|
March 15th, 2021News, Updates & Events |
|
Having Trouble Viewing the Newsletter? Please try restarting your browser or PC. |
|
Uncle Foods Diner
Meal Schedule |
|
| By purchasing tickets you will help celebrate and support Uncle Food’s Dinner’s 29th year in operation and 50,000 meals served on the streets of Ashland, ramping up to four-days-a-week instead of our traditional weekly Community Meal. We have served as a mobile crisis unit with our food deliveries, seeing people through unemployment, houselessness, COVID shutdown and the Almeda Fire. We continue to interface with other organizations to meet the food needs of those who are hungry in our community. Our meals affirm people’s right to basic needs, dignity and respect. Since 1993, Uncle Food’s Diner has been a major feeding program for Ashland’s food insecure residents. We want to honor the Ashland United Methodist Church for their partnership in supporting The Diner. Generous donors like you are the key to our success and make it possible for Uncle Food’s Diner to provide local individuals and families in need with a warm meal and an opportunity to feel welcomed into our community. Our thanks for your time and consideration! |
|
| The Peace House Honors Marjorie Maybury Kellogg for Women’s History Month 
Marjorie Maybury Kellogg
1923-2008
Peace House Founder and Peacemaker Awardee
In the 1960s Marjorie Kellogg and her husband Ogden helped found the Quaker worship group that later became South Mountain Friends Meeting in Ashland, Oregon. John Stahmer, who was attending in 1982, shared with Marjorie and other Quaker Friends, his dream of an organization devoted to working for peace in the Rogue Valley. They helped him and others who were active locally in halting the nuclear arms race actualize that dream. In 1996, at Marjorie’s invitation, Peace House relocated to the lower level of a house at 543 South Mountain Ave. that the Kelloggs had purchased with the intention of offering it to the Meeting as a permanent home. Four years later, the Meeting moved into the upper level. The Kelloggs then gifted the building equally to Peace House and the Meeting, which was Marjorie’s wish. Marjorie’s enduring contribution to Peace House was not the sole reason its Board of Directors chose to keep her memory alive with a Peacemaker’s Award in 2016. Her own life bore witness to the beauty of peace and peace making, and many organizations and individuals in the Rouge Valley benefited from her generosity. Born in 1923 in Altadena, California, she graduated from the University of California Berkeley. In 1953 she moved with her husband Ogden to Hillside Farm near Gold Hill, Oregon. She earned a Master’s Degree in Counseling at Oregon State University in 1965 and a teaching certificate from Southern Oregon University.
 Ogden Kellogg, Sr., Marjorie’s husband, partnered with her in founding the Quaker Meeting in Ashland, donating the building to Peace House and South Mountain Friends Meeting, which the two groups occupy. The Kellogs were both public school teachers, but from 1970 to 1976 they ran the Hillside Farm School, a Quaker boarding middle school, on their farm outside Gold Hill. Ogden served on the county Planning Commission and the Board of the Southern Oregon Land Conservancy. Both children of wealth, they lived simply and gave away much of what they owned. Ogden died on April 7th of 2017. |
|
News & UpdatesCOVID Housing and Community The Environment The Nation International Legislation Journalism Civil Rights History EventsClimate- Southern Oregon Climate Action Now
- Community Engagement Program – The Psychological Toll of Climate Change – March 17
- Natural Resources Program – Forests and Fire Project – March 17
- Government: County & City Project – March 25
- Ashland Climate Action Project – Natural Gas: The Fossil Fuel You Came to Love – March 25
- Bringing Social Equity to Climate Advocacy – March 30
Social JusticeCommunity TV & Films |
|
Jackson County COVID StatisticsCurrent as of 03/15/2021: View updated stats HERE Jackson County COVID-19 TESTING SITES |
|
|
Dear friends, social activists and fearless comrades,
I have been working for ONA as a labor representative for nurses in Southern Oregon. We all know how difficult the last year has been in Southern Oregon and through it all, Oregon nurses have been there, serving our community through COVID and wildfire and everything else that has come up. I represent the nurses at Providence Medford Medical Center, where nurses earn less than anywhere in the valley. Meanwhile they are working long hours without breaks or enough days off without the support of Providence management for fair pay and patient safety. The hospital has a high turnover rate and is short-staffed and during COVID Providence Medford nurses are taking care of sicker patients with inadequate personal protective equipment. Unfortunately, it seems that Providence works nurses until they break down, get sick or leave. We can’t keep our most skilled nurses in Medford because Providence overworks, underpays, and undervalues nurses. Now, when nurses are asking Providence Medford Medical Center (PMMC) for fair wages and safe staffing levels, Providence is dragging its feet. They are one of richest health systems in the country and received nearly $700 million in taxpayer money while sitting on $12 billion in reserves and investments but they so far are refusing cost of living raises for hard-working nurses and they will not commit to providing adequate PPE so nurses don’t have to reuse masks and gowns while working with COVID patients. It’s outrageous. As we go through these contract negotiations over the next several weeks, we are asking for your help to show support for Providence nurses. During contract negotiations, Providence executives pay attention to the opinion of the community. Would you send a letter of support for Providence nurses to Chief Executive Officer Chris Pizzi, Regional Human Resource Director Beth Lagler, and Chief Nursing Officer Kate Kitchell? We are also asking you to share our posts on Facebook to help us raise awareness of our fight for a fair contract. Here is our page – please check it out and hear the stories from nurses first hand. Thank you for supporting Providence nurses! In solidarity, Misha Hernandez, Oregon Nurses Association Labor Relations Representative 541-210-4905 Hernandez@OregonRN.org |
|
