Baltimore Activist Alert – February 21 – 22, 2021

Baltimore Activist Alert – February 21 – 22, 2021

"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 Max Obuszewski, BNC, 431 Notre Dame Lane, Apt. 206, Baltimore, MD 21212.  Max Obuszewski can be reached at 410-323-1607 or mobuszewski2001 [at] comcast.net.

1] Books, buttons and stickers

2] Web site for info on federal legislation

3] Get involved with NCNR   

4] Volunteer with a Catholic Worker house  

5] Free Prakash Churaman  

6] “Clear and Present Dangers” – Feb. 21

7] Feed the Homeless -- Feb. 21

8] Weekly Seekers' BLM Witness – Feb. 21

9] What is AfriCom Teach-in -- Feb. 21

10] Moral Monday for Health Care and Covid Relief – Feb. 21

11] Action Corps celebration – Feb. 21

12] Close Gitmo – Feb. 21

13] Healthcare Town Hall -- Feb. 21

14] Social Action Task Force – Feb. 21

15] Medicare 4 ALL Workgroup – Feb. 21

16] Peacemakers Salon – Feb. 21

17] Tuition free college -- Feb. 21

18] Pentagon Peace Vigil – Feb. 22

19] Quilts and Stories – Feb. 22 and more

20] Food Rescue – Feb. 22

21] Protect Our Homes – Feb. 22

22] Julian Assange – Feb. 22

23] Climate Solutions – Feb. 22

24] Solar webinar – Feb. 22

25] Get Money Out – Maryland – Feb. 22

26] Our Revolution National Call – Feb. 22

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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 U.S. wars.

To join the ORGANIZING List, please send your name, group affiliation, city and email address to mobuszewski2001 at Comcast dot net.  Different local chapters of a national organization are encouraged to subscribe.  

4] - Suzanne Fontanesi and Jeff Ross are in the beginning stages of renovating the basement of their house for purposes of bringing in a volunteer (targeting young adults in discernment mode), starting next fall. They are trying to grow a Catholic Worker House in Irvington (West Baltimore). In a nutshell, there is a lot that a volunteer could do in that neighborhood/Baltimore, in addition to prayer and daily community living and in addition to plugging into all the good work that people are already doing in and around Baltimore (and beyond).  If you think you might know of anyone who might be interested in starting a conversation with them about becoming such a volunteer/community member, please contact Jeff/Suzanne at 443-690-6872.

5] – Prakash Churaman was 15 when he was arrested and accused of murdering his best friend. NYPD detective Barry Brown coerced him into making a false confession over the course of hours in an interrogation room. He was convicted and sentenced to life in prison by Judge Kenneth Holder, a former prosecutor. That conviction was overturned this summer and now for the first time he has a chance to come home if money can be raised for his bail. Here is the link to a video which tells his story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FStlvKjTt4&t=7s. Here is the link to Gofundme: https://www.gofundme.com/f/freeprakashchuraman and another one to a petition: https://www.change.org/p/freeprakashchuraman.

6] – Usually, the Baltimore Ethical Society, 2521 St. Paul St., Baltimore 21218, meets on Sundays, and generally there is a speaker and discussion at 10:30 AM.  On Sun., Feb. 21, hear about “Clear and Present Danger.” The past four years have marked a dark period of divisive anti-science rhetoric and an abject lack of leadership which has set back efforts to grapple with the key environmental challenges of the present day and future. This talk will focus on two of these major challenges – the looming climate change crisis and an obscure but ubiquitous concern involving the presence of active pharmaceutical ingredients in the environment. One of the issues is extremely topical and has been highly politicized and the other is stealthy, almost completely under the radar and largely out of the public eye. Dr. Daniel Elliott will provide a brief overview of the scientific context underpinning both of these existential environmental threats and offer perspectives on how they can be addressed. Over the course of a 30-year career as an environmental engineer in industry, a major research university, and consulting, Dr. Elliott, Ph.D. has had the good fortune to be part of some of the marquee environmental challenges and transitions of our times. These included the aftermath of Love Canal and the response to uncontrolled hazardous waste sites in the 1980s to the dawning of the corporate & social responsibility movement in the 1990s and 2000s. Email PRESIDENT@BMORETHICAL.ORG for the ZOOM LOGIN INFORMATION.

