – Aug. 2

19] Hiroshima commemoration – Aug. 7

20] Nagasaki Commemoration – Aug. 9

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1] – Buttons, bumperstickers and books are available.  “God Bless the Whole World, No Exceptions” stickers are in stock. Call Max at 410-323-1607.

2] – To obtain information how your federal legislators voted on particular bills, go to http://thomas.loc.gov/.  Congressional toll-free numbers are 888-818-6641, 888-355-3588 or 800-426-8073. The White House Comment Email is accessible at http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/.

3] – THE ORGANIZING LIST will be the primary decision-making mechanism of the National Campaign of Nonviolent Resistance [NCNR].  It will be augmented by conference calls and possibly in-person meetings as needed.  It will consist of 1 or 2 representatives from each local, regional, or national organization (not coalitions) that wishes to actively work to carry out the NCNR campaign of facilitating and organizing nonviolent resistance to the war in Iraq.

To join the ORGANIZING List, please send your name, group affiliation, city and email address to mobuszewski at Verizon.net.  Different local chapters of a national organization are encouraged to subscribe.  

THE NOTICES LIST will include only notices of NCNR actions and related information and is open to any interested person to subscribe.  It will be moderated to maintain focus & will include periodic notices about getting involved in NCNR national organizing.  To join the NOTICES List, send an email message to ncnrnotices-subscribe@lists.riseup.net. You will get a confirmation message once subscribed.  If you have problems, please write to the list manager at ncnrnotices-admin@lists.riseup.net.

4] – You can help safeguard human rights and fragile ecosystems through your purchase of HOCOFOLA Café Quetzal. Bags of ground coffee or whole beans can be ordered by mailing in an order form. Also note organic cocoa and sugar are for sale.  For more details and to download the order form, go to http://friendsoflatinamerica.typepad.com/hocofola/2010/02/hocofola-cafe-quetzal-order-form-2010.html. The coffee comes in one-pound bags.

Fill out the form and mail it with a check made out to HOCOFOLA on or before the second week of the month.  Be sure you indicate ground or beans for each type of coffee ordered.  Send it to Francine Sheppard at 5639B, Harpers Farm Rd., Columbia 21044. The coffee will arrive some time the following week and you will be notified where to pick it up. Contact Francine at 410-992-7679 or FrancineMSW@aol.com.

5] – Janice and Max are looking to buy a house in Baltimore.  Let Max know if you have any leads—410-323-1607 or mobuszewski at Verizon dot net.

6] – Betsy Krieger wrote to say that there is an affordable housing crisis in Baltimore City- with vacant properties and unaffordable rents.  The good news is there is a solution that has been used successfully in other cities—an Affordable Housing Trust Fund. An Affordable Housing Trust Fund can make Baltimore more livable for everyone.  How can we make this happen? By passing an amendment to the City Charter. 

Consider giving a few hours of your time to collect signatures to put this on the ballot. 10,000 signatures of Baltimore City voters are needed by August 8 to get this on the ballot!  People are happy to sign; they just need to be asked. Go to http://housingforallbaltimore.org/#volunteer. Visit www.housingforallbaltimore.org or contact Rebecca at info@housingforallbaltimore.org.

On any given night, 3000 people, including children and their families, are homeless.  25,000 Baltimore City households, more than half with children, are on the waiting list for desperately needed federal housing assistance, where they will wait as much as ten years.  Volunteers are needed, but you can get paid.  People who are able to work 10-40 hours/week between now and Aug. 8 can be paid $12.50/hr. You must be 18 or over, but no experience required! Please share this opportunity.

7] – Usually, the Baltimore Ethical Society, 306 W. Franklin St., Suite 102, Baltimore 21201-4661, meets on Sundays, and generally there is a speaker and discussion from 10:30 AM to noon. However, on July 31, there will be “The Real News Network Field Trip”
with Jackie Hryncewich, Development Manager, and Paul Jay, the CEO.  The Real News Network (TRNN) is a non-profit, viewer-supported daily video-news and documentary service. Since 2007, TRNN has produced more than 7,000 stories that have been viewed more than 100 million times. While TRNN has international scope, it reports news with ordinary people’s interests in mind. TRNN has an office in Toronto and headquarters in Baltimore, with their main studio and offices near City Hall. TRNN does not accept advertising, nor any government or corporate funding; TRNN is sustained by viewer donations and earned revenue. Learn more at trnn.com. TRNN producer/executive assistant Dharna Noor and news anchor Jaisal Noor are children of BES member Angad Singh.