| Almeda Fire Recovery News: Clean up, permits and emergency housing. By Darby Ayers-Flood The Emergency Housing Task Force meets each week. Officials from the impacted jurisdictions gather to update and plan for Ash and Trash (debris clean up), as well as to report on the FEMA Housing Mission. We are seeing real progress, with less needed changes to the working plan. Here is some news. Clean up: Tier one of the clean up plan is the mobile home parks. The plan recognized early that the highest population for rehousing could be effected by focusing on parks first. Of the 1499 mobile home spaces burned out in parks, just over 600 are cleaned. While it may appear that clean up is slow in the visible burn scar, one only needs to enter one of the 20 parks to find that clean up of the hardest hit population is moving quickly. Clean up is just not in the visible scar at this time. The other neighborhoods and the hwy area clean ups are in tier 2 and 3. ODOT has really found its stride in the clean up! Continue Reading … |
|
Applications Available to Human Services Agencies
for $805,000 in COVID-19 Emergency Rent Assistance ACCESS, Jackson County’s Community Action Agency, recently received $2,148,707 in State STARR (Supporting Tenants Accessing Rental Relief) funds from Oregon Housing and Community Services (OHCS). STARR funds are to provide rent assistance for Jackson County residents who experienced a loss of income, compromised health conditions, are at risk of losing their housing, or diagnosed or exposed to COVID-19, and/or displaced or unstably housed as the result of public health measures taken to reduce the spread of COVID-19. ACCESS is making $805,000 available to Jackson County human services agencies for the funding period of April 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021 to be used for Homeless Prevention, Rapid Re-housing and/or Program Delivery. We are also scheduled to receive an undetermined amount of Federal Emergency Rent Assistance funding from OHCS in the next few weeks, which will have a longer funding period. This request for applications applies to for the STARR Program, the Federal Emergency Rent Assistance program and any other COVID-19 rent assistance funding that may be made available in the future. The deadline to submit an application is 5 p.m., Thursday, March 25, 2021. For more information or to request an application, please contact Jackie Agee at 541-774-4330 or jackieagee@accesshelps.org. Return to top |
|
 Black Alliance
& Social EmpowermentA fabulous opportunity in the Medford school district. 13 Assistant Principal positions are open in the Medford School District. We could certainly use more Black educators and administrators in the Rogue Valley. 
Studies have shown that Black educators today are, by nearly every metric, more successful than white educators at supporting the achievement and well-being of Black children. Black students who have even one Black teacher or administrator during elementary school are more likely to graduate high school and consider college. Let’s make this a reality and all help to shape the Rogue Valley to be a beautifully diverse thriving community. If you are interested in the positions please see the link below. Feel free to also share with out-of-town folx as well. https://medfordsd.tedk12.com/hire/ViewJob.aspx?JobID=4952
We are seeking Black artists to create an installation that will celebrate Black lives and declare that Black Lives Matter in the Rogue Valley. Whether you are a budding artist or a seasoned creative, if you’ve got a vision for what’s possible for this work, we encourage you to submit a proposal by the April 2 deadline. You can learn more about the project here. Submit your proposal by April 2, 2021 here. Ashland Daily Tidings Interviews For Black Musicians: Additionally, BASE has been in contact with the Daily Tidings. They are looking to expand their base of coverage in the Rogue Valley music scene beyond a collection of well-known folk musicians. If you are a talented artist who pursues music as a dedicated hobby, profession, or passion project, this could be just for you. Musical endeavors could include concerts, private album releases, church choirs, mentorship, youth groups, school projects, spoken word poetry events, or maybe something else not covered here. The Tidings aims to curate stories of what music represents in different communities in the Valley and how its value has shifted or remained constant through the pandemic.If you are interested, please email us at community@baseoregon.org so we can get you set up. Return to top |
|
Beloved Community,  The SOBLACC Team would like to extend heartfelt thanks to all of the community members who came to our Civics 101 Training last night. We had a great turnout. It was absolutely wonderful to see the community come out and support SOBLACC and participate in a training that was necessary and helpful. I can say that I personally learned a lot and I hope everyone who came feels the same way.
|
|
There is always more work to be done though, and with election season right around the corner SOBLACC wants to follow through on our commitments. We want to bring Black Political Power for a Representative southern Oregon. If you are interested or you know someone who is interested in running for elective office in the Rogue Valley, please contact SOBLACC. We want to hear from you and we want to help. Continue Reading … Return to top |
|
While the pandemic may be keeping us all physically separate for a while longer, rest assured that CLDC has been staying busy defending your constitutional rights.Just yesterday, in fact, we issued a press release regarding our client, Teresa Safay, who was wrongly targeted for chalking in front of her congressional representative’s office in Medford. Ms. Safay’s case was prosecuted under a civil infraction meant to punish graffiti, after the building owner, the law firm Hornecker Cowling, claimed it took over seven hours to clean the chalk. Further, both of the prosecutors on the case formerly worked for Hornecker Cowling. It’s hard not to see that this is a clear cut incident of the legal system attempting to chill dissent. To learn more about the case, please read our media release HERE.Earlier this week we filed an amended complaint against the City of Eugene and its police department on behalf of local residents who were brutally attacked by police officers during the mobilizations for Black lives in 2020. New information came to light that warranted updating the suit, notably: - The names of the individual officers who violated people’s civil liberties; and
- That one of those officers not only used excessive force AND oversaw the SWAT assaults was none other than longtime Eugene cop Sgt. Bill Solesbee, who CLDC successfully sued back in 2012 for using excessive force on a protester. Solesbee has had multiple additional complaints filed against him for violating protesters’ and local residents’ rights, yet the Eugene Police Department recently put him in charge of training junior officers.
You can read more about our case, and why the Eugene Police Department needs to be finally held accountable, HERE. |
|
|
Not Just Another PipelineThe expansion of Enbridge’s Line 3 pipeline is a breathtaking betrayal of Minnesota’s Indigenous communities — and the environment.
