Activism

“If you’re not aware of your location in relation to the indigenous people’s liberation struggles of whose lands you’re on, then any liberation that you’re fighting for is still gonna be colonization.” – Klee Benally, Navajo artist and activist of Big Mountain, Black Mesa, AZ

The Root is working to gain a deeper understanding of what this means so that we can be in solidarity with indigenous liberation. We live, work, and organize on colonized land. The history of the Native people in the Connecticut River Valley has been intentionally and violently replaced. What we have learned about the place where we live is from a colonizer perspective. To decolonize our minds and our spaces it is crucial to un-learn the history of this river valley, so that we can better understand the Indigenous narrative.

In the light of our electoral horror-show, one question screams out to me loudest, will we ‘dodge the bullet’? My concern comes mainly by way of the candidate who incites hate, separation, anti-intellectualism, a repudiation of altruism..in short… standing for everything anathema to humanist values.  His constituents seems to revel in exercising base expression of privilege, xenophobia and opportunism.  His ultimate opponent in the race, whomever that comes to be, while clearly more sympathetic to so-called liberal values, also chills me, but seems less potentially catastrophic due to perpetuating the familiar.

For Sanders supporters feeling frustrated about media coverage of the Presidential campaign, please know that you can continue to support the cause from the comfort of your home any time you have even a small amount of time using the campaign’s sophisticated phone banking software.  All you need is a phone, a computer, and some time!  20-minute trainings happen online 2-3 times per day as needed.

Disobedience is a new film about a new phase of the climate movement: courageous action that is being taken on the front lines of the climate crisis on every continent, led by regular people fed up with the power and pollution of the fossil fuel industry.

With Naomi Klein, Bill McKibben and many others

BRATTLEBORO — The AIDS Project of Southern Vermont is inviting the public to help raise money and awareness May 14 at its 29th annual Walk for Life.

The event, set for 10 a.m. to noon at the River Garden on Main Street, will spotlight community efforts not only to support local people living with HIV/AIDS but also to reduce the risk of transmission to others.

The Walk for Life will feature speakers, songs by the student cast of the recent Brattleboro Union High School musical “Rent,” a brief period of remembrance and a light lunch.

Crafting for the Homeless- come make a difference!

Come join us on Sunday afternoon, May 1st, from 1:00-3:00 pm, to craft items for the homeless population in the area. Using traditional crafts, we will make hats, scarves, blankets and sleeping mats from yarn and fleece fabric.

Crafting for the Homeless is completing its second year of meeting on the first Sunday of the month at Brattleboro Area Jewish Community, Congregation Shir Heharim. This will be our last session until next fall.

Some people come to learn to knit or crochet, others arrive with projects already underway. Some are members of BAJC; some are not. All are welcome! We donate our projects to Groundworks Collaborative. 

Dear ibratt readers, here’s something fun to get into – an opportunity to ask a question to Congressman David Jolly (R-FL) and Congressman Alan Grayson (D-FL) about the issues that are most important to you. You can watch the Florida Open Debate for U.S. Senate on Monday, April 25, at 7:00 pm EDT. All questions will be chosen from among those that receive the most votes online.

Local band Groove Prophet takes to the bandstand to benefit Groundworks Collaborative 

BRATTLEBORO – Groundworks Collaborative presents the fourth annual Camp for a Common Cause, Friday, May 20 on the Brattleboro Common. 

For the past three years this event has been a joint fundraiser for Morningside Shelter and the Brattleboro Area Drop In Center; however the two organizations merged last June creating Groundworks Collaborative.  The family-friendly one-night campout continues to successfully raise awareness around homelessness in the greater Brattleboro area.   

What follows is a tiny but representative section from my website. All the statements here are either self evident and well established facts or they are borne from several thousand source articles or videos which have often been produced by mainstream media or other news outlets.

Do I draw conclusions from all these references? Do I feel that these references provide overwhelming evidence of a pattern? Do I feel these articles support the positions I and millions like me take? Absolutely.

The Brattleboro Area Interfaith Initiative is hosting an event to raise awareness of the plight of refugees around the world. This free public gathering will take place on April 2 at 7:00 PM at the Centre Congregational
Church, 193 Main Street, Brattleboro.

Sami Abdallah and Jennifer Silverstone from Eyes On Refugees will speak about their recent volunteer experience at refugee camps in France. They will be joined by Inga Paluch, who will give an overview of the work of Carry Me Home, a disaster relief organization based at the Centre Congregational Church. This initiative is run entirely by volunteers who collect children’s clothing, baby carriers, and small toys and ship them to refugees along the Balkan route.

The Putney School’s annual Charitable Work Day will take place on Saturday, April 16th. If you live within 30 minutes of Putney, you can hire high school students to do yard work or house work for you, and all of the money raised this year will go to the Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program.

Did you know that when refugees arrive in the US for resettlement, the government only provides them with about $925 each to get them started in their new home? Imagine trying to settle into a new country, find a job, and earn enough money for your next month’s rent before that initial stipend runs out.

