For all details please visit: https://www.westchestersocialforum.org/
Criminal Justice :
WESPAC Foundation is concerned about the criminal justice system. We work in solidarity with other groups and organizations in Westchester County to repeal the Rockefeller Drug Laws, to eliminate racial profiling, and to address the structural and institutional biases inherent in our criminal justice system. We stand to permanently remove the death penalty as a legal option for the state, and we seek to significantly reduce the prison populations by working towards a more benevolent economic system that guarantees meaningful jobs and training at a living wage to all people.
Westchester Social Justice Forum 2018!
Nada Khader
Posted in Blogs, Communities & Focus Areas, Criminal Justice, Director's Blog, Economic and Human Rights, Immigration, Militarism and Foreign Policy, Movement Building, Racial Justice
An Evening to End Solitary Confinement at WESPAC
Nada Khader
Posted in Blogs, Communities & Focus Areas, Criminal Justice, Director's Blog, Movement Building, Racial Justice
New York Campaign for Alternatives to Isolated Confinement
We will be joined by Cynthia Williams, a 2015 Beyond the Bars of Justice Fellow at Columbia University, who spent time in a federal facility and who will speak about how arbitrary and dehumanizing the system is, how she coped and how people end up in solitary confinement. She will also speak about the New York Campaign for Alternatives to Isolated Confinement and will inspire us to get involved and to effect positive change.
This event is free and open to the public. WESPAC has 10 copies of the book Hell is a Very Small Place: Voices from Solitary Confinement in our office that are available now ahead of the event for people to read and become more familiar with this issue. Please call to arrange pick up. The United Nations has defined solitary confinement as a form of torture. Free will offerings to support Cynthia and this work will be requested. For more information, call 914.449.6514 or email [email protected].
Please do not remain silent about Solitary Confinement while 80-100,000 human beings are trapped and remain invisible each year for infractions as minor as possession of too many postage stamps. Create an opportunity for others to learn the truth about solitary confinement. SWASC Social Workers Against Solitary Confinement has created two 8 minute videos that encapsulates what people need to know.
Take Action. We need everyday people, like you and me, to show these videos to our informal and formal networks. Use your smart phone. Keep it Simple. Discussion will automatically follow from these provocative and thoughtful presentations.
Johnny Perez: Three years in Solitary
Mary Buser – The Helping Professions & Solitary Confinement
We also created a petition for people to sign asking the governing commission to reconsider current practices we believe to be unethical and human torture.
Website Resource: Social Workers Against Solitary Confinement
We have a monthly newsletter.
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National Networking Conference Call on the third Monday of the month at 7pm EST.
Conference call number (515) 739-1015 PIN. 455-445-570#
One hour zoom presentation:
Zoom presentation
Social Workers Against Solitary Confinement: Undoing Racism in the Criminal Justice System. (2/18)
This video (1hour) offers a brief U. S. history of structural racism and discussion of solitary confinement and specifically the issue of dual loyalty for mental health professionals.
Sandra Bernabei, LCSW is a co-convener and steering committee member of SWASC as well as a community organizer and a social worker in private practice in Westchester and NYC. She is the past-president of NASW-NYC.
Sandy is the founding member of the Antiracist Alliance.
Marguerita Johnson Tolson BSW, CASAC-T is a graduate student at Fordham University Graduate School of Social Services. She is completing an internship with Social Workers Against Solitary Confinement.
“We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people.” Martin Luther King Jr
#FREEnewyork Westchester Town Hall
Nada Khader
Posted in Blogs, Communities & Focus Areas, Criminal Justice, Director's Blog, Frontpage, Racial Justice
Report Back from Annual NACOLE Conference
Nada Khader
Posted in Blogs, Criminal Justice, Director's Blog, Economic and Human Rights, Frontpage, Movement Building, Racial Justice
Nada will be presenting a report on Thursday, September 28th at 7pm at WESPAC regarding her participation at the Annual NACOLE Conference on behalf of WCPR.
On September 10th, hundreds of members of law enforcement, community leaders, elected officials, journalists, academics, students and oversight professionals will gather in Spokane, Washington, for the annual four day NACOLE conference (National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement): http://www.nacole.org/2017_annual_conference .