 PALISADE, Minn. — My daughter and I are walking along the fast-flowing stream of pure darkness that is the young Mississippi River. We are two hours north of Minneapolis, in Palisade, Minn., where people are gathering to oppose the Line 3 pipeline. Patches of snow crunch on pads of russet leaves as we near the zhaabondawaan, a sacred lodge along the river’s banks. It is here that Enbridge is due to horizontally drill a new pipeline crossing beneath the river. We enter the lodge. The peace, the sweetness, the clarity of the water is hard to bear. The brush and trees hardly muffle the roar of earth-moving and tree-felling equipment across the road. The pipeline is almost at the river. Last month, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s administration signed off on final water permits for Enbridge to complete an expansion of its Line 3 pipeline. After the final section is built in Minnesota, the pipeline will pump oil sands bitumen and other forms of crude oil from Hardisty, Alberta, to Superior, Wis., cutting through Indigenous treaty lands along the way. Lawsuits — including one by the White Earth and Red Lake nations and several environmental organizations, and another by the Mille Lacs Nation — are pending. But construction has already started. Continue Reading …
(Originally Published in the New York Times by Louise Erdrich, December 28th 2020) Return to top |
|
The next big oil pipeline battle is brewing over Line 3 in Minnesota On his first day in office, President Biden signed an executive order to stop construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. But now, many people in the Great Lakes region are asking the Administration to halt a different pipeline project they believe poses an even greater threat to indigenous communities and local waterways. And as NewsHour Weekend’s Ivette Feliciano reports, experts and climate advocates say it’s time to stop oil pipeline projects in the U.S. once and for all. Read the Full TranscriptHari Sreenivasan: On his first day in office, President Biden signed executive orders aimed at aggressively tackling the climate crisis, including stopping construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline. But now, many people in the Great Lakes region are asking the administration to halt a different pipeline project they believe poses an even greater threat. Thirty years ago this week, the Line 3 pipeline in northern Minnesota ruptured, spilling 1.7 million gallons of crude oil onto a frozen river near Grand Rapids, Minnesota. If the river had not been frozen, the oil could have seeped into the Mississippi River and contaminated drinking water for millions downstream. Continue Reading … (Originally Published by PBS.org, March 6th 2021) Return to top
|
|
Lawrence Ferlinghetti: 1919 – 2021A memoir of the poet aboard a Greenpeace ship On Monday, February 22, 2021, American poet, publisher, and innovative book seller Lawrence Ferlinghetti, died from lung disease, at the age of 101.
In the summer of 1977, Ferlinghetti joined the crew of the Greenpeace ship during the whale campaign and he wrote an historic poem in the ship’s dreambook.
Ferlinghetti was born in New York in 1919, earned a B.A. in journalism at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, completed a doctoral degree from the Sorbonne in Paris, and published his first short stories in Carolina Magazine. He moved to San Francisco in 1951 and founded the first all-paperback bookstore in the US — the now-famous City Lights Books — to “democratise” modern literature by making new and innovative writers widely available. City Lights began publishing its own books in 1955, featuring international writers such as Charles Baudelaire and Pablo Neruda, and became known for publishing renowned American beat-era writers such as Jack Kerouac, Diane di Prima, Allen Ginsberg, and Anne Waldman. In 1957, US agents arrested Ferlinghetti on obscenity charges for publishing Ginsberg’s “Howl.” After an historic freedom of speech trial, the court acquitted Ferlinghetti, who became an international cultural hero. His City Lights bookstore became a hub for progressive politics and revolutionary writers.
Continue Reading … (Originally Published o www.rexweyler.ca on February 26, 2021) |
|
To stop climate disaster, make ecocide an international crime. It’s the only way. The following is an op ed by Jojo Mehta and Julia Jackson published in The Guardian February 24, 2021.
The Paris agreement is failing. Yet there is new hope for preserving a livable planet: the growing global campaign to criminalize ecocide can address the root causes of the climate crisis and safeguard our planet – the common home of all humanity and, indeed, all life on Earth.
Nearly five years after the negotiation of the landmark Paris agreement to limit greenhouse gas emissions and associated global warming to “well below 2.0C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5C”, we are experiencing drastically accelerating warming. 2020 was the second warmest year on record, following the record-setting 2019. Carbon in the atmosphere reached 417 parts per million (ppm) – the highest in the last 3m years. Even if we magically flipped a switch to a fully green economy tomorrow, there is still enough carbon in the atmosphere to continue warming the planet for decades. The science is clear: without drastic action to limit temperature rise below 1.5C, the Earth, and all life on it, including all human beings, will suffer devastating consequences. Continue Reading … |
|
CONSPIRACY THEORIES ARE KILLING US, AMERICA 
As over one-third of Oregon went dark in the state’s largest-ever power outage, my thoughts traveled back to the 1990s, to a brightly lit auditorium in Ellensburg, Washington filled with Holocaust deniers.
I had travelled over many rural miles in a Greyhound bus, ever-present anxiety my only companion, to enter that auditorium. The only visible person of color present, I already understood deep in my bones how morally repugnant and politically dangerous Holocaust denial was. But I did not yet know that this seemingly fringe conspiracy theory would become the template for conspiracy theories that would dominate American political discourse within the next two decades. It’s time to face facts. The mainstreaming of conspiracy theories in America is no longer merely a war of words or a question of ideological differences. It is a deadly phenomenon that is costing lives. Continue Reading … (Originally published in an email from the Western States Center by Eric K. Ward on Feb. 25, 2021) |
|
| It’s official — President Biden has signed the American Rescue Plan, and help is finally on the way to communities throughout Oregon. For detailed information about how this plan will work and how you can access assistance, check out my newly updated coronavirus webpage. The passage of this legislation is a big deal for Oregon, and today, I had a chance to talk with leaders from around the state about how it’ll help our communities get back on their feet. Click here to listen to our conversation. 
