All posts by trwrightmauer

Council of Elders: A Virtual Roundtable

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Council of Elders: A virtual roundtable by Hold The Line Hudson Valley is a roundtable discussion with movement elders from the Hudson Valley on activism, solidarity and the political divide on Saturday, January 30, 2021 from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM. Register for free on eventbrite.

Join movement elders from the Hudson Valley for a conversation about the present moment, and stories and wisdom from the past. How do we ground ourselves in the new year? How do we build coalitions in solidarity with others across political divides while staying accountable to ourselves and all people most directly impacted by systemic oppression?

The council includes leaders from local African Roots Libraries, ENJAN, and the NAACP, Restorative Justice practitioners and long-time activists and organizers in Labor, Environmental Justice, LGBTQIA Rights, Antiracism and Civil Rights movements.

Moderated by Tracy Givens-Hunter, the elders include: Maude Bruce, Paul Bermanzohn, Sally Bermanzohn, Otia Lee, Denise Oliver-Velez, Sandra Oxford, Rob Pinto, Loriman Rhodell, Cheryl Schneider, and Odell Winfield.

Read, Listen, and Watch – November 2020

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INDIGENOUS ACTION: An Autonomous Podcast

About the podcast: Welcome to Indigenous Action where we dig deep into critical issues impacting our communities throughout Occupied America/Turtle Island. This is an autonomous anti-colonial broadcast with unapologetic and claws-out analysis towards total liberation.  Available on iTunes, Spotify, and Google Play.

In this premiere broadcast some long-time Indigenous Action co-conspirators talk about their thoughts on “land acknowledgements.”

16 Sep: Indigenous Action Ep. 1: Acknowledge This!

Read, Listen, and Watch – November 2020

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“WE SHALL REMAIN: America Through Native Eyes”

PBS documentary series, shown at ALANA Center’s Anti-thanksgiving events, and originally aired on PBS in 2009. “These five documentaries spanning almost four hundred years tell the story of pivotal moments in U.S. history from the Native American perspective, upending two-dimensional stereotypes of American Indians as simply ferocious warriors or peaceable lovers of the land”

Available through the Vassar College Libraries – DVD 5388

The first episode of the PBS series was directed by Chris Eyre (Smoke Signals,1998), which was written, directed, and acted by Native people and reenacts and historicizes the first thanksgiving.

Available through the Vassar College Libraries – DVD 8779

Literacy Moment – November 2020

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BIPOC = Black, Indigenous, People of Color
A BIPOC lens puts Black abolition and Native Justice in conversation and coalition with one another. It highlights their historical intersections and differences and “the common ground of Afro-descendant and Indigenous experience, such as land dispossession, political marginalization, and a shared desire for sovereignty and self-determination.”

Taken from the Introduction to the special issue on “Rethinking Blackness and Indigeneity in the Light of Settler Colonial Theory” in American Indian Culture and Research Journal: Vol. 43, No. 2 (2019) http://www.books.aisc.ucla.edu/books

In particular see, “Settler/Colonial Violences: Black and Indigenous Coalition Possibilities through Intergroup Dialogue Methodology” with Vassar’s Professor Kimberly Williams Brown!

Also available through the Vassar College Libraries – E75 .A5124

Other Resources:
Yellow Head Institute – An Indigenous Abolitionist Study Guide
The BIPOC Project – A Black, Indigenous, & People of Color Movement

Vassar College Land Acknowledgement

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We acknowledge that Vassar stands upon the homelands of the Munsee Lenape, Indigenous peoples who have an enduring connection to this place despite being forcibly displaced by European colonization.

Munsee Lenape peoples continue today as the Stockbridge-Munsee Community in Wisconsin, the Delaware Tribe and the Delaware Nation in Oklahoma, and the Munsee Delaware Nation in Ontario. This acknowledgment, however, is insufficient without our reckoning with the reality that every member of the Vassar community since 1861 has benefited from these Native peoples’ displacement, and it is hollow without our efforts to counter the effects of structures that have long enabled—and that still perpetuate—injustice against Indigenous Americans. To that end, we commit to build and sustain relationships with Native communities; to expand opportunities at Vassar for Native students, as well as Native faculty and other employees; and to collaborate with Native nations to know better the Indigenous peoples, past and present, who care for this land.

Flashback

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Molly McGlennen wrote and recited the poem, “Vigilance,” in the fall of 2016 in support of the Dakota Access Pipeline protests (hashtag #NoDAPL) and against the Trump election. The poem was featured in the exhibition entitled “The World After January 20th, 2017,” curated by Judy Nichols and Monica Church, in the wake of Trump’s inauguration, which brought together the work of community artists, poets and activists through an exhibit and protest that circled Main building at Vassar. “Each morning we wake up to a new order: bans, firings, and threats to liberty, humanity and the Earth.”  The work continues.