Come join us on Sunday afternoon, April 10th, from 1:00-3:00 pm, to craft items for the homeless population in the area. Using traditional crafts, we will make hats, scarves, blankets and sleeping mats from yarn and fleece fabric.

Crafting for the Homeless is in its second year of meeting on the first Sunday of the month (Except this month only!) at Brattleboro Area Jewish Community, Congregation Shir Heharim.

Each year since March 11, 2011 those of us who live in Vermont Yankee’s evacuation zone have gathered to support the people of Fukushima, Japan. They continue to suffer the loss of the homeland of their families and ancestors, their farmlands and businesses. 2016 marks the 5^th year of this on-going tragedy. Please join Safe & Green Campaign on Saturday March 12th for a vigil between 10:00 am and noon at Pliny Park, the corner of Main Street & High Street in Brattleboro.

Crafting for the Homeless is in its second year of meeting on the first Sunday of the month from 1-3:00 pm at Brattleboro Area Jewish Community, Congregation Shir Heharim. 

Some people come to learn to knit or crochet, others arrive with projects already underway.  Some are members of BAJC; some are not.  All are welcome! So far, we have donated over 5 dozen items to Groundworks
Collaborative, and we are also making knitted or crocheted squares to be stitched into afghans that we will sell to generate funds to purchase supplies.

Our meetings are lively and welcoming, with adults and children of both genders who talk and work and share ideas and thoughts. Some people take yarn home to continue their work on projects. 

One month from today, March 11, will mark 5 years since the Fukushima nuclear disasters began in Japan. The town of Namie, Japan is the same distance from the nuclear reactors in Fukushima as Brattleboro is from Vermont Yankee. 500 Namie citizens died in the tsunami, and Namie was evacuated. Five years later, it is still off-limits to its 15,000 residents. According to a World Health Organization (WHO) report May 2015, Namie residents received the highests doses of radiation from the Fukushima meltdowns: 10 to 50 miliseverts. The Telegraph posted photos of Namie yesterday:

The Safe and Green Campaign will hold a vigil in downtown Brattleboro on Saturday, March 12th. We will honor the 150,000 evacuees of the Fukushima meltdowns, and to educate ourselves on the continuing public health, environmental and political effects of this horrific accident.

On Jan. 28 at 7 p.m., Shela Linton, who traveled to the UN COP21 climate talks, will report on her experience in Paris with climate activists from around the world, followed by discussion about the road ahead. This event will take place at the Root Social Justice Center, 28 Williams St., Brattleboro, and is sponsored by the Vermont Workers’ Center. 

Details: In December, Vermont Workers’ Center reps Shela Linton and Senowa Mize-Fox traveled to the United Nations’ COP21 climate talks, joining a delegation of over 100 grassroots leaders from the US and Canada.

Crafting for the Homeless is in its second year of meeting on the first Sunday of the month from 1-3:00 pm at Brattleboro Area Jewish Community, Congregation Shir Heharim. 

 Some people come to learn to knit or crochet, others arrive with projects already underway.  Some are members of BAJC; some are not.  All are welcome! So far, we have donated 14 scarves, 20 hats, mittens, and 16 fleece blankets to Groundworks Collaborative, and we also are making knitted or crocheted squares to be stitched into afghans that we will sell to generate funds to purchase supplies. We also have completed one rug to sell.

The Anne Johnson Memorial Scholarship Fund (AJMSF) is supporting deserving teens in disadvantaged communities and helping keep a local woman’s legacy alive.

Anne Randall Johnson was a humanitarian, world traveler, loving wife, sister and mentor. Above all, she was passionate about changing the world. She dedicated her life to it. Anne spent over two decades working in humanitarian assistance. In recent years she returned home to Brattleboro, VT to begin a farming venture with her husband.

BRATTLEBORO – The Root Social Justice Center is partnering with Vermonters for Criminal Justice Reform (VCJR) to host a free public forum, Mass Incarceration and Vermont. The event will be held at The Root Social Justice Center (28 Williams St., Brattleboro) from 2:00 – 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, January 17.

“Vermont is known throughout the country for its progressive and family values,” says Sha’an Mouliert, a member of Vermonters for Criminal Justice Reform. However, her son, like hundreds of other Vermonters, was incarcerated out of state, far from home. While he was incarcerated in Kentucky, Sha’an remarked, “Christmases, birthdays, and other holidays — there is a big hole. My son is missing his children. I am missing him.”

Crafting for the Homeless 

Come join Brattleboro Area Jewish Community, Congregation Shir Heharim on Sunday afternoon, January 3rd, from 1:00-3:00 pm, to craft items for the homeless population in the area. Using traditional crafts, we will make hats, scarves, blankets and sleeping mats from yarn and fleece fabric.

All you need is enthusiasm and interest–techniques will be taught and projects will use basic techniques and simple patterns. This event is suitable for adults, teenagers, and kids old enough to sit still and participate. Kids younger than 12 will need to have an adult in attendance with them. If you want to, you can take projects home to work on between meetings.