Miriam Cummins, the Executive Director of Casa Latinos Unidos in Benton County, joined us to talk about how the law’s investment in a national vaccine program will help keep Oregonians safe and ensure that no community is left behind in our fight to beat this virus. Curry County Commissioner Court Boice and Morrow County Commissioner Jim Doherty spoke about the difference state and local assistance will make in supporting communities from the coast to the eastern edges of our state. Katy Brooks of the Bend Chamber of Commerce explained how the law’s provisions to support small businesses and put childcare within reach for more families will be crucial to helping Oregonians take care of their families and pay their bills during this crisis. And finally, Jim Brunberg of the statewide Independent Venue Coalition joined to talk about how the American Rescue Plan’s assistance for our local economies, and the many unique venues that make our state so vibrant, is going to help keep Oregonians employed and help ensure that our venues are ready to spring back into action as soon as it’s safe. Thank you to Miriam, Court, Jim, Katy, and Jim — and to each of you who have written to me throughout this pandemic — for sharing valuable insights that have helped shape the American Rescue Plan and will continue to drive my work in the Senate for more relief. Let’s keep working together, so we can save lives and get to the other side of this crisis as quickly as possible.
|
|
|
| The signing of the American Rescue Plan will not come a day too soon, and will address a huge number of critical issues across America. The signing of this bill will mean we’ll get stimulus checks to working Americans, deliver support for parents and their children, help our Main Street businesses struggling to stay afloat, and save unemployment insurance for the 20 million Americans who are relying on it to make ends meet. It will mean getting urgently needed resources to our state, local, and tribal governments so they support the health of our communities and can prevent firefighters, first responders, and other critical employees from being laid off. It will bring investments in our schools and educators so we can safely get students back into classrooms. It will mean we’re getting personal protective equipment in the hands of our frontline health heroes, and shots into arms with a massive, national vaccine distribution plan. Please know that I’m working on updating my coronavirus webpage right now with all the latest information about how to access relief from the American Rescue Plan. Be sure to bookmark the webpage, and be on the lookout for more messages from me with updates.Today’s news is a big relief. So let’s celebrate it, and also fully commit ourselves — all of us, in every community across America — to doing our part to stay vigilant and work together to get this crisis fully in the rear view mirror. |
|
State Senator Jeff Golden is now a co-sponsor of the Anti-Racism Curriculum Act (SB 683) Return to top |
|
Video | Jan. 6 attack was ‘domestic terrorism’ – FBI’s Wray |
|
| 
| FBI Director Chris Wray on Tuesday accused supporters of Donald Trump who carried out a deadly Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol of domestic terrorism and vowed to hold them accountable. Click Here to Watch the Video |
|
 The ‘Morality’ of AI WeaponryA congressionally appointed panel, called the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence, is recommending that the United States military launch a major program to develop autonomous weapons powered by artificial intelligence (AI) software.
The panel, led by Google’s former chief executive Eric Schmidt, has prepared a report that calls for the expenditure of $20-30 billion to advance the program. There is a set of things that have to happen in America to maintain leadership
globally… #AI is the #technology that drives our economic output… and we need
to do whatever it takes… It’s not so much the money as it is getting the forces
aligned. – #NSCAI Chairman @EricSchmidt
— National Security Commission on AI (@AiCommission) February 23, 2021 Its vice-chairman, Robert Work, a former deputy secretary of defense, said autonomous weapons are expected to make fewer mistakes than humans do in battle, leading to reduced casualties. “It is a moral imperative to at least pursue this hypothesis,” he said.
The draft report recommends that Washington “adopt AI to change the way we defend America, deter adversaries, use intelligence to make sense of the world, and fight and win wars.” (Work is on the board of directors for Raytheon, and board of advisers for Govini, a big data and analytics firm committed to transforming the business of government through data science.) Continue Reading … |
|
|
Talking Back is a six-part web series that reveals the growing movement for justice in the theater field. Through candid conversations with founding artistic directors, newly appointed leaders, and activists who have operated at all levels of leadership in arts organizations across the US, Talking Back explores what it takes to transform not just an institution, but an entire industry. |
|
|
|
A Rapidly-Globalizing World Needs Strengthened Global GovernanceThe world is currently engulfed in crises—most prominently, a disease pandemic, a climate catastrophe, and the prevalence of war—while individual nations are encountering enormous difficulties in coping with them. These difficulties result from the global nature of the problems. An individual nation is unable to institute adequate measures to safeguard public health because diseases spread easily across national boundaries. Similarly, an individual nation cannot stave off the deterioration of the climate because the climate is a worldwide phenomenon. Furthermore, an individual nation cannot prevent warfare (including the drift to a disastrous nuclear war) because nations live in a state approaching international anarchy, with each relying on its own military strength to safeguard what it views as its national interests. Of course, the need for concerted global action to address global crises has long been recognized. At the end of World War II, when the most destructive conflict in world history demonstrated the limits of the nation-state system, world leaders created the United Nations to take on new tasks, particularly the task of fostering international security. And, to some extent, the UN has been successful in dealing with international problems. But over the decades since the founding of the UN, it has become obvious that the world organization is too weak and underfunded to meet all the challenges of a rapidly-globalizing world.Given the increasingly dysfunctional nature of individual nations on the world stage, isn’t it time to consider strengthening global governance? Continue Reading …
(Originally published on Oregon PeaceWorks by Lawrence S. Wittner March 2, 2021) |
|
Justice For Myanmar publishes details of Myanmar’s tools of digital surveillance and repression Justice For Myanmar reiterates call for a global arms embargo March 2, 2021, Yangon: Justice For Myanmar has today published details of technology used for digital surveillance and repression, found in Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Transport and Communications budget documents and an Elbit Systems unmanned aerial vehicle repairs proposal. The budget documents examined span from the 2018-19 financial year to 2020-21. The Ministry of Home Affairs is under the control of the Myanmar military and the minister is appointed by Commander-in-Chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing. The Myanmar military had unrestricted access to all technology transferred to the Myanmar police and domestic intelligence agency, the Bureau of Special Investigation and, since the illegitimate February 1 military coup, has unrestricted access to technology procured by the Ministry of Transport and Communications. Justice For Myanmar spokesperson Yadanar Maung says: “These budget files show that the Myanmar military and the security forces under their control have continued to seek support from the West for their surveillance technology and tools of repression. The military are now using those very tools to brutally crack down on peaceful protesters risking their lives to resist the military junta and restore democracy, and to move against journalists who are exercising their right to report on protests. These items are dual use and should never have been sold while the military cartel continues to commit crimes against humanity and war crimes, operating outside of civilian control with total impunity. The international community made a critical mistake in normalising relations with the Myanmar military, allowing it to procure technology and carry out its corrupt business and failed to act decisively as the military committed a campaign of genocide against the Rohingya. Now is the time for them to take full responsibility to protect the people of Myanmar and immediately impose targeted sanctions and a global arms embargo in response to this brutal and illegitimate military coup and excessive use of violence, deliberately and ruthlessly targeting peaceful protesters.”