7] – On Sun., Feb. 21 from noon to 3 PM EST, Feed the Homeless in downtown Baltimore, 550 Holliday St., at the intersection of Guilford Ave. & Centre St., 21202, hosted by Mark Grey. Skylyne Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization located in Baltimore. The group currently raises funds & collect donations to benefit the homeless & less fortunate men, women & children. It accepts food trays of different hot foods & soups (on location) perishable items, can goods, cases of water & juice toiletries, hygiene products, feminine products, school supplies, coats & winter accessories, footwear, pillows, blankets, and so much more. Consider making a minimum donation of $5 or $10, or any amount you can contribute. Go to https://www.facebook.com/skylynefoundation/. Email skylynefoundation@gmail.com.

8] – On Sun., Feb. 21 through Feb. 28 from 12:30 to 1:30 PM ET, join a BLM Witness at the Seekers Church, 276 Carroll St. NW, WDC 20012. Visit https://www.facebook.com/seekerschurchDC/. It is a wonderful opportunity to show up for racial justice and experience unity as passing drivers and pedestrians of all races and ethnicities wave and raise fists. Cars honk, bicyclists ring their little bike bells, and sometimes passers-by ask for a sign and join in. 

9] – On Sun., Feb. 21 from 2 to 4 PM EST, Black Alliance for Peace is holding a What is AfriCom Teach-in.  The so-called war on crime is the State’s relentless war on Baltimore’s Black working class. The Black Alliance for Peace-Baltimore chapter is clear when we say the function of the police is used to enforce the status quo of white power and control over the lives of Black, Brown, and other oppressed nations of people in Baltimore City. AFRICOM is the flip-side of the domestic war being waged by the same repressive state structure against Black and poor people in the United States. Connecting global and domestic imperialism, “BAP- Baltimore AFRICOM teach-in will highlight the ongoing military operations on the continent and the ongoing multiple federally funded militarized policing programs in Baltimore city in an attempt to develop strategic ways to resist these structures that meet the demands of organizing in Baltimore. Register for the zoom at bit.ly/3a4VADv.

10] – There is no place in America where someone making minimum wage can afford housing, healthcare, food and other essentials, and medical debt is the leading cause of personal bankruptcy in this country.  Join the Peoples Power Assembly on Moral Monday for Health Care and Covid Relief with $15/hr at 3 PM ET. There will be live streaming with Reverend William Barber in West Virginia and from speak-outs in Arizona, California, Illinois, Michigan, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania and Washington D.C. organized in partnership with SEIU, CWA and One Fair Wage.  Hear from people who are making minimum wage, struggling with healthcare, and fighting every day to ensure the transformation we need.  Check out https://actionnetwork.org/events/national-moral-monday-for-healthcare-workers-rights-and-covid-relief?link_id=1&can_id=4b9d4061aec5469758759317ac0f5285&source=email-real-relief-means-healthcare-living-wages&email_referrer=email_1082356&email_subject=real-relief-means-healthcare-living-wages.

11] – Action Corps [national@actioncorps.org] wants you to join a celebration on Sun., Feb. 21 from 3 to 4:30 PM. Buy a ticket for the online annual community celebration, with music, small group discussion, members of Congress, and more. Support the work for justice and solidarity with people around the world. Recognize U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna and other leaders. Enjoy performances by Yemeni rapper Amaani Yahya and folk and roots rock band David Wax Museum. In the face of humanitarian disasters around the world, organizations and activists, led by Action Corps, are campaigning for a global COVID response, and building a movement to stop the war on Yemen. Seize this historic moment of change to ensure 2021 brings justice for people in Yemen, Burma, the United States, and people everywhere, as we face the triple threats of climate change, conflict, and COVID. Tickets are $25 per person ($5 for students/unemployed). If money is an issue, something will be figured out.  Sign up at https://www.flipcause.com/secure/cause_pdetails/MTA2NTcz?link_id=3&can_id=4b9d4061aec5469758759317ac0f5285&source=email-correction-to-celebration-start-time&email_referrer=email_1082865&email_subject=celebrate-with-us-tomorrow.

