Rally on the Side of Love - Peaceful Witness

Monday, June 1, 4-6pm
North Broadway and High Streets
Hosted by First Unitarian Universalist of Columbus
Join the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Columbus in peaceful witness as we Rally on the Side of LOVE! All are welcome! Another black man, George Floyd, has been killed by police, this time in Minneapolis, in an intentional and needless act of violence. We CANNOT, and we WILL NOT be silent!
We ask that you stay on sidewalks, social distance a minimum of 6 feet apart, and wear your masks. Bring your signs and banners: Black Lives Matter, Standing on the Side of Love, etc. Wear your bright yellow LOVE shirts, if you have them.

A Strong Clear Message to Chief Quinlan and Columbus City Officials

Columbus Police Chief Thomas Quinlan, in a news report today, May 31, 2020, was quoted as proclaiming: “Saturday night sent a strong and clear message and [that he] hopes it prevents more destruction.”

Quinlan referred to the draconian and unnecessary curfew imposed on Columbus Saturday, May 30 by Mayor Ginther, and the Ohio National Guard and Ohio state trooper deployment to try to stop the city’s anti-police brutality demonstrations.

Such a tone deaf statement, sadly typical of our Columbus Police Department (CPD) for so many decades.

No Tom, your message tells us this:

· No one in city or state government or the CPD has heard a word the demonstrators are saying

· City and state priorities are that broken windows are more important than lives lost to police brutality

· City and state priorities are that demonstrations must be tamped down, and the safety and health of protestors is irrelevant (hence macing in the face)

· The status quo of racism and police brutality in the city and CPD is in place and nothing will change

· You think you’re being a tough macho guy but really it seems cowardly.

Give to the Bail Fund/Freedom Fund for arrested demonstrators

Hand in handcuffs
Here's the Freedom Fund link to donate:  https://www.paypal.me/columbusfreedomfund?fbclid=IwAR2AnYTQZW8RcqVAgacr8ldplwUyUuoiBuI_YGbW3GQsYlvUhmkX0gyAQjk

Trump the Peace Candidate? This President Abhors International Treaties

Let us consider why the Donald Trump White House is currently considering detonating a nuclear weapon. It would be the first “test” of a nuke since 1992 and is clearly intended to send a message that those weapons sitting around in storage will be available for use. The testing is in response to alleged development of low-yield tactical nuclear devices by Beijing and Moscow, a claim that is unsupported by any evidence and which is likely a contrivance designed to suggest that there is strong leadership coming out of Washington at a time when the Administration has been faulted for its multiple failures in combatting the coronavirus.

Amy Klobuchar, Minneapolis Police and Her VP Quest

Eighteen years before Minneapolis police killed an unarmed black man named George Floyd on Monday, Minneapolis police killed an unarmed black man named Christopher Burns. Today, U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar decries the killing of Floyd. Back then, Minneapolis chief prosecutor Amy Klobuchar refused to prosecute city police for killing Burns.

 

Tips and Tools #21: Building an Organization: Will a Pandemic Eliminate Doorknocking? – Part V

People knocking on a door

Just when we were ready to move on to the next step in “Tips and Tools,” we have a public health pandemic with politicians and pundits predicting the whole world of work and popular activity will change. Social distancing will mean the end of meetings. Work will be remote or at home, rather than office based. Fewer will travel and the whole world will zoom into the future as masked marauders six feet apart. No one can doorknock. People won’t open their doors.

Trust me on this: not in our neighborhoods.

Drive into almost any low-moderate-income community, and I challenge you to count the masks and make a note where you happen to see social distancing. It’s just not happening in the same way. There is a real racial, age, and class divide here that is starkly visible.

Bus service for example in many cities require masks now to ride public transit. In fact, talking to the head of a regional transit authority yesterday, he said maybe half of the riders in his majority African-American city was wearing masks. Talking to the bus drivers’ union leadership, they were clear that their drivers were in no position to enforce the decree. They are drivers, not police.

Trump Is No Accident

Donald Trump is no accident. 

He is our Imperial Vulture come home to roost. Our Exceptional Karma. The ultimate incineration of a City on a Hill defined by arrogance, brutality, and greed. 

Trump’s willful negligence has killed more Americans in three months than did the Vietnam War in ten years. 

He’s saturated our lives with dictatorship, disease, dementia, depression. 

But we have no claim to self-pity. 

Pinochet (Chile), Mobutu (Congo/Zaire), the Greek Junta, the Shah (Iran), Somoza (Nicaragua), Diem/Thieu/Ky (Vietnam), Yeltsin/Putin (Russia), Pol Pot (Cambodia), Lord Jeffrey Amherst (Indigenous America), Salazar (Portugal), Marcos (the Philippines), Alvarado (Honduras), the Duvaliers (Haiti) … murderers, thieves, despots, liars, bigots, buffoons, puppets, thugs, butchers, hypocrites, clowns, torturers, mobsters, devils incarnate … all installed to serve American corporate interests. 

They are Trump and he is them. 

WCRS Celebrates 10 Years At Free Press Carriage House

WCRS logo

This summer, WCRS FM will celebrate ten years of broadcasting from the Free Press Carriage House in Olde Towne East. While the physical WCRS Studios have been closed for the last two months, there is reason to celebrate how far WCRS has come from its humble beginnings.

WCRS FM began broadcasting in 2007 at 102.1 FM, a low-power frequency which was accessible in the East and Northeast Parts of the Columbus Metropolitan area, and translated on 98.3 FM, a translator frequency reaching the Central parts of Columbus.

When describing what the programming that WCRS has to offer, then-Simply Living Director Marilyn Welker said in a 2008 Short North Gazette article on the purpose of WCRS, “There is such a lack of voices of different perspectives relative to community service and ethnic issues and cultural celebration. It’s not on the Columbus radio stations.”

COTA Falling Behind On Re-Opening As State Does

COTA bus

The COVID-19 pandemic has laid out a lot of things about our society that are the ugly truth. One of them is that Columbus is still a city reliant on cars to get anywhere. The reduction of Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA) service is living proof of that, as COTA has drastically cut back on service to focus on essential travel during Ohio’s Stay at Home Order.

On March 19, COTA’s Board of Trustees voted to make service free for the foreseeable future, and all passengers (with the exception of passengers in wheelchairs) to enter and exit through the rear door, which makes sense because it separates the passengers from the driver. Rush Hour Lines and other select routes were eventually phased out by early April. Buses were capped off at 20 passengers per bus, roughly half its normal capacity. Once a bus is at capacity, passengers standing at a bus stop are forced to wait for the next bus, which could be as long as two hours, depending on the route.

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