Continue Reading … |
|
[Original message received via email from Derek Pyle <derekdpyle@gmail.com ] The Right To Rest Act (HB 2367) was suddenly pulled by Chair Bynum from Tuesday’s Judiciary Committee Hearing the day before it was to be heard. This was a completely unexpected development and came as a shock for all those who had submitted written testimony, were planning to submit written testimony, and/or signed up to speak at the hearing. Chair Bynum will inform Representative Campos on Monday, March 15 whether the bill will be rescheduled for one of the last two hearings (Tuesday, March 16 or Thursday, March 18). If this does not happen, The Right To Rest Act will not be heard during this legislative session! This is unacceptable! When HB 2367 was pulled from the agenda, over 80 written testimonies were deleted. Additionally, if it is rescheduled, the very short notice will make it much more difficult to coordinate locations where unhoused community members who are without phones, computers, or internet access can come and add their testimony to the public record. Intentional or not, this decision has the effect of silencing the overwhelming support from our community, who have turned out in droves over the short span of time that we had to lobby this bill. If we want the hearing we deserve we must call, e-mail and reach out to Representative Janelle Bynum, Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, AND her Judiciary Committee colleagues to let them know that HB 2367 must be heard. Here is Rep. Bynum’s contact information: Janelle Bynum Rep.JanelleBynum@oregonlegislature.gov 503-986-1451 Twitter: @bynum4thewin Read More … |
|
 The Sanctuary Promise Act
Oregon House Bill 3265
has been introduced and
it needs our full support! If the bill passes, it would be one of the strongest sanctuary laws in the country. The Sanctuary Promise Act (HB 3265) would: - Strengthen Oregon’s 30+ year old sanctuary law
- Create a private right of action
- Prohibit public and private ICE detention contracts
- Prohibit warrantless arrests at Oregon’s courthouses
- Prevent racial profiling in our jails
- Make your calls! Call your Oregon state Senator and Representative – but only if they are Democrats. If they are Republicans, you can call the Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee instead. Find details and sample call script here.
- Log your calls! Fill out this 1-minute survey to help us track our progress. We’re already at 170 calls! Help us cross the finish line!
- Make a pledge! How many additional calls will you generate over the next two weeks? Contact your friends, colleagues, and fellow congregants and encourage them to make calls in support of the bill. Find a sample script for your network here.
We’ll start the next leg of this race once a hearing on the bill is scheduled. At that point, we’ll call on you to submit written testimony in support of HB 3265. Join us on Monday, March 22nd from 6:00-7:00 pm for a collective “conditioning” session where we’ll get trained up together on crafting powerful written testimony following the latest messaging research from our coalition partners. RSVP here and share the invite! (Note: if a hearing is scheduled for before 3/22, we’ll push the date up.) If you haven’t yet, check and bookmark our Running Action List for the latest on all the bills and priorities we are tracking this legislative season. |
|
| Two important human rights bills were introduced into Congress in the past two weeks. Both bills deal specifically with the U.S. relationship to Honduras, but their implications are much wider. In the U.S. Senate: The Honduras Human Rights and Anti-Corruption Act (S 1) was introduced in the Senate last week by Senator Jeff Merkley, and co-sponsored by seven other senators. It would suspend military and so-called security aid to Honduras and strengthen independent anti-corruption mechanisms. This is the bill that Honduran human rights leaders and many other Hondurans have been wanting, and many U.S. solidarity groups have been working for for more than five years. The Honduran military and police have been the chief and often violent enforcers of a corrupt government. This is a response to a long string of corruption scandals that have diverted money from public health, education, and other essential services to the pockets of prominent politicians, and to widespread involvement of top government officials in major drug trafficking. Hondurans call their government a narco-dictatorship. In recent weeks, Berta Oliva, Director of the Committee of the Families of the Detained/Disappeared in Honduras (COFADEH) and other major human rights leaders have seen increased threats and surveillance of them and their associates, more killings of people in police custody, and other troubling signs. Peace House actively supports and sponsors accompaniment for Berta Oliva. In the U.S. House of Representatives: The Berta Cáceres Human Rights in Honduras Act was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives in its last session by Representative Hank Johnson (D-GA). Now Rep. Johnson has re-introduced the bill in the current session of the House. The bill is named in honor of Berta Cáceres, the Honduran Indigenous environmental leader who was killed in March, 2016, for her leadership in defending Indigenous lands and rivers against dam-building and extractive industries that destroy the environment and displace communities. These unwanted projects are enforced against the will of local communities by the Honduran army and police. The bill introduced by Rep. Johnson would stop U.S. military and police aid to Honduras, at least until a thorough review can be made of how the aid is used and how it abets human rights violations. In the past, Oregon Reps. Bonamici, Blumenauer, and DeFazio have supported this legislation. Beyond Honduras, these bills both put on record that human rights and anti-corruption are returning as major criteria and principles in U.S. foreign policy and aid. These bills also address some of the root causes of emigration. (More about that in another Peace House post to follow soon.) Both of these bills need support. To help: - If you live in Oregon, contact Senator Wyden and urge him to support the Senate bill. You might also send a short “thank you” to Senator Merkley for introducing the Senate bill. To support the House bill, contact your U.S. Representative and urge support. Be sure you know and mention the bills by their titles (above).