The tour starts at 11 AM at TRNN headquarters, 231 N. Holliday St. If you would like a ride, please notify Nine Trillion at 443-766-4772 and arrive at BES by 10:30 AM. Carpools will leave at 10:40 AM. You may also meet the tour group at TRNN. Call 410-581-2322 or email ask@bmorethical.org.

8] – On Sun., July 31 at 11 AM at Red Emma's Bookstore Coffeehouse, 30 W. North Ave., Baltimore 21201, catch SPLASHDANCE - A SOCIAL JUSTICE CHILDREN'S TALE OF INTERSPECIES WATER BALLET. Ursula, a bear, and Ricardo, a human, are preparing for the water ballet competition, where the prize is a million dollars! But a new regulation at the community pool--no bears--leaves Ursula cut from the contest. Luckily, she encounters a group of undaunted animal swimmers at a local pond, and Ursula and her new team figure out a way to participate in the competition and make sure everyone is welcome at the pool once and for all. Filled with deadpan humor, adorable animals, and big themes about social justice and inclusion, Splashdance is a fun and splashy summer story with a lot of heart. Call 443-602-7585.  Go to http://www.redemmas.org.   

9] – Congressperson John Sarbanes, Maryland's Third Congressional District,  is holding a Seniors Benefits Workshop on Sun., July 31 from 2 to 4:30 PM at the Marilyn Praisener Library, 14910 Old Columbia Pike, Burtonsville, MD 20866.  It will provide seniors with information about Social Security and Medicare. It will also offer seniors the opportunity to meet one-on-one with caseworkers to discuss individual benefit issues. Call 410-832-8890.

10] – It’s the last week to register for the Pax Christi USA National Gathering to be held Aug. 12 to 14 at the Double Tree Hotel!  The regular room rate is definitely affordable. The registration is priced at $275, however, the registration rate for those 35 years or younger is still the same: $180.  But you must register by the absolute deadline: August 1.

Download the mail-in registration form by getting on the Pax Christi USA’s website: www.paxchristiusa.org. There’s a space to fill out your credit card information if you’re paying that way, mail it in, and then reserve your room by contacting the hotel directly. Keep in mind that meals are included in your registration. All the information, including keynote speakers and break out session presenters, and a schedule of events can be found on the Pax Christi USA website.  Contact Chuck at 443-846-5207.

11] – Register Your Child for the Little Friends for Peace Peace Camp at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Rockville from Mon., Aug. 1 through Fri., Aug. 5.  Parents should enroll their children for one week of learning conflict resolution, self-confidence and collaborative play. Call (240) 838-4549 or email mjpeace@gmail.com.

12] – There is a weekly Pentagon Peace Vigil from 7 to 8 AM on Mondays, since 1987, outside the Pentagon Metro stop.  The next vigil is Mon., Aug. 1, and it is sponsored by the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker.  Email artlaffin@hotmail.com or call 202-882-9649.  The vigil will be outside the Pentagon's south Metro entrance and in the designated "protest zone" behind bicycle fences across from the entrance to the Metro.  By Metro, take Yellow Line and get out at the "Pentagon" stop. Do not go to the Pentagon City stop! Go up south escalators and turn left and walk across to protest area. By car from D.C. area, take 395 South and get off at Exit 8A-Pentagon South Parking. Take slight right onto S. Rotary Rd. at end of ramp and right on S. Fern St. Then take left onto Army Navy Dr. You can "pay to park" on Army Navy Dr.,  and there is meter parking one block on right on Eads St. Payment for both of these spots begin at 8 AM.  No cameras are allowed on Pentagon grounds. Restrooms are located inside Marriott Residence Inn on corner of S. Fern and Army Navy Dr. 

