Friends,
Welcome to February! It's Black History Month, and our first lowland snowfall this winter looks to be on its way. The 19th annual Bellingham Human Rights Film Festival is coming up this month, which the Whatcom Peace & Justice Center is once again proud to sponsor.
With Congress in session and a Democrat majority in the House of Representatives, there is a lot of federal legislation on the move. Check out the action alerts below and start sending messages! We can't count on every Democrat to vote for peace and justice without hearing from constituents -- earlier this week, both of our Washington senators voted to advance S.1, the anti-BDS bill.
Here at WPJC, we are looking forward to once again hosting local educator Kim Harris, who will facilitate "A conversation on systemic racism" on Feb. 20. Later that evening, we will welcome representatives from Veterans for Peace for a screening of the film, "Making Waves," as part of the Bellingham Film Coalition weekly movie night series at the Alternative Library. See you there!
In peace,
WPJC
|
|
|
Congress: Support legislation to repeal the Muslim Ban
Sen. Chris Murphy and Rep. Judy Chu have introduced legislation that would declare Trump's Muslim Ban (3.0) unconstitutional and prevent Congressional funds from being used to enforce it.
Call your representatives now and urge them to co-sponsor these crucial bills and any other legislation to #RepealTheBan.
|
|
Oppose regime change efforts in Venezuela
Sign the petition here to tell your elected officials that you oppose foreign intervention in Venezuela’s internal affairs. This action is counter to both the United Nations and Organization of American States Charters and thus illegal under international law.
|
|
Congress: Get us out of unauthorized war
Rep. Ro Khanna and Sen. Bernie Sanders have just reintroduced legislation to invoke the War Powers Act to end U.S. support for the Saudi-led war on Yemen. Send a message now urging Congress to support it.
|
|
|
4-5 p.m., February 1
Peace Vigil
Corner of Cornwall & Magnolia
7:30-10 p.m., February 2
Not Creepy Gathering for People Who Want to Fall in Love
Alternative Library (519 E. Maple)
1-4 p.m., February 3
How to Run for Office as a Progressive (Yes, You)
Localgroup Studio (221 Prospect)
11:30-1 p.m., February 4
Dignity Vigil
WTA bus station (Railroad & Magnolia)
6:30 p.m., February 5
Racial Justice Coalition meeting
Bellingham Unitarian Fellowship (1207 Ellsworth)
6 p.m., February 5
Jobs with Justice meeting
Union Center (1700 N. State Street)
4-5:20 p.m., February 6
"Human Mobility/Human Dignity: Ethics in the act of representing migration and detention"
WWU Fairhaven College Auditorium
Noon-12:50 p.m., February 13 & 14
Is obtaining an education a political act?
WWU's Haggard Hall 222
7-10 p.m., February 14
Octavia's Cinema: "Avatar"
WWU's Fraser 102
6 p.m., February 15
Veterans for Peace meeting
Room 103 in Co-Op Connections Building (405 E. Holly)
4-5:20, February 20
"Bollywood Makes Men: Gender, Globalization, and Nation in India"
WWU Fairhaven College Auditorium
5:30-7 p.m., February 20
"A conversation about systemic racism"
WPJC (1220 Bay Street)
8 p.m., February 20
WPJC Movie Night: "Making Waves"
Alternative Library (519 E. Maple)
|
|
|
|
|
Systemic racism conversation
Pre-register online at: https://www.whatcompjc.org/racial-equity.html
In this workshop on February 20 at the Whatcom Peace & Justice Center, explore systemic racism in the United States through the lens of U.S. policies and practices regarding incarceration, security and voter policies. We will:
- Define systemic racism
- Analyze U.S. mass incarceration statistics and disproportionate impacts on people of color
- Understand U.S. Southern border crossing statistics and the idea of a border crisis
- Look at impacts of voter ID laws
- Increase self-awareness through an anti-racist checklist
- Identify resources for further growth and development
Facilitator Kim Harris is a professional diversity trainer who resides in Bellingham, Washington. She has a master’s degree in education from Western Washington University and a bachelor’s degree in humanities from the University of California at Berkeley. Kim’s philosophy of training is “together we can learn from one another to create our greatest truth.” She provides diversity and inclusion training through Distinctive Voice Consulting, which she started in 2014.
|
|
A movie night with special guests:
"Making Waves: The Rebirth of the Golden Rule"
8-9:30 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 20, at the Alternative Library (519 E. Maple)
Join Veterans For Peace Chapter 111, the Whatcom Peace & Justice Center, and the Bellingham Film Coalition (Alternative Library, Film Is Truth 24 Times A Second, Whatcom-Skagit IWW + WPJC) for a special screening and discussion of the film, "Making Waves: The Rebirth of the Golden Rule."
This 25-minute documentary covers the history of the Golden Rule, a historic anti-nuclear peace boat, from her first voyage in 1958 through restoration from 2010 to 2015 and her current voyages. It focuses on Veterans For Peace's work with their re-built sailing boat, the first boat on which people challenged nuclear bomb tests in the Pacific years ago, and which will be sailing to Micronesia and Hiroshima next year.
The film won best short documentary at the Guam International Film Festival. Filmmaker James “Seamus” Knight of Caneyhead Productions produced the film during the San Diego Fleet Week protest on October 14, 2017 in conjunction with Veterans For Peace, San Diego chapter.
After the screening, Zoe Byrd, VFP Golden Rule Project ambassador, and Peter Lumsdaine, Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility, will speak.
|
|
"Hello, Dear Enemy!" exhibit
 "Hello, Dear Enemy!: Picture Books for Peace and Humanity" will be exhibited on the fourth floor of WWU's Wilson Library through March 22, 2019. This traveling exhibit is on loan from the International Youth Library in Munich, Germany and has been around the world.
The exhibit is divided into four themes: Experiences of War, Destruction, and Displacement; Power Struggles and the Origin and Escalation of Violence; Prejudice, Ostracism, and Imagined Enemies; Utopias of Peace and Anti-War Books. Posters on display showcase provocative images and quotes from the books.
Free and open to the public. For more information, go to: http://libguides.wwu.edu/clic/hello-dear-enemy
|
|
Request your ballot now for Conservation District election
Mail-in ballots are only available upon request. The deadline to request a mail-in ballot is 4 p.m. on February 8. Whatcom County voters can request ballots in-person at the WCD office or by using the Whatcom Conservation District’s ballot request form. A new request for a mail-in ballot must be completed every election year.
|
|
|
|