- If you live outside of Oregon or have friends, relatives in other states, you can urge them to contact their senators and representatives in support of these bills. Again, mention the bills by their titles.
|
|
She Didn’t Die. She Multiplied: Remembering Berta Cáceres, March 2, 2016Note: This short remembrance was originally written for Talking Circle, the monthly newsletter of the Native American Studies Programs and the Native American Student Union at Southern Oregon University. Peace House supports the work of human rights in Honduras and sponsors accompaniment of human rights defenders. In visits to Honduras in recent years, I met Berta Cáceres and some of the Lenca people mentioned below, and briefly accompanied them. This week marks the fifth anniversary of Berta Cáceres’ murder. We offer this in remembrance that the work of promoting human rights, the rights of Indigenous peoples, and the protection of Mother Earth continues everywhere. — Jim Phillips, Peace House Board Chairperson  Like our sisters and brothers in the United States and Canada, Native people across Mexico, Central America and South America are leading efforts to protect Mother Earth. Dam-building projects, mining, logging, and other extractive industries are promoted by governments and private industries at the expense of Indigenous people and their land and water. In many Latin American countries, Native communities are recognized as the first line of defense for the environment and the Earth. This work often requires great sacrifice. Many die in the struggle, while others are jailed for protecting the rivers, the forests, and the land.
The Lenca people are the largest Indigenous community in Honduras, about 300,000. In 2013, the Lenca found themselves confronting their own Honduran government and a foreign company that planned to build a dam across the Gualcarque, a river that the Lenca call sacred, where the spirits of the ancestors and the descendants yet to be born dwell. The dam-building company’s guards told the people they could no longer use the river. Continue Reading on the Peace House Website … |
|
Background: Kitchen Table Activism (KTA) is a monthly activity by the Rural Organizing Project. The idea is that small actions can lead to powerful collective results when groups of people gather to complete the same action across the state of Oregon.Why this activity? Over the last year, the ROP network has been thoughtfully crafting the Roadmap to a Thriving Rural Oregon through hundreds of conversations, and we are committed to making sure our priorities are heard loud and clear by our elected officials! 2021 Bills that Back a Thriving Rural Oregon The Roadmap to a Thriving Rural Oregon includes the priorities our communities need to move from fighting for survival to truly thriving. The Roadmap came out of hundreds of conversations with human dignity groups across rural Oregon about what our communities need most as the COVID-19 pandemic and economic recession lay bare the big gaps in our communities’ social safety nets that have been widening for decades. Now we are taking these priorities to the legislative session! Check out the Roadmap and see below for bills being considered in the Oregon State Legislature under each of the four Roadmap categories. We are All Essential - Just Enforcement Act (House Bill 2205): If passed this would create a law that would allow workers and organizations to sue employers that break the law when state agencies don’t have the capacity to do so. It would also increase the Bureau of Labor and Industries and Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s ability to enforce labor laws and bring Oregon’s law in line with California’s higher standard. Read more about the Just Enforcement Act.
- Childcare for Oregon Act (House Bill 2505 / Senate Bill 239): If passed this would create a law that would make childcare and other essential resources available for every Oregon family.
- Decriminalize Sex Work (House Bill 3088): If passed this would create a law that would decriminalize sex work by no longer considering adult prostitution (sex work), commercial sexual solicitation (customers/clients), and promoting prostitution to be crimes.
Healthy People Make Healthy Communities - Oregon Energy Affordability Act (House Bill 2475): If passed this would create a law that would make energy bills more affordable by protecting people from rate increases, especially for low-income households who spend the largest portion of their income on energy needs.
- Drug Addiction Treatment & Recovery Act (Senate Bill 755): In November of 2020, Oregon voters made history by passing Ballot Measure 110. The new law decriminalizes personal possession of small amounts of all drugs while expanding access to addiction treatment and other health services.
- Navigating Pathways to Prosperity (House Bill 2835): If passed this would create a law that would require community colleges and universities to hire one full-time Benefits Navigator to support students in accessing state and federal benefit programs, including SNAP.
Safe and Welcoming Communities - Sanctuary Promise Act (House Bill 3265): The Sanctuary Promise Act would ban local jails from contracting with ICE, ban ICE from detaining community members in and around courthouses without a judicial warrant, allow everyday Oregonians to sue local law enforcement for breaking the law, prevent racial profiling in our jails, and strengthen other key parts of the decade’s old sanctuary policy.
- Timber Tax Fairness (House Bill 2598): Tax cuts for timber corporations have cost Oregonians at least $3 billion since 1991. That’s money that counties relied on to fund schools and essential public services. Timber companies continue to log at faster rates, employing fewer people, and exporting more of the benefits out of state. If passed this would create a law that would bring back the severance tax on cut logs, something that counties in Washington are currently benefiting from, and make sure that timber companies pay their fair share so that county governments have the funding they need to meet their responsibilities to their communities.
- Right to Rest Act (House Bill 2367): If passed this would create a law that would establish the rights of houseless Oregonians to rest in public without fear of harassment, criminalization, and fines.
|
|
Jury Acquits Iowa Journalist Andrea Sahouri Who Was Prosecuted For Covering Protest 
Free press advocates are celebrating after a jury in Iowa acquitted journalist Andrea Sahouri.
On Wednesday, the Des Moines Register reporter was found not guilty of failing to disperse and interfering with official acts while she was covering a Black Lives Matter protest in May of 2020. She was facing misdemeanor charges that could have resulted in fines and 30 days in jail. Her case, unusual for a journalist in the U.S., was seen as a test for the First Amendment. After feeling exhausted this week, 25-year-old Sahouri woke up on Thursday feeling “powerful” because she got to tell the world her side of the story. Being acquitted of an unjust arrest sets a precedent, she says. Sahouri says she was only doing her journalistic duties when a police officer Luke Wilson pepper sprayed her and her then-boyfriend, who she says insisted on accompanying her for protection. After pepper spraying her “right in the face at close range,” the officer then arrested her on the spot and told her, “‘That’s not what I asked,’ she recalls. She identified herself as a journalist many times throughout the ordeal, she says. As she was running away from tear gas, an officer began to charge at her. She froze, put her hands up, and repeatedly verbalized that she was a part of the press, she recalls. Continue Reading … (Originally published on wbfo.org on March 11, 2021) |
|
Petition to “Save the Medford Mail Tribune from its Owner’s Changes!” A few days ago, local resident and former longtime Mail Tribune reporter Allen Hallmark started a change.org petition in response to the recent editorial by owner/publisher Steven Saslow where he outlines changes he intends to make in our local paper(s). Mr. Saslow purchased the Medford Mail Tribune and Ashland Tidings four years ago.