Conference attendees will be able to choose from 31 different concurrent and plenary sessions on a wide range of topics including Building Community Trust, Trauma Informed Policing, Auditing for Accountability, Evaluating Police Use of Force and much more. Attendees will be part of a learning and networking event that will provide inspiration, ideas and practical knowledge as we work for a vision of implementing best practices and enhanced police legitimacy in our local communities and around the nation.
America’s Toxic Prisons: The Environmental Injustices of Mass Incarceration
US prisons may be largely hidden from sight, but their environmental toxicity spreads far beyond their walls.
Source: America’s Toxic Prisons: The Environmental Injustices of Mass Incarceration
I Spent 14 Months in Jail Because I Couldn’t Pay My Way Out
A 20-second bond hearing changed the lives of Lavette Mayes and her children because she couldn’t afford bail.
Source: I Spent 14 Months in Jail Because I Couldn’t Pay My Way Out
Please sign statement in support of Palestinian Prisoners on the 37th day of their hunger strike
Nada Khader
Posted in Blogs, Communities & Focus Areas, Criminal Justice, Director's Blog, Economic and Human Rights, Militarism and Foreign Policy, Movement Building, Racial Justice
Please sign statement in support of Palestinian Prisoners on the 36th day of their hunger strike:
https://goo.gl/forms/HZmKDfN8zBllRrMO2
Westchester Social Forum!
Nada Khader
Posted in Blogs, Communities & Focus Areas, Criminal Justice, Director's Blog, Economic and Human Rights, Environmental and Food Justice, Frontpage, Movement Building, Racial Justice
Building the Movement for Social & Ecological Justice
Join community organizations in Westchester for a social forum on May 20 to exchange ideas and information, foster solidarity, and celebrate our work to create a more just and equal society. We live in a time of struggle as we witness growing threats to the well-being of our planet and communities, as profit is placed over people and land, and corporations, not citizens, control our democracy.
Yet, we, the people, have the collective power to organize a movement for change. The Westchester Social Forum will provide the space to learn from one another, strengthen our organizing skills, and connect as a community.
The day will include a people’s march, workshops on organizing for social and ecological justice, and a culminating cultural celebration! We hope you can join us!
Construyendo el Movimiento por la Justicia Social y Ecológica
Únase a organizaciones comunitarias en Westchester durante un foro social en mayo para intercambiar ideas e información, fomentar solidaridad y celebrar nuestra labor para crear una sociedad más justa e igualitaria. Estamos viviendo tiempos de lucha, mientras presenciamos crecientes amenazas al bienestar de nuestro planeta y nuestras comunidades, que anteponen la ganancia de dinero por sobre el pueblo y la tierra, y donde las corporaciones, no los ciudadanos, son los que controlan nuestra democracia.
Sin embargo, nosotros, el pueblo, tenemos el poder colectivo de organizar un movimiento por el cambio. El Foro Social de Westchester proveerá el espacio para aprender de unos y otros, fortalecer nuestras habilidades organizativas y conectarnos como una comunidad.
El día incluirá una marcha popular, talleres sobre organización social y justicia ecológica y culminará con una celebración cultural. ¡Esperamos que puedan unirse a nosotros!
The Benefits and Limits of Civilian Review Boards
Nada Khader
Posted in Blogs, Communities & Focus Areas, Criminal Justice, Director's Blog, Frontpage, Movement Building, Racial Justice
The Benefits and Limits of Civilian Review Boards
Monday, April 3rd at the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University in White Plains, NY
6pm to 6:30pm light refreshments and networking
6:30pm panel begins promptly
An interactive panel discussion with law enforcement, members of the Albany and Syracuse Civilian Review Boards, and the President of the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement including:
- Frank L. Fowler, Syracuse Chief of Police
- Brian Corr, NACOLE President and Director of Cambridge, Mass. Police Review and Advisory Board
- Ivy Morris, Vice Chair of Albany CPRB (Citizens’ Police Review Board)
- Zach Garafalo, Albany CPRB
- Mallory Livingston, Chair, Syracuse CRB
- Yusuf Abdul Qadir, Director of the Syracuse Chapter of the NYCLU
Panel will be moderated by Law Professor David Dorfman at the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University.
