Local
Thursday, July 9, 2020, 7:00 - 8:00 PM
This public session will introduce Central Ohioans to Jewish Voice for Peace, a dynamic international human rights organization with an active branch in Columbus. Prefacing their presentation with the group’s mission to achieve a lasting peace for Palestinians and Israelis based on equality, human rights, and freedom, local members Farrell Brody and Connie Hammond will provide background information on the Middle East conflict that led to its founding. The program will summarize the organization’s efforts, including the current "No Way to Treat a Child" campaign and a discussion of why Move To Amend, as a natural ally, is important to Jewish Voice for Peace’s humanitarian goals. A Q&A session will follow. All are welcome for a stimulating discussion on Palestine, Israel, and practical solutions for a just peace in the region.
Join us today! This is the second Defund the Police Phone Zap and we will be continuing them the next two weeks at the same time. Register for today's session Wednesday July 8th at 2 ET / 11 PT. bit.ly/DefundPhoneZapSURJ
On the night of July 2nd after protesters placed scores of balloons into a downtown street, Columbus Police on their public radio scanner talked about needing to arrest specific protesters, such as a young lady who has used a bullhorn to read from the book The End of Policing in front of police headquarters.
Here is the audio recording from that night.
The recording was posted by LGBQT and BLM activist Drew Michael Wunder, who is well-known by his “Bubble the Drag Queen” persona. The 26-year-old Wunder documents many protests on Facebook Live.
Activists have been reporting how Columbus police appear to be targeting specific protesters over the previous several weeks, utilizing unconstitutional tactics to ID, arrest and charge protesters. The police often fraudulently charge them with felony rioting, in some cases, when they are simply protesting peacefully.
But the scanner recording from the balloon protest offers actual smoking-gun proof.
This fall the citizens of Franklin County should vote in Nationwide Arena.
As we saw in the spring primaries, there is huge confusion about where our citizens can vote. The shabby, little-known, woefully inadequate voting center on Morse Road is a shameful disgrace to our democracy. With the Pandemic we will not have the ability to staff and maintain the usual wide range of neighborhood voting facilities that have been traditionally spread around the county.
Instead, as will be done in Atlanta, our largest indoor sports arena offers an ideal alternative. Should we opt for two locations, the Schottenstein Center on campus might also be used.
Nationwide Arena is owned by the public. The decision to use it for the fall election can be made by city council, in concert with the county election board.
Nationwide is secure, safe and centrally located. It has plenty of parking. Everybody knows where it is.
In response to sustained pressure from students, parents, alumni, teachers, employees, and community members, the Columbus City School Board opted to let their contract with the Columbus Police Department expire without the usual renewal. That contract expired on June 30, which has led to the recent announcement that CPD is “abolishing” 22 officers from Columbus Public Schools.
Tuesday, July 7, 7-8:30PM
Please join SURJ Columbus for a 90 minute virtual workshop, July 7, 7-8:30pm EDT, discussing the tenets of “white supremacy culture:” what it is and how it shows up in society and how we can dismantle white supremacy culture. We will begin with an overview of Showing Up for Racial Justice and our theory of change, vision and values, and also address the question of “why white people organizing other white people?” There will be live ASL interpretation. (Please mark yes on the RSVP form if you need this)
Dismantling white supremacy and racism requires white folks to do the hard work of looking inward, as well as showing up to the work of collective action and liberation. This workshop will also have small group discussion and end with a call to action and ways to get involved in the fight for racial justice and collective liberation.
A Florida election protection lawsuit filed July 1 could help decide the fall 2020 vote count.
Signed by three Florida Democratic legislators, the suit demands that electronic ballot images be preserved in accordance with federal law. The images are created when computerized scanning devices process paper ballots. Those images can then be counted to give a complete ballot tally within six seconds. The paper ballots are preserved for possible recounts.
By federal law the ballot images are considered part of the public record and, like the actual paper ballots, must be retained at least 22 months. The machines are used in at least 80 percent of the nation's voting stations.
But many Secretary of States and/or State election boards around the country simply erase the images, allowing local officials considerable leeway in determining the vote count. In Florida, which has been notoriously fluid in the accuracy of its outcomes, only 27 out of the 67 counties that we know of are preserving the ballot images.
Monday, July 6, 2020, 12:00 - 1:30 PM
On July 1st, the Israeli government will begin formal annexation of large parts of the West Bank. We certainly don’t expect the Trump administration — Mike Pompeo, Jared Kushner, David Friedman — who have handed Netanyahu this vile opportunity be the ones to stop it so Congress has to STEP UP and introduce legislation. Send an email to your Senators and Representative now. Take action here.
There’s an old saying: by their deeds shall ye know them … Or, is it by their words, or by their legacy? Race has become one of the most divisive matters of our time. Sparked by the murder of George Floyd at the hands of police, Americans are experiencing a reckoning with their ghosts of the past. What causes disproportionate use of force? Why are Blacks disadvantaged? What needs to change?
One public policy that may lie at the root of these evils is the “War on Drugs.” Some blame no-knock warrants, militarized police, bloated prisons and sentencing disparities on the drug war. Does this mean it’s racist? To answer this question, let’s start with deeds.
What is the “War on Drugs”? It’s essentially a government led zealotry to halt use, distribution and trade of selected drugs through long “tough on crime” prison sentences for both dealers and users. It’s prohibition (minus the alcohol) made global by the United States over the last 100 years.