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NEWSLETTER - June 26, 2018

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IN THIS ISSUE

Asylum seekers face loss children
Activities of ICE imperil families
Oversight on police brutality an issue
Readings and videos to make you think
Racism stories matter
Coming events

No Time to Remain Silent as Crisis in Racism and Facism Infects Nation

During the last month we continue to see the results of racism and the rise of fascism directed mainly at black and brown folks along with the rise of anti-semitism. The stories and images of the immigrants and their children taken away and placed in detention as criminals is very heartbreaking.

Over these last 2 weeks Rid Racism Milwaukee has seen continuing report of a human crisis created by our current national leaders. We join with the many voices to call on our government to stop separating families and eliminate the zero tolerance policy that has created this crisis.

This crisis affirms why Rid Racism Milwaukee is so important so these stories of those impacted by institutional racism can get out in the public sphere and no longer unheard or hidden. In this newsletter we’ll look at articles to help us understand the stories and the issues that brought us to where we are. These are human beings not to be used for political gain. These stories will be hard to read so prepare and care for yourself. How sad it is when so many of us, including we at Rid Racism, harken back to Nazi, Germany as the most recent comparison. We cannot be silent and ignore this crisis of human misery and have included a variety of information to help you understand the complexities around immigration.

Please share this newsletter within your circles so folks are no longer unaware of what is going or remaining siloed in there circles. It is our goal to be a connector of information with our community and to provide a calendar of racial and social justice events happening in the greater Milwaukee area.

Your financial support is needed to make sure we can provide this vital service to the community. You can donate here.

May we all strive to start or continue our struggle for beloved community free from racism and discrimination.

Co-Chairs Jaime Alvarado and Lisa Jones

Crisis at the Border

This poster found at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum located on the National Mall in Washington D.C. offers a warning as to what's in store if current human crisis escalates.

Separation of Asylum Seekers and Their Children

Following are links to articles, videos and other media that help to explain the current crisis at the Mexican - US border, placing it in the larger and growing crisis of racism and fascism.

HOW DID WE GET HERE?
***This video captures history of how the United States has a long history in legislation about illegal immigration that shows racism-based policies. Slightly more than three minutes in length, it is narrated by Splinter News producer Isabelle Niu. View Video.

***Another news video from HBO's Vice News describes the immigrant issues at the border in the wake of President Trump's order that families would not be separated. View Video.

WHERE ARE THE CHILDREN?
***There are an estimated 100 shelters in 17 states and the Department of Health and Human Services has not indicated to which of these shelters the recently separated children were sent, but state and local officials have confirmed that some were sent as far as New York, Oregon, California and Florida. Read more.

***Last week we were confronted with one of the saddest examples of this immoral and profoundly wrong policy in action: a five-month-old baby who was taken from his mother, and is held in immigration detention with three of his siblings. Their mother, escaping serious threats of violence, is held in a detention center several states away. Read more

***"It's very hard for most Americans to put themselves in the shoes of someone who's coming across a river escaping violence in their own country." Television News Photographer John Moore tells the story of a two-year-old Honduran girl separated from her mother at the U.S. border. View video.

***Immigrant children locked up at a Virginia center say they were beaten, left naked in cells and strapped to chairs by guards. Around 30 unaccompanied minors are being held at the Shenandoah Valley Juvenile Center and have suffered from an abusive atmosphere, according to a federal court case filed on behalf of an unidentified undocumented 17-year-old boy from Mexico. Read more.

***Very few civilians have been inside the shelters where some 2,000 immigrant children are being held. Dr. Colleen Kraft , current president of The American Academy of Pediatrics, visited a Texas facility for children aged 12 and under after her colleagues told her she needed to see what was happening. She describes her experience to Gayle King. View video.

***Pictures are worth 10,000 words, people say. To view more heart-rendering photos like the one above, go to this photo gallery from the Guardian.

***Trump did not direct Attorney General Jeff Sessions to halt his “zero tolerance” policy, which requires the prosecution and imprisonment of immigrant parents and created the crisis in the first place. Instead, he issued an executive order that would allow the indefinite detention of immigrant families together. Read more.

***In a controversial case that involved the rights of illegal immigrants and their young children, a Guatemalan mother lost her effort today to get back the five-year old son who was taken away from her after her arrest on immigration charges and put up for adoption in Missouri despite her objections. View video.

ICE and Deportation of Undocumented in US

URGENT! JOIN US THURSDAY TO RESIST TRUMP'S VIST TO FOXCONN
On Thursday, June 28, Donald Trump is coming to Southeast Wisconsin for the Foxconn groundbreaking. Join members of Rid Racism Milwaukee who participating in the Racine County effort, 'Families Belong in Communities Not Cages,' sponsored by Voces de la Frontera. Buses will leave from Voces offices at 1027 S. 5th St. at 8 a.m. More information and details.

