~ Gloria Anzaldua
SPRING SURVEY
Help GWAIR determine the needs of antiracist allies in our community. Please complete our Spring Survey! Help us focus our efforts and expand our membership. Click here for the survey.
EVENTS
Wed.-Sat., March 10-13, 2010
Split This Rock Poetry Festival
The goals of Split This Rock are:
1. To celebrate the poetry of witness and provocation being written, published, and performed in the
2. To call poets to a greater role in public life and to equip them with the tools they need to be effective advocates in their communities and in the nation.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Dining Out for Life
On Thursday, March 11th, 150 restaurants in the Washington metropolitan area will join together to support men, women and children living with HIV/AIDS, cancer and other life-challenging illnesses by contributing a percentage of their sales to Food & Friends.
Food & Friends is the only nonprofit organization in the
For a list of participating restaurants, click here.
Friday, March 12, 2010 – 7:00-10:00pm
Metro: Blue Line (Capitol South)
Please join us for a rich cultural evening featuring singing, musical performances, drumming, spoken-word poetry. This event is a fundraiser supporting the US Social Forum: proceeds will support travel and scholarships for persons attending the US Social Forum. (to be held in
$10 suggested donation. Organizations invited to table ($25 per organization) For more information click here, or contact John Steinbach, johnsteinbach1@verizon.net, or Ann Wilcox, Wilcox_Ann@yahoo.com
Saturday, March 13, 2010 – 9:00am to 4:30pm
Brothers and Sisters Together – Building the Beloved Community
128 M Street, NW
(near the intersections of M Street and
Anti-racism workshop hosted by Pax Christi Metro DC-Baltimore and facilitated by Pax Christi USA Anti-Racism team members Cathy Woodson and Bill Marx. $10 voluntary contribution (or more if you can afford it) requested to help cover costs of the light breakfast and lunch that will be served. All are welcome, but space is limited, so registration will be on a first come, first serve basis). For more information or to register, e-mail cooker@ppnpf.com
Saturday, March 13, 2010 – 9:30am to 3:00pm
Racial Reconciliation Empowerment Seminar
Wesley Theological Seminary at
Registration $15. Registration begins at 9:30 a.m. Seminar: 10:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. (Continental Breakfast and Lunch will be provided.)
Grace and Race Ministries, Inc., and Wesley Theological at
Sunday, March 14, 2010 – 1:00-3:00pm
FREE Immigration Film Series: Screening of “9500
All
2835 16th Street (with
Longfellow Room
9500 Liberty - Prince William County, Virginia becomes ground zero in America’s explosive battle over immigration policy when elected officials adopt a law requiring police officers to question anyone they have “probable cause” to suspect is an undocumented immigrant. 9500
Saturday, March 20, 2010
March on
People from all over the country are organizing to converge on
On Saturday, March 20, 2010, there will be a massive National March & Rally in D.C. A day of action and outreach in
Saturday, March 20, 2010 – 7:30pm
8th Annual World Dance Showcase
Publick Playhouse
Box Office 301-277-1710; TTY 301-277-0312
Celebrate traditional dance cultures from all parts of the world. Enjoy a dazzling galaxy of accomplished performers from our diverse community, proudly performing their artistic heritage.
Tickets: $12/person, $10/person seniors & students
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Jewish Brunch, Interfaith Service & Immigration Rally
Location: TBD
On Sunday, March 21, you can be part of history and help change the future for millions of out immigrant brothers and sisters. Join thousands of people of faith from across the
Register for the rally here.
Sunday, March 28, 2010 – 4:00-6:00pm
Book Event: Working in the Shadows
Busboys & Poets
202-387-7638
What is it like doing the back-breaking work of immigrants? To find out, Gabriel Thompson spent the year working alongside Latino immigrants, who initially thought he was either crazy or an undercover immigration agent. Combining personal narrative with investigative reporting, Thompson shines a bright light on the underside of the American economy, exposing harsh working conditions, union busting, and lax government enforcement-while telling the stories of workers, undocumented immigrants and desperate US citizens alike, forced to live with chronic pain in the pursuit of $8 an hour.
Saturday, April 3, 2010 – 6:00pm
Humanist Seder
Family, friends and community, we eat and drink, sing, read, reflect on our values, and renew our commitment to creating a better world for all. We use an Ethical Society Haggadah to tell the stories of the season which inspire our inner renewal. For more information contact Mary Herman at Maryh@ethicalsociety.org
Sunday, April 11, 2010 – 4pm
African American Dance Concert
Publick Playhouse
Box Office 301-277-1710; TTY 301-277-0312
The African American Dance Ensemble is an internationally acclaimed dance troupe that uses dramatic staging, rhythms, choreography and colorful costumes to present a dance concert of dramatic excitement. The Ensemble’s mission is to preserve and share the finest traditions of African and African American dance and music, celebrating traditional African culture, aesthetics and values. Tickets: $20/person; $15/person DancePass holders.
Sunday, April 11, 2010 – 6:30-9:30pm
Labor Seder 2010!
Adas
Each year, Jews United For Justice’s Labor Seder highlights a current workers’ rights struggle and brings together the Jewish and labor communities in a shared commitment to social and economic justice.
This year’s seder will focus on our region’s social safety net crisis, as city and state budgets are cut in ways that disproportionately affect working families and low-income residents. The seder will feature singing, storytelling, discussion, reflection, and action, as well as local workers, activists, rabbis, and an original haggadah. Planning for the seder is now underway; email seder@jufj.org if you’d like to be involved.