13] – The Marc Steiner Show airs Monday through Friday fr6m 10 AM to noon on WEAA 88.9 FM, The Voice of the Community, or online at www.weaa.org.   The call-in number is 410-319-8888, and comments can also be sent by email to steinershow@gmail.com. All shows are also available as podcasts at www.steinershow.org.

14] – On Mon., Aug. 1 at 6 PM, hear “There is a Solution,” with Rev.  L. Livingston, Rev. Donald Morton, Police Chief R. Cummings, and Rev R. Livingston at First and Central Presbyterian Church, 1101 N Market St. Wilmington, DE. Through group discussions, develop recommendations to present to the Police /Community Advisory Board.  Go to https://endnewjimcrowde.org/.

15] – Each Tuesday from 4:30 - 5:30 PM, the Catholic Peace Fellowship-Philadelphia for peace in Afghanistan and Iraq gathers at the Suburban Station, 16th St. & JFK Blvd., at the entrance to Tracks 3 and 4 on the mezzanine.  The next vigil is Aug. 2.  Call 215-426-0364.

16] – Vigil to say "No Drone Research at JHU" each Tuesday at 33rd & North Charles Sts. join this ongoing vigil on Aug. 2  from 5:30 to 6:30  PM. Call Max at 410-323-1607.

17] –  On  Tues., Aug. 2 at 7 PM, as part of the Pacem Summer Film Series, see “24 Hours After Hiroshima” in the Meeting Room adjacent to Rodney Chapel at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 1502 W. 13th St., Wilmington, DE.  Call 302-656-2721.

18] --- On Tues., Aug. 2 from 7 to 9 PM, Vincent Intondi, Montgomery College, will do a book presentation on “African Americans Against the Bomb,” at Potters House, 1658 Columbia Road NW, WDC. Well before Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke out against nuclear weapons, African Americans were protesting the Bomb. Historians have generally ignored African Americans when studying the anti-nuclear movement, yet they were some of the first citizens to protest Truman's decision to drop atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. The book tells the compelling story of those black activists who fought for nuclear disarmament by connecting the nuclear issue with the fight for racial equality. RSVP at https://www.facebook.com/events/486264368249270/.

19] – The 32nd annual HIROSHIMA COMMEMORATION will begin on Sun., Aug. 7 at 5:30 PM at 33rd & N. Charles Sts. Demonstrate against Johns Hopkins University’s weapons contracts, including research on killer drones, commemorate the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, and remember Fukushima, Japan.  At 6:30 PM, march to the Homewood Friends Meetinghouse, 3107 N. Charles St.  Joseph Byrne, from Baltimore’s Jonah House, will perform some dulcimer music.  David Eberhardt, a member of the Baltimore Four, will read some poetry.

  Mr. Toshiyuki Mimaki, a Hiroshima Hibakusha (Atomic Bomb Survivor), will relate his experience from August 6, 1945 and call on the nations of the world to abolish nuclear weapons so that the tragedy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is never repeated. The Hibakusha’s greatest fear is that when they are gone, the memory of Hiroshima and Nagasaki will disappear and nuclear weapons will be used again, this time threatening life itself. Their prophetic voices remind us of the need to speak out against oppression and injustice, and to work for nuclear disarmament.  Mimaki is vice president of Hiroshima Prefectural Hibakusha Organization and a former executive board member of Nihon Hidankyo (The Japan Confederation of A & H Bomb Sufferers Organizations). 

At 8 PM we will enjoy dinner at the Niwana Restaurant, 3 E. 33rd Street.  All are welcome to come for food, drink and conversation. Contact Max at 410-323-1607 or mobuszewski at Verizon.net.

20] – The 32nd annual NAGASAKI COMMEMORATION will begin at 5:30 PM with a potluck dinner on Tues., Aug. 9 , 2016 at Homewood Friends Meeting, 3107 N. Charles St.  At 7 PM, the program will begin.  David Eberhardt will again read some poetry.  Then Firmin DeBrabander, a professor of philosophy at the Maryland Institute College of Art and author of "Do Guns Make Us Free?" (Yale University Press, 2015), will discuss The Madness of Gun Violence in the USA. Contact Max at 410-323-1607 or mobuszewski at Verizon.net.

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