HUNDREDS RALLY IN MILWAUKEE AGAINST TRUMP ORDER
On Thursday, June 21st, hundreds of immigrant community members and supporters rallied outside the Milwaukee office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to protest President Trump’s Executive Order from Wednesday ordering the indefinite imprisonment of families in internment camps and to call for the abolition of ICE. Read more.

AREA MOTHER PLEADS FOR RELEASE OF HUSBAND TAKEN BY ICE
These stories are not just happening somewhere else they are happening to local residents. Listen to Waukesha resident Alysha Ferreyra whose husband Franco was taken by ICE after going to normal check-in visit on June 11th. Click here to sign the petition to free Franco. View news video.

HERE'S ONE 13-YEAR-OLD'S REACTION TO WATCHING DAD TAKEN
"I just started panicking, I didn't know what to do, I was shaking. And then I just heard, "Police, open up, we have a warrant for an arrest" for my dad." This is what it's like to see your parent taken by ICE. View video.

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU ACCIDENTALLY JOG INTO US?
A visitor from France says she was jogging along the beach south of White Rock, B.C., when she crossed the U.S. border without realizing it. So began a two-week nightmare that landed her in a prison jumpsuit. Cedella Roman, 19 (right), didn't know it at the time, but as she ran southeast along the beach on the evening of May 21, she crossed a municipal boundary — and, shortly after, an international border. Read more.

ISSUES ON POLICE OVERSIGHT AND BRUTALITY CONTINUE

UP-DATING THE STERLING BROWN CASE
A promised audit of the police handling of the beating of Milwaukee Bucks Player Sterling Brown by the Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission may be delayed due to a consideration by Police Chief Alfonso Morales to consider further discipline against the officers involved. Read more.

ALSO, Sterling Brown filed a federal civil rights suit against the Milwaukee Police Department and the city. The lawsuit claims wrongful arrest and excessive force by police during the incident on Jan. 26 outside a Walgreens store on the city's south side. Read more.

COMMUNITY QUESTIONS SHAKE-UP OF FIRE AND POLICE COMMISSION
Mayor Tom Barrett is looking to shake up the Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission — including replacing one board member who still wants to serve and has strong support from the Common Council. Barrett has proposed appointing two retirees from the city's Police and Fire Departments to replace outgoing commissioners, but he is coming under fire for his decision not to reappoint Commissioner Marisabel Cabrera. Read more.

A majority of the Milwaukee Common Council has questioned Mayor Barrett's decision to not re-appoint Ms. Marisabel Cabrera to the Fire and Police Commission. In a letter to the mayor, 11 of the 15 aldermen said Ms. Cabrera had earned the trust of the community. See letter.

UNARMED TEENAGER KILLED IN PITTSBURGH SUBURB

An East Pittsburgh police officer who killed an unarmed 17-year-old while he tried to run away during a traffic stop was only sworn into duty around 90 minutes before the shooting, according to reports. Read more.

READINGS AND VIDEOS
TO MAKE YOU THINK

HOW DOES A WHITE PERSON FIGHT RACISM?
From The Root
"At least once a week, I will receive an email from a well-meaning white person who wants to know what they can do to fight injustice and inequality. The answer to that is simple. Whenever and wherever you spot racism or inequality, say something. Do something. Every. Single. Time." Read more.

WHY DO RACIAL STEREOTYPES CONTINUE TO FESTER?
From Francesca "Ccescaleigh" Ramsey on MTV Decoded
Most people realize that it is wrong to stereotype. But some of these generalizations are so ingrained in our minds through social conditioning that it can be difficult to avoid. You might even start to think they are true! Follow along with Franchesca "Chescaleigh" Ramsey as she breaks down the causes and consequences of stereotyping in this Season 2 throwback episode of MTV Decoded. View video.

A HISTORY OF JUNETEENTH DAY
From 'BLACK-ISH,' Facebook, June 19, 2018
A brief video outlines why Juneteenth Day is celebrated, and provides an explanation why the emancipation of slaves was not accomplished immediately with President Lincoln's 1863 Emancipation Proclamation. View video.

MANY OUTRAGED IN SHOWING OF WHITE 'GUILT' VIDEO
African Diaspora Facebook site
A video was shown to students that displayed a foot race between white and black runners, displaying all the barriers the black runners face in life, enabling the white runners to win the race. It caused quite a stir. View video.

