With family and community support, Edith Espinal is striving to keep her spirits up as she lives in sanctuary at the Columbus Mennonite Church to evade a deportation order. But immigration enforcement is doing what it can to make sanctuary feel like incarceration.

Espinal was notified in mid-August that she was slated for deportation. Since then she has been forced to wear an ankle bracelet GPS monitor that tracks her location. The monitor is owned and managed by GEO Group, a private company that contracts its correctional and detention services to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

GEO Group gave generously to Donald Trump's presidential campaign. Despite numerous lawsuits for wrongful death, terrible living conditions, and violating anti-slavery laws in its detention centers, GEO Group was awarded another lucrative federal contract after Trump was elected.

Are veterans of the U.S. military disproportionately likely to be mass killers in the United States? Asking such a question is difficult, first because of concerns of profiling, discrimination, etc., and second, because it’s hard to answer.

It’s important to answer because it’s important for us to know whether military training is contributing to this epidemic, a fact that (one must rush to say) would not somehow eliminate the roles played by gender, guns, mental illness, domestic violence, a violent culture, the mass media, economic inequality, or anything else.

On Wednesday night, Nov. 8, 2017, the exact one year anniversary of Trump's Electoral College theft of the presidency, Artists Rise Up Los Angeles held its third event. ARULA was co-created by director Sue Hamilton the day after Trump’s ascension to the throne in order to rally artists to fight the pig who lost the popular vote by 3 million-plus ballots and his regime.

 

Older woman with big sunglasses facing right in a ponytail, smiling

Tuesday, Nov 21, 7:30pm
Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium
Steinem is a writer, lecturer, political activist and feminist organizer. She is a trailblazer for women’s rights and a leader of the second wave feminist movement. Ms. Steinem co-founded New York Magazine and Ms. Magazine, and remained an editor of the latter for 15 years. She is a best-selling author of many books with her most recent book titled "My Life on the Road." She has been published in New York Magazine, Esquire, The New York Times Magazine and women’s magazines and publications worldwide. She is a founding member of the Women’s Action Alliance, the National Women’s Political Caucus, Women’s Media Center, Voters for Choice, URGE and is the founding president of the Ms. Foundation for Women. An Evening with Gloria Steinem will take place on Tuesday, November 21, 2017 at 7:30 p.m. at the Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. The lecture is free and open to the public. No tickets are necessary, and limited space is available on a first-come, first-served basis

Two men on a stage, one with a guitar, one with a plaque in his hand

In between dancing and singing along with protest songs and psychedelic music, Free Press readers helped honor four community activists at the November 13 Free Press Protest Fest and Awards ceremony. The event was held at Woodlands Tavern and featured Golden Ratio, Brian “Clash” Griffin, Victoria Parks, Connie Harris, Dan Dougan (as emcee and musician), the Chicken Hawk Bird Getters, and comedy by Travis Irvine. The awardees were:

2017 Free Press Musician Award - Brian “Clash” Griffin

Two men on a stage, one with a guitar, one with a plaque in his hand

In between dancing and singing along with protest songs and psychedelic music, Free Press readers helped honor four community activists at the November 13 Free Press Protest Fest and Awards ceremony. The event was held at Woodlands Tavern and featured Golden Ratio, Brian “Clash” Griffin, Victoria Parks, Connie Harris, Dan Dougan (as emcee and musician), the Chicken Hawk Bird Getters, and comedy by Travis Irvine. The awardees were:

2017 Free Press Musician Award - Brian “Clash” Griffin

Top of a candle flame as a cartoon in different hues of yellow against black

Monday, Nov 20, 6-8pm
King Avenue United Methodist Church, 299 King Ave.
TransOhio will hold its annnual TDOR on Monday, Nov. 20th at KAUMC to honor and lift up the victims of violence against the transgender and gender non-binary/ non- conforming community in 2017 both across the U.S. and around the world. Reception to follow, child care available.

Gray haired man with black-rimmed glasses sitting at a table looking at a dark haired woman who is speaking also sitting in a chair

The Columbus community offered Bienvenido! to Marina Alvarenga from El Salvador on November 1, 2017. Alvarenga was on a tour through the country to speak with Central American activists about the current conditions in El Salvador and her campaign for Cabinet Department in 2018.

The event served as a reunion for former members of the Columbus, Ohio – Copapayo, El Salvador Sister City Project, an organization that was active throughout the late 80s to mid-90s that sent several delegations of local activists to bring humanitarian aid to the Salvadoran village during that country’s civil war – as well as other activist groups such as Pastors for Peace.

Silver can with black words on it that say Climate Legacy How Will We Be Remembered

Saturday, November 18, 12-2pm
Trintity Episcopal Church, 125 E. Broad St.
Join us on November 18th to make history. We will dedicate a 50-year time capsule to record what Ohioans love and are fighting to protect from climate change. It will be an interactive, inspiring, and family-friendly event where we will celebrate the people and places we are fighting for. Governor Kasich will be given an opportunity to write a letter pledging his support to uphold the Paris Agreement and stop the proposed fracking of the Wayne National Forest and the construction of the Nexus, Rover, and Utopia pipelines. We also call on Regional Forestry Manager Kathleen Atkinson to withdraw her consent and stop the proposed fracking of the Wayne National Forest.
We need YOU to help fill this time capsule! Please bring--
-An object (small enough to fit in your palm) representing what you love and want to protect in the face of climate change
-A letter to the future generations

Pages

Subscribe to Freepress.org RSS