12] – On Sun., Feb. 21 at 3 PM ET, hear speakers James Yee (former Gitmo Muslim Chaplain), Andy Worthington, and Mansoor Adayfi (former Guantanamo prisoner) at a Call to Action to Close Guantanamo.  Join Orange County Peace Coalition, CODEPINK, Veterans for Peace, Witness Against Torture, and others on Zoom.  At Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp, the US government continues to inflict inhumane treatment on 40 human beings held for 19 years without even being charged. It is past time to put an end to this shameful episode by closing GITMO now. This is the Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82270827502.  Connect with Witness Against Torture at http://witnessagainsttorture.com/.

13] – Dr. Bill Honigman for Progressive Democrats of America [info@pdamerica.org] welcomes you to attend on Sun., Feb. 21 at 4 PM ET a Healthcare Emergency Update Town Hall. PDA remains steadfast in its conviction that a #SinglePayer expanded and improved #MedicareForAll (MFA) system for universal Healthcare in the US is likely the bare minimum we will need to finally beat back this pandemic as well as to prepare for the next public health crises that climate scientists predict are heading our way.  The recently published report of the distinguished scientific journal The Lancet and its Commission on Public Policy and Health in the Trump Era confirms as much, noting likely as many as 40% of all US COVID19 deaths are preventable if we had had such a system in place. Moreover, even prior to COVID, it is noted in the same report that as of the year 2018 we likely saw as many as 400,000 preventable deaths in the US for lack of such a system. Join the Town Hall at https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0tceuhrzsvHdymeeZRwb-i7X50FJa-HMR4. The featured guest speakers are MFA Resolutions organizer for Public Citizen and great friend of PDA, Melinda St. Louis, and her colleague Zain Rizvi will also cover "the people's vaccine" campaign. 

14] – On Sun., Feb. 21 at 4 PM EST, get over to the 2021 Social Action Task Force Black History Month Party! This Online Event is hosted by the Memorial Episcopal Church. Visit us02web.zoom.us.

15] – On Sun., Feb. 21 from 5 to 6 PM EST, get with a Medicare 4 ALL Workgroup Weekly Meeting, hosted by Metro D.C. Democratic Socialists of America.  These meetings will continue through April 25.   RSVP HERE FOR ZOOM: https://actionnetwork.org/events/medicare-4-all-workgroup-weekly-meeting-m4a-19/?fbclid=IwAR0DIbPLAs5TxDKatV0gX7YDICCT4PEinwjQjDVrrsVKZMAoWK3MaI-b7Kc. Democratic Socialists are fighting to make single-payer Medicare for All healthcare a reality.  Help fight to replace our fractured and broken health system with a unified Medicare for All system. Not a DSA member? Consider becoming a Member. Fees are on a sliding scale according to what you feel you can afford: http://dsausa.org/join?source=Metro%20DC. 

16] – Maxine Garcia [maxine@codepink.org] is offering a Peacemakers Salon with Carlos Ron on Sun., Feb. 21 at 5 PM ET. CODEPINK co-founder Jodie Evans will host the conversation with Venezuelan freedom activist and writer at The Daily Signal, Carlos Ron, about the outlook for Venezuela-US relations under Biden. Register for the Zoom link at https://www.codepink.org/02212021.

17] – Mike Fox for Progressive Democrats of America [info@pdamerica.org] invites you on Sun., Feb. 21 at 7 PM ET to Learn About the "$66 Fix" to provide tuition-free college.

To attend this Tuition Free College Town Hall, RSVP at https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJEvcuytrT4jHdJ_gKn1NapBr4x5ITWEzk5i.

18] – 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 Feb. 22, 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.  