VIGILANCE

This winter you will need insulated boots
and gloves; propane and wood, though
wind generators are ideal.
You never knew camp etiquette
would read like a manifesto.

A thin shadow cast by shortening
days. Solstice approaches
then falls away. Everywhere, it falls
away. Sub-zero hands direct
kinship, traffic, a camera’s shutter.

What more can greed take, when protracted
songs pitch shelter against
sets of men’s pockets,
whether thieves, plutocrats,
churchgoers. Everything, you say.

You erect tents and websites, assemble
pittance before long histories of amassment.

Free land, free labor, makes the rapacious few.

Come spring, you will notice
new needs. A windbreaker, you hope. For now
those stars set deep in what seems
a blacker sky.

You pluck one, you think,
and place it in your gloved palm, almost
your heart. Almost your life.

From Our Bearings, by Molly McGlennen. © 2020 by Molly McGlennen. Reprinted by permission of the University of Arizona Press and the Author.

Opportunities for Action – July 2020

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NEW PRIORITIES FOR DUTCHESS

Despite financial crisis and looming layoffs, Dutchess County plans to begin construction of a new $200 million jail–one that would hold 328 people, when we currently have 140 in the jail. 

The county legislature will vote July 9 at 5:30 pm on whether to move forward with the project. Please join the community in a silent protest outside the County Office Building from 4 to 5:30PM and join 200 participants who will line up (6′ distant) on Market St. holding million-dollar signs, while others will bring signs expressing alternative budget priorities. Please bring a mask and a friend! 

Lead organizers of the event are the Democratic Caucus of the Dutchess County Legislature, the Progressive Black and Latino Caucus, and End the New Jim Crow Action Network (ENJAN) of Poughkeepsie. Other co-sponsors are Nobody Leaves Mid-Hudson; Race Unity Circle; Stop the Violence; Celebrating the African Spirit; Beacon Prison Action; Justice for Aleesa; Dutchess County Progressive Action 

To voice your opinion before the vote:

https://www.dutchessny.gov/Departments/County-Legislature/Dutchess-County-Legislators.htm

Opportunities for Action – July 2020

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RIGHT TO KNOW ACT

ENJAN (End the New Jim Crow Action Network!) has been working with NYCLU to support the passage of the Right to Know Act (RTKA) in the City of Poughkeepsie. This law, which can be adopted by local and municipal governments, would require police officers stopping citizens to identify themselves and explain the reason for the stop. The idea behind the RTKA is that it would promote a conversation between civilians and law enforcement. Requiring officers to identify themselves and explain their actions promotes a more consistent, respectful, and community-minded approach to enforcement activities while also potentially reducing the likelihood that a routine police stop will turn violent.

The City of Poughkeepsie Common Council held a special legislative session on June 29th to advance business and dialogue toward policing reform and racial justice and a Hearing to receive public comment on July 6th.

All recordings of Poughkeepsie City Council, Committee and Special meetings can be found here: https://totalwebcasting.com/view/?id=cop

Background:

https://www.courtwatchdutchess.org/blog/2020/6/16/policing-in-america-making-police-more-transparent-and-accountable

To voice your opinion:

https://cityofpoughkeepsie.com/common-council/members

July Celebrations – Good things happening in our community!

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POUGHKEEPSIE COMMUNITY WIFI PROJECT (PKCW) 

Nubian Directions II Inc., a long standing local not-for-profit with a history of working with low-income, under-served, academically under-prepared, multi-cultural populations in the City of Poughkeepsie, continues to move forward to provide free Wi-Fi access to “unconnected” City of Poughkeepsie residents.

It is the objective goal to create a local WiFi project that is “community owned-supported”. The WiFi mesh network will aid in closing the socio-economic digital divide while building a technology inclusive community. As NDI “builds-out” and expands the PKCW WiFi mesh network in the City of Poughkeepsie, we are very mindful that we need to prepare quickly in case there is a second round of COVID-19 in the upcoming fall/winter months. NDI will continue to work with our local colleges, school district, City/County officials, CBOs/non-profits, homeowners, faith-based and civic organizations, businesses, in order to expedite the site locations and WiFi equipment installations. 

Free WiFi is available at the following locations; Winnikee Avenue, Mansion St. Square Park, Malcolm X, and Pershing Avenue Park. Local city residents and Poughkeepsie City School District students can now  enjoy free WiFi/internet access.

Interested parties are welcome to join us and email us for more information about serving on a volunteer WiFi committee.  Contact Nubian Directions (845) 452- 8574 or email rwright@nubiandirections.org.