Pre-register online here. Pre-registration is strongly preferred, and an RSVP is required. A limited number of tickets will be available at the door.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010 - 6:30pm
Book Talk: “To Uphold the World” by Bruce Rich
Busboys & Poets
202-387-7638
Author Bruce Rich discusses and signs his new book, “To Uphold the World: A Call for a New Global Ethic from Ancient India.” What two great figures of ancient
In 1991, Bruce Rich traveled to Orissa and gazed upon the rock edicts erected by the emperor Ashoka over 2,200 years ago. Intrigued by the stone inscriptions that declared religious tolerance, conservation, nonviolence, protection of all species, and human rights, Rich was drawn into Ashoka’s world.
Ashoka was a powerful conqueror who converted to Buddhism on the heels of a bloody war, yet his empire rested on a political system that saw the accumulation of wealth as society’s overarching goal. This system was perfected by one of history’s greatest political geniuses—Kautilya, a statesman who wrote the world’s first treatise on economics.
Already widely praised in
Saturday, April 24, 2010 - 6:00pm
Book Talk: “Still Brave: The Evolution of Black Women’s Studies”
Busboys & Poets
202-387-7638
Cheryl Clarke, Angela Davis, Bell Hooks, June Jordan, Audre Lorde, and Alice Walker—from the pioneers of black women’s studies comes Still Brave, the definitive collection of race and gender writings today. Including Alice Walker’s groundbreaking elucidation of the term “womanist,” discussions of women’s rights as human rights, and a piece on the Obama factor, the collection speaks to the ways that feminism has evolved and how black women have confronted racism within it.
Editors Stanlie M. James, Frances Smith Foster, and Beverly Guy-Sheftall will discuss and sign their collection. Event is free and open to all. For more info on the book and to purchase, click here.
Sunday, April 25, 2010 - 6:30pm
Book Event: “After Gandhi”
Busboys & Poets
202-387-7638
This nonfiction chapter book explores the work and legacy of Mohandas Gandhi through fifteen profiles of activists who chose nonviolent resistance as the path to change. The book focuses not so much on peacemakers as on heroic individuals who were in direct physical danger and chose to respond with nonviolence. The profiles include such well-known figures as Martin Luther King, Jr., Nelson Mandela, and César Chávez, as well as leaders who may be less familiar, such as Charles Perkins, Aung San Suu Kyi, and Wangari Maathai. Event is cosponsored by Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW), and is free and open to all.
June 11-14, 2010
Strategy Conference of Liberals and Progressives
Church of the Reformation
For more information click here.
June 22-26, 2010
US Social Forum
The US Social Forum (USSF) is a movement building process. It is not a conference but it is a space to come up with the peoples’ solutions to the economic and ecological crisis. The USSF is the next most important step in our struggle to build a powerful multi-racial, multi-sectoral, inter-generational, diverse, inclusive, internationalist movement that transforms this country and changes history. We must declare what we want our world to look like and we must start planning the path to get there. The USSF provides spaces to learn from each other’s experiences and struggles, share our analysis of the problems our communities face, build relationships, and align with our international brothers and sisters to strategize how to reclaim our world. For more information click here.
July 10-13, 2010
2010 Annual Conference of National Council of La Raza (NCLR)
NCLR is thrilled to host the 2010 NCLR Annual Conference and the National Latino Family Expo in
September 23-25, 2010
Facing Race Conference 2010
Sponsored by Applied
Be one of the 1000 participants looking to define justice and make change. Come to Facing Race 2010!
Building on the success and excitement generated by racial justice activists from across the country, Facing Race 2010 guarantees lively discussions on today’s hot-button race issues while offering models for real change. Taking place September 23-25, 2010 at the McCormick Hyatt Regency in
For more information click here, contact Gina Acebo at facingrace@arc.org or by phone at 510-653-3415 x4919. For up-to-date info, join the Facing Race Facebook page.
Talk is cheap ... It is the way we organize and
use our lives everyday that tells what we believe in.
~ César Chávez
PETITION
Tell Obama: Stop Backroom Climate Deals that Ignore Poor Communities
Sponsored by ActionAid
The
The substance of the Copenhagen Accord presented at the end of the negotiation is frighteningly hollow. It ignores the demands of the climate justice movement and disregards the rights of poor communities.
The impacts of climate change -- floods, droughts, and natural disasters -- threaten food security, livelihoods, and the very right to survival for millions of the world’s poorest people.
Instead of concluding more than two years of work by 190 countries to reach a global agreement, the Copenhagen Accord was put together behind closed doors by a few powerful countries, led by the
Now, more than ever, we need President Obama to stand up and help lead the world forward to address the climate crisis. Send him a letter asking for his leadership on key steps needed to help us avert climate catastrophe.
To read and sign the petition, click here.
Entre los individuos, como entre las naciones,
el respeto al derecho ajeno es
(Among individuals, as among nations, respect for
the rights of others is peace.) ~ Benito Juarez
ARTICLES, LEARNING MATERIALS & MORE
Immigrant Charter Schools: A Better Choice?
Charter schools tailored to the needs of newly arrived immigrants are getting a lot of attention. But are they working? And will they lead to a new kind of segregation? Read Article
Check the Labels
Many people have a tendency to lump strangers into racial and ethnic categories. A simple writing assignment can sharpen students’ minds and challenge their biases. Read Article
What Counts As History?
This lesson asks students to think about what counts as history. It is divided into two parts. Part 1 gets students thinking about what’s included in the history they study, and what’s missing. Part 1 can stand alone as a complete lesson. Part 2 extends the project. In it, they compare how a
Teaching Tolerance Page on Facebook
Want to join a community of people devoted to diversity and tolerance in the classroom? Teaching Tolerance’s mission is to promote respect for differences and appreciation of diversity in the classroom and beyond. Check out Teaching Tolerance on Facebook.