CHARLESTON FINALLY APOLOGIES FOR RACIST HISTORY
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 19, 2018
After hours of public comment and deliberation between

council members, Charleston, South Carolina leaders voted 7-5 on Juneteenth Day (June 19) in favor of a resolution apologizing for the city's role in slavery. The port city was a major processing point for receiving slaves from Africa early in its history. Read more.

THIS NATION'S EARLY HISTORY OF TAKING KIDS OUT OF FAMILIES
Yes Magazine, June 18, 2018
“The act of ripping children away from their parents is nothing new for the United States. Separating children and their families to ‘kill the Indian to save the man’ by sending Native children to boarding schools, and doing it in the name of religion, is one generation removed from my family,” wrote Peggy Flanagan on Twitter. Read more.

MUSLIMS OPEN DOOR TO CHRISTIANS
Video by Khalid Al Ameri, Facebook
Khalid Al Ameri asked Muslims in the United Arab Emirates why they wanted to break their Ramadan fast at a Christian Church. This is what they had to say. View video.

BEING WHITE IN TRUMP AMERICA
From New York Times, June 13, 2018
Being white in America has long been treated, at least by white people, as too familiar to be of much interest. It’s been the default identity, the cultural wallpaper — something described, when described at all, using bland metaphors like milk and vanilla and codes like “cornfed” and “all-American.” Read more.

MAJORITY OF WHITES CRITICAL OF BLACK PROTESTS
Chicago Tribune, Sept. 26, 2017
Polls show constantly that a wide majority of whites generally oppose organized efforts of blacks to demonstrate against unjust laws and treatments. That is true today of feelings of whites about the NFL protests asa it was 50 years ago about the marches led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Read more.

RACISM STORIES MATTER

A man's racist rant on the streets of Seattle were met by bystanders who sought to correct him when he said "white men built these streets." View video.

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Implicit racial bias isn't just part of our culture, it's deep-rooted in our judicial system — and it's sending blacks to prison for longer sentences. View video.

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Living in America as a black person is a lot like inexplicably finding yourself in someone else’s house, commented Writer Tess Martin. She writes about a presentation she made to a largely white audience in a discussion about what it’s like to be black in America. Read more.
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Fifty-five years ago, on June 9, 1963, activist Fannie Lou Hamer was arrested in Winona, Miss., after refusing to leave the white section of a bus. She continued her protest with a sit-in at a white-only lunch counter at the bus terminal. Hamer was beaten and never fully recovered from the attack. See brief video about this courageous woman.

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Black women have their own beauty ideals, ones that celebrate features not typically associated with Europeans. Writer Veronica Wells said she knows "our society would like for you to believe otherwise, but most Black women don’t spend their days idolizing the looks of White women." Read more.

COMING EVENTS

CLOSE Milwaukee Secure Detention Facility Group Anniversary
6:30 - 8:30 p.m. Thursday, June 28 at Hephatha Lutheran Church, 1720 W. Locust St.
Sponsor: CLOSEmsdf coalition

A celebration of the progress since the organization was founded in June 2017. More information.

UBLAC Mass Meeting
2 to 4 p.m., Sunday, July 1. Location: TBA.
Sponsors: Uplifting Black Liberation and Black Community

A mass meeting to discuss a very important shift UBLAC and allies are making to reflect the work, impact and change we want to see in our city. Mission of Uplifting Black Liberation and Black Community (UBLAC) is tol equip, connect, and educate Black communities with resources and opportunities that will help provide a sustainable environment free from oppressive systems. More information.

Consider Attending Fire and Police Commission Meetings
Held at 5:30 - 7:30 p.m. on following dates: July 12 and 26 and Sept. 6. City Hall, 200 E. Wells St.

The commission is the governing body for the city's police and fire departments. Their decisions critically affect the day-to-day activities of police officers and firefighters. The meetings are public. View list of meeting dates.

Milwaukee County Sheriff Education Session
5 to 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, July 10. Park lawn Assembly of God, 3725 N. Sherman Blvd.
Sponsor: African-American Civic Engagement Roundtable, others.
The Coalition for a People's Sheriff is partnering with the African American Roundtable and Voces de la Frontera to educate our communities on the Milwaukee County Sheriff and the importance of our participation in the August 14th primary election. More information.

Bystander Intervention Training
5:30 - 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, July 17, Shorewood Public Library. 3920 N. Murray Ave., Shorewood.
Sponsor: SURJ Milwaukee
Bystander Intervention training will focus on ways to intervene in public instances of racist, sexist, anti-Muslim, anti-Semitic, anti-Trans, and other forms of oppressive interpersonal violence and harassment while considering the safety of all parties. The physical and vocal practice of various strategies is designed to change social norms and encourage people to find ways to interrupt violence and prevent further harm. More information.

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