19] – On Mon., Feb. 22 through Mar., 12 from 10 AM to 4 PM EST, check out Quilts and the Stories They Tell at the Sandy Spring Museum. Capacity limitations will reflect the current Montgomery County guidelines. Reservations are encouraged. Go to https://www.sandyspringmuseum.org/quilts/. Take a close look at a quilt and you can almost hear the words of the maker, the fabric, and the purpose of this utilitarian work of art. But while every quilt has a backstory, the story quilt starts with a message. A story quilt may include words, photos, non-traditional fabrics, and embellishments along with more standard quilting techniques and materials.

20] – On Mon., Feb. 22 from noon to 1:30 PM EST, participate in Food Rescue at Land of Kush, 840 North Eutaw St., Baltimore.  This Food Rescue will continue until Mon., Apr. 26. Food Rescue Baltimore is proud to partner with The Land of Kush each and every Monday to bring free vegan and plant-based food to the community. Bring a bag, take what you want, while supplies last. #KeepItFreshDay #MeatlessMonday. See https://www.facebook.com/The-Land-of-Kush-102096254517153.

21] – The RUM Coalition meets every Monday at noon. Here is the Zoom information to join the call: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86132436934?pwd=UjBqT2YzUld0TmhvaTFWTlJFL1Rzdz09. The meeting ID is 861 3243 6934 with the Passcode being 492319. RUM is hosting a lobby night, Protect Our Homes Day, on Tues., Feb. 23 at 6 PM. Join to hear stories from Marylanders about housing instability before and during the pandemic, learn about how the Housing Justice Package can help, and express your support to your legislators. Register for the event and share it with your networks: bit.ly/RUMhomes. You can also find the Facebook event here: https://fb.me/e/2fKbhCaGL.

22] – Hear about Julian Assange's Appeal & the First Amendment on Mon., Feb. 22 at 3 PM ET with Alice Walker, Mumia Abu-Jamal and others. Register https://assangedefense.org/.

23] – Kim Coble, Maryland LCV [info@mdlcv.org] announced that Bill McKibben will be at the Climate Rally and Action Week Kick-off on Mon., Feb. 22  from 5 to 6 PM.  Sign up at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/climate-rally-and-action-week-kickoff-tickets-139938242049?emci=2324c4a9-1b72-eb11-9889-00155d43c992&emdi=ea000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001&ceid=568986. Everyone has the right to breathable air, clean water, and healthy communities. And all of these depend on a healthy climate here in Maryland. Support the Climate Solutions Now Act, the Transit Safety and Investment Act, and to reform the Environmental Justice Commission. Get ready to join virtual lobby meetings with your legislators and neighbors from February 22-25th to discuss top climate priorities.

24] – Anya at Solar United Neighbors [executivedirector@solarunitedneighbors.org] wants you to join for the 30 Million Solar Homes campaign. ‌More than 225 organizations and businesses have signed on in support. Join this Lobbying Training Webinar on Mon., Feb. 22 at 7 PM ET. Register at https://www.30millionsolarhomes.org/lobbying-training/?utm_source=email&utm_medium=weblink&utm_campaign=30msh.

25] – There is a Get Money Out - Maryland BOARD MEETING on Mon., Feb. 22 at 7:30 PM.  There is two ways to join the conference: 1) dial 1 301 715 8592 with a meeting ID: 931 3066 2622. The password is 173976 and 2} click on your device if you have downloaded the app from Zoom.  This is a GMOM Board strategy session. Observers are welcome. Visit https://www.getmoneyoutmd.org/.

26] – Our Revolution [info@ourrevolution.com] wants you to attend this week’s National Organize to Win Call! Join Amazon workers fighting against union-busting, US Sen. Ed Markey, Florida State Rep. Anna Eskamani, and other progressive champions on Mon., Feb. 22 at 8:30 PM ET!  RSVP at https://www.mobilize.us/ourrevolution/event/148017/?akid=1162.8252965.REY0ug&rd=1&t=9.

To be continued.

Donations can be sent to Max Obuszewski, Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 431 Notre Dame Lane, Apt. 206, Baltimore, MD 21212.  Ph: 410-323-1607; Email: mobuszewski2001 [at] comcast.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