https://www.change.org/p/residents-of-southern-oregon-northern-california-save-the-medford-mail-tribune-from-its-owner-s-changes The petition opens with a recap of some of these changes: “On Sunday, Feb. 28th, Steve Saslow, owner/publisher of the Mail Tribune of Medford, Oregon, wrote an editorial announcing big changes in how the paper would be run. He will take over from an editorial board to decide which editorials run & which don’t. He will fire any reporter who he thinks is slanting the news. He will no longer run stories from the Washington Post or other newspapers he thinks are “slanted” toward the liberal side. He will also reject all letters to the editor on national topics because he said liberals and progressives submit 10 to 1 the number of letters that conservatives submit. He’ll only accept letters about ‘local’ and ‘regional’ issues – without defining those terms.” I spoke with Allen Hallmark about why he feels this is so important. A native Texan, born and raised in Fort Worth, Hallmark earned his college degree in history in the early 1960’s. He studied law, served in the Army during the Vietnam war and after four years (including one year in Vietnam), returned very much against the military and our presence in Vietnam. He got involved in war protests, became a photographer, pursued his Masters in Journalism and after landing on the west coast in search of work, got a job as a reporter at the Medford Mail Tribune in 1976. Hallmark continued to work there for over ten years, until 1986. “I enjoyed the work, covered a lot of subjects and became the main political reporter for the last five years,” he said. (Sadly, Hallmark lost his home in the Almeda fire of last September.) Continue Reading … (Originally Published in The Ashland Chronicle by Susanne Severeid on 04 Mar 2021) |
|
Bloody Sunday Memorial Honors Late Civil Rights Giants(The Associated Press and theskanner.com, Published 08 March 2021) SELMA, Ala. (AP) — Activists who gathered virtually and in person to commemorate a pivotal day in the civil rights struggle that became known as Bloody Sunday called on people to continue the fight for voting rights as they also honored giants of the civil rights movement, including the late U.S. Rep. John Lewis, who died last year. The Selma Bridge Crossing Jubilee marks the 56th anniversary of Bloody Sunday — the day on March 7, 1965, that civil rights marchers were brutally beaten by law enforcement officers on Selma’s Edmund Pettus Bridge. Lewis, the Rev. Joseph Lowery, the Rev. C.T. Vivian, and attorney Bruce Boynton were the late civil rights leaders honored on Sunday. 
In this March 7, 1965, file photo, a state trooper swings a billy club at John Lewis, right foreground, chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, to break up a civil rights voting march in Selma, Ala. The March 7, 2021, Selma Bridge Crossing Jubilee will be the first without the towering presence of Lewis, as well as the Rev. Joseph Lowery, the Rev. C.T. Vivian and attorney Bruce Boynton, who all died in 2020. (AP Photo/File)
The day became a turning point in the fight for voting rights. Footage of the beatings helped galvanize support for passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Continue Reading … |
|
Community Engagement Program
Coastal SOCANThe Psychological Toll of Climate Change
Wednesday, March 17 from 5:30 – 7:00 via Zoom
Speaker: Liz Olson, SOCAN Board Member, Clinical Chaplain
Link to SOCAN Calendar Event Between COVID, national and local partisanship, the economy, and climate change many people are overwhelmed & stressed out. To cope, we need to recognize, acknowledge, and deal with these challenges. Please join us as Liz explores how people react and respond to the various pressures in our lives in a time when there seem to be so many existential issues bombarding us daily. Liz will present ways we can deal with those stressors. Contact Bill Gorham for the Zoom link if you are not already on the list. |
|
Natural Resources Program
Forests & Fire ProjectThe project team will continue discussing forest management in a changing climate. The Forest and Fire project meets monthly on the 3rd Wednesday, currently via ZOOM. Contact Gary Clarida for more information. |
|
Government Program
Government: County & City ProjectThursday, March 25 from 1:00 to 2:30 pm via Zoom
SOCAN Calendar Event with Zoom Link This newly established project team will explore how best to move ahead. For information, contact Lorrie Kaplan. |
|
Ashland Climate Action ProjectA Zoom Conversation – Natural Gas: The Fossil Fuel You Came to Love.
