It is with pain in my heart that I announce the passing of Baba Surya. He passed away peacefully in his sleep yesterday at the age of 91 years. He was a fixture at the WESPAC office for many years when we were located at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. location in...
WESPAC Foundation supports the work of the Anti-Racist Alliance which is the lead group in Westchester that explores the ongoing harm of institutionalized and systemic racism in our country today. We have honest discussions in a mixed group of how white privilege impacts both people of color and white folk in Westchester County in the form of excessive police force, access to quality education, employment and housing and many other areas. We listen to the range of experience that people of color have to endure in a society that continues to disproportionately benefit white people . For more information, visit antiracistalliance.com
Building Community at the Lower Hudson Valley Social Forum
A wonderful short documentary film from Wilder Nicholson that captures the essence of the 2025 Lower Hudson Valley Social Forum. This footage gives us hope and joy in these dark and challenging times. We need to continue building community as we navigate our way to...
Tribute to WESPAC
Hello everyone! Here is Andrew's fabulous tribute to WESPAC with a couple of graphic tweaks! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrEb3fBmniY Thank you so much, and we look forward to celebrating with you at Red Hat on the River on June 10th! All details can be...
Veterans Fast for Gaza
This event starts on May 22, 2025: Name: "Veterans & Allies Fast for Gaza" Organized by Veterans For PeaceDuration: Core fasters will fast for 40 days. 250 calories/day to approximate what people in Gaza have. Who: Anyone who agrees with the two...
OPEN LETTER TO THE PEOPLE OF WESTCHESTER, THE JEWISH COMMUNITY AND THE ADL
OPEN LETTER TO THE PEOPLE OF WESTCHESTER, THE JEWISH COMMUNITY AND THE ADL Dear All, In a recent issue of its “Anti-Semitism Briefing” on WESPAC, the ADL describes WESPAC as an organization that does good in the world, serving to support equity and social justice and...
Raising Our Voices – From Nancy Kricorian
As many of you know, my spouse James teaches at Columbia University, which has again been much in the news. Things have been moving so fast that it’s hard to keep up with a situation that grows ever more dire. On Friday, March 7 when the Horsemen of the...
Feb. 19th is Day of Remembrance for Japanese American Community
From UMass Office of the President: February 19th is a significant date for the Japanese American community. On this day in 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which gave the U.S. Army the authority to remove civilians from the military...
Puppet making for the Social Forum Opening March!
The LHV Social Forum planning team is delighted to be working with the @boxcutter_collective to make large puppets for the social forum scheduled for Sunday, April 27th in White Plains! Boxcutter Collective is a New York City based puppet troupe made up of 6...
CFOW Newsletter!
From Frank Brodhead: Hello All - In less than a month, Donald Trump and Elon Musk have grabbed power and created chaos. We call this a “coup,” meaning an unconstitutional overturn of our government. They must be stopped. But how? Tens of thousands of people have lost...
NOON Newsletter 2025
Welcome to the NOON e-newsletter for February 2025. Enjoy, and please share widely! This poem was written for the candlelight vigil preceding the Onondaga Nation’s Land Rights hearing in Federal District Court, October 18, 2007. For Onondaga By Robin Wall Kimmerer...
WESPAC on Facebook
November 19th marks the tragic police killing of Mr. Kenneth Chamberlain, Sr. Kenneth his son will open up the community forum with welcoming words and thoughts on this current moment:Please save the date and help us share widely!Our current slate of confirmed panelists includes: - Deputy Commissioner of Public Safety for the City of White Plains Joseph Castelli (Commissioner Hardy is already committed to another panel that evening)- Peekskill Police Chief Adam Renwick - Omar Lopez (Deputy Mayor and CCRB Chairman, Ossining) - Dennis Adams (CCRB Chairman, Peekskill) - Jay Buckiewicz (Secretary CCRB, Peekskill)Invited but not yet confirmed - City of Yonkers Public Safety Commissioner and Westchester County Public Safety CommissionerWe will have light refreshments from 6pm to 6:15pm and then we will head to the auditorium: @followers
WESPAC Foundation has secured the screening rights to make the documentary Who Killed Alex Odeh? available to our community for one day. This film is deeply personal to me. I was a high school student here in Westchester County at Horace Greeley when Alex Odeh, a Palestinian American civil rights leader and regional director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, was assassinated by a bomb planted at his office in Santa Ana, California, on October 11, 1985. I remember how deeply disturbing it was to learn of his murder, and I remain profoundly shaken by the fact that, more than four decades later, no one has been brought to justice. Even more troubling is the history of suspects who were able to leave the United States without facing prosecution. For me, Alex Odeh’s murder came to symbolize something that Palestinians have experienced for generations: a devastating sense that those who take Palestinian lives can do so with impunity. That failure of accountability has continued to haunt our people, culminating in the mass killing and destruction we have witnessed in Gaza over these past several years. When violence against Palestinians goes unpunished, it sends a dangerous message that Palestinian lives are somehow less worthy of protection, dignity, and justice. I hope our WESPAC community will take the time to watch this important film with me on December 2nd at 7pm at WESPAC, reflect on the decades of injustice it exposes, and recommit ourselves to the principle that every human life is sacred and that justice must never depend on one’s nationality, ethnicity, or identity.Wednesday, December 2nd at 7pm at WESPAC77 Tarrytown Road, Suite 2WWhite Plains, NY 10607
Come out on Sunday and support the Yonkers Sanctuary Movement!