This forum is organized and sponsored by the Westchester Coalition for Police Reform https://www.facebook.com/WCPRN
Introducing the Westchester Coalition for Police Reform to the Yonkers Community
Nada Khader
Posted in Blogs, Communities & Focus Areas, Criminal Justice, Director's Blog, Movement Building, Racial Justice
Introducing the Westchester Coalition for Police Reform to the Yonkers Community
Friday, February 10th at 2pm at the Yonkers Riverfront Library
1 Larkin Plaza in downtown Yonkers
This public forum is an introduction of the work of the Westchester Coalition for Police Reform to the Yonkers Community. Speakers include: co-founder of the coalition Kenneth Chamberlain, Jr., who lost his father in a police killing in the City of White Plains in 2011. Also, speaking will be the convener of the coalition, Rev. Doris Dalton, who is also the Executive Director of the Westchester MLK Institute for Nonviolence; Yonkers Community Organizer Hector Santiago and WCPR steering committee member Nada Khader who will speak about WCPR’s April forum on civilian oversight of local law enforcement.
Please watch and share this very important interview. Palestine will be free. #Nakba70 #Nakba #FreePalestine
Jewish Voice for Peace
Do yourself a favor and listen to Noura Erakat as she brilliantly responds to CBS News on Gaza and the U.S. embassy move.
Hello folks! Here you can watch the first part of the author talk that took place at WESPAC on Saturday, May 12th with Palestinian author Susan Abulhawa and moderated by Felice Gelman discussing Susan's book "Mornings in Jenin". Thank you to Howard Horowitz for helping with transportation and to Marina Guvenc and her mother for serving as the main sponsors and for providing the delicious food:
Building a Global Peace Movement-An evening to build the Global Peace Movement with Dr. Reiner Braun.
Almost 60 people came out on Saturday to hear author Susan Abulhawa speak about her novel "Mornings in Jenin":
The Universality of Persecution
By Marina Guvenc
As a little girl I was often overwhelmed with the sad stories my mother shared with me about her life in the Soviet Union. She spoke a lot about how it felt to be ostracized, persecuted and even physically assaulted for being Jewish.
When I was 4 years old my parents and I came to the United States as Jewish Refugees. While I never experienced anti-Semitism myself, I grew up with a strong impression of what that was like for my parents and their parents. My maternal grandmother watched with her own eyes how her family was executed in their backyard during WW2.
“Never Again” are words that are imprinted in me. Never again should any group of people be dehumanized, made to suffer for generations while the world looks the other way. This is why my heart breaks for what the Palestinian people have faced and still endure at the hands of Israel. My mother asks me “How could the same people who suffered so much, now hurt others in that same way?”
On May 14, 2018 marks 70 years since The Nakba –– the catastrophe where the Palestinian people were literally terrorized and driven out of their homes. For weeks the people of Gaza have been holding demonstrations in several sites where Gaza meets the Israeli barrier. The demonstrators have no weapons. They have gathered there in camps with their entire families. They are protesting because they deserve to be treated humanely. They have a right to food, water and electricity –– all of which they have been deprived intentionally by Israel as a form of collective punishment.
They are denied their right to travel to see their families outside of Gaza in other parts of Occupied Palestine. Yasir Murtaja, a Press Photographer from Gaza who was clearly wearing a vest labeled ‘PRESS’ was shot to death by Israeli snipers several weeks ago. He was a kind hearted young father and husband. He wrote on Facebook once, “My name is Yasir Martaja. I live in Gaza City. I’ve never traveled.” Like most people in Gaza he has never left the 140 square mile, open air prison. Since then over 40 people like Yasir have been killed, and an estimated 3,000 seriously wounded.
As a WESPAC Foundation Board Member I am honored to announce that this Saturday May 12th at 4PM at WESPAC (77 Tarrytown Road, Suite 2W, White Plains NY) we will commemorate The Nakba with a book reading and talk from Susan Abulhawa, author of the critically acclaimed novel “Mornings in Jenin.” Through the novel we gain an understanding of the resilience that allows us to survive a terrible history and emerge with our humanity intact. I hope you will read this remarkable story and let it into your heart. Join us on Saturday as we come together to listen, share and be the change we want to see in the world.
About WESPAC Foundation
WESPAC has been a leading force for progressive social change in Westchester County, New York, since 1974. We have been educating, agitating and organizing for a more just and peaceful world, an end to militarism and racism and a more fair economy that works for all. Our members are currently involved with food justice work, anti-fracking/anti-nuclear and pro-safe energy, solidarity with Indigenous Peoples, an end to militarism and drone warfare and a just resolution to the Israel/Palestine conflict