Seduced by methane, now plagued by heartburn
Thursday, March 25 @ 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
Panelists: Dan Serres, Conservation Director, Columbia Riverkeeper; David Farrer, Toxicologist, Oregon Health Authority; and Tom Graly, Co-leader of the Berkeley Climate Action Coalition’s Electrification Working Group
Registration Required (no charge) Studies show that most Americans think natural gas is a clean fuel that does little harm from a climate or pollution perspective. Residential and commercial use of natural gas in Oregon has soared in recent decades. We hear a lot about “decarbonization,” but natural gas, which is primarily methane, is in some ways worse than coal. This panel discussion will update us on the latest research on the climate, environmental, and health impacts of natural gas, including impacts on indoor air quality from gas appliances. We’ll also touch on the gas bans that many cities and other government entities have enacted and how gas companies have responded to these bans. For More information contact Lorrie Kaplan |
|
While we all face the looming threats of climate change, communities of color, tribal communities and rural Oregonians are on the frontlines of this existential threat. The Almeda and South Obenchain fires were vivid examples of this reality, as many of the hardest hit residents were from historically marginalized and disadvantaged communities. To compound the devastating impacts of the fires, there are very-real risks that these residents will be unable to stay as our communities rebuild. At the same time, Governor Brown’s Executive Order 20-04, the Oregon Climate Action Plan (OCAP) is shining a spotlight on climate and environmental justice and new legislation has been introduced to incorporate an “equity lens” into multiple levels of state climate policy. What does “climate equity” mean? Does an equity focus detract from or strengthen climate advocacy? Does it make a difference? What is meant by the phrase “just transition”? How can we infuse social equity into the fabric of our climate policy advocacy? Please join SOCAN at our March General Meeting from 6:00 – 7:00 pm on Tuesday March 30th to explore these issues. The program will be conducted via ZOOM. Participation is free but we ask attendees please to register on the calendar event at: https://socan.eco/events/. Cecilia Estolano, CEO and Founder of Estolano Advisors, and Asma Mahdi, Policy Director of Better World Group, authors of the December 2020 “State of Oregon Climate Equity Blueprint” will join us by zoom to help us work to achieve a more equitable, climate-adapted future. Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/862899640945374 |
|
 Online Training Opportunities |
|
Upcoming Trainings from the DC Peace Team |
3/20 Online Advanced Training in Restorative Justice: Relationship Healing and Radical Compassion from 10am-12pm and 12:30-3pm EST. Full training is both segments. REGISTER HERE 3/27 Online training on Introduction to Active Bystander Intervention from 12-5pm EST with a 1 hour break. REGISTER HERE |
|
|
Deconstructing Whiteness – A Learning Space A grassroots, community offering White folks becoming white aware – A first step in dismantling racism 
INVITATION: For folks who want to learn and un-learn the patterns of whiteness, of privilege, dominance, and fragility in the company of others on the path of anti-racism work. Please join our mailing list for the most current information on our offerings. First Meeting for the New Cohort March 25th RSVP: To receive the Zoom link for specific monthly offerings, RSVP here INTENT: This space is primarily for self-identified white folks to do the necessary work of deconstructing whiteness. A space is offered to feel discomfort, make mistakes, to examine biases and experiences in a supportive atmosphere. GOAL: To come away with actionable items for our own lives, that eventually create a safe and welcoming community for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. DATES & FORMAT: A new format for 2021, offerings are held every 4th Thursday of the month, 6:30-8:30 PM. Alternating months, starting March 25, will offer the opportunity for work with a more intimate cohort. The format for both consists of a topic, videos, experiential exercises, reflective writing, sharing, and connecting. Cohort offerings: March 25, May 27, July 22, September 23, November 18 (third Thursday!) General offerings: April 22, June 24, August 26, October 28, 2021 PREPARATION: QUESTIONS?: Contact Toni Lovaglia: dwlearningspace@gmail.com |
|
If you missed the first episode when we introduced Rural Race Talks and heard highlights from the show, be sure and catch it here as we get ready to go Behind the Scenes with Rural Race Talks. In this month’s episode, we talk with LaNicia about the power of learning in public and what motivated her to start a call-in radio show focused on talking about racial justice in our rural communities. |
|
Our Revolution Southern Oregon
Join us with Representative Pam Marsh and Senator Jeff Golden for a
Legislative Town Hall via Zoom.Tuesday, March 16 from 5:30-7:15 pm.
Presentation of current legislative issues with an opportunity for viewers to ask questions using “chat.” Register in advance for this meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/…/tZwtdOqtrT4iGdIyEcMc5Svj3eJmX…
You can also sign up on our facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/OurRevolutionSouthernOregon/ |
|
| Honoring the Equinox with Arkan Lushwala
Friday, March 19 | 3:00PM PT | 60-minute Call Join Peruvian ceremonialist and healer Arkan Lushwala, a cherished partner and mentor to Pachamama Alliance, in conversation with the global community to mark the upcoming equinox. This equinox observation will take place from 3:00 – 4:00 p.m. PT (UTC-8) on Friday, March 19. The equinox is a time of transition, both of the seasons and of our internal journey, moving towards rebirth in the Northern Hemisphere and harvest in the Southern Hemisphere. Day and night are in equal balance, reminding us to seek balance in our own lives. Society is immersed in transition at this time as well, as the systems of modernity are increasingly out of balance. In this conversation, Arkan will share his thoughts on the significance of this moment in the year and in history, and will respond to questions from the audience. |
|
|
|
|
Building power on the left isn’t easy. Progressives and leftists are opposed by not just the GOP, but also corporate-backed Democrats, corporate-backed media, and countless establishment institutions that aggressively fight to uphold the status quo. |
|
|
|
|
You can significantly develop your skills – and gain new resources – so you can make big progress on issues you care about (climate, peace, environment, human rights, economic justice, etc., etc., etc.) Please sign up now for my series of FREE ONLINE WORKSHOPS every week for 6 consecutive weeks starting in mid-March. - Sundays afternoons March 21 to April 25 (1:30-3:30 pm Pacific Time), OR
- Monday evenings March 22 to April 26 (6:30-8:30 Pacific Time).
These workshops are FREE and user-friendly. They are good for people of ALL ages and ALL levels of experience. People who have taken these workshops have found them informative, inspiring, and practical. |
|
| K.A.W.S – Keeping Ashland Women Safe |
|
|
LA LUCHA SIGUE Documentary! All – Mar 20, 1 PM | |
 LA LUCHA SIGUE (The Struggle Continues) is a feature length documentary that combines breathtaking cinematography with intimate access and creative storytelling as it follows two grassroots Indigenous and Black organizations leading the struggle for justice in Honduras. The Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH), co-founded by the assassinated leader Berta Cáceres, works with the Lenca Indigneous peoples of the mountains in the interior of Honduras. The Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras (OFRANEH) is the black people’s social movement along the lush coast of Honduras led by Miriam Miranda. Together these groups are on the frontlines of resistance in the face of the US-backed military dictatorship of Juan Orlando Hernandez as they work to dismantle interlocking systems of capitalism, colonialism, patriarchy, and racism. Honduran resistance to colonial violence is led by Indigenous and Black women. In Honduras, the most dangerous place in the world to be a land defender, the Lenca and Garífuna people are not backing down. They are fighting to uphold their rights and Indigenous and Black cultures in the face of state backed megaprojects and narco-traffickers who seek to assassinate them, destroy their lands, and erase their existence. |
|
|
|
| |
|
