Kites for Gaza day of action (March 30): Next Saturday, AFSC and people around the U.S. will show solidarity with Gaza by making and flying kites in Washington, D.C. and in their communities. We hope you will join us to help amplify the call for a cease-fire that day. If you’re in the D.C. area, please join AFSC in person at the kite festival that’s part of the National Cherry Blossom Festival. Or join us wherever you are by making a kite and posting a photo on social media with #KitesforGaza.
Resume U.S. funding for life-saving Palestinian aid: Palestinians in Gaza are facing starvation, disease, and ongoing military attacks. The entire population is in urgent need of humanitarian aid. But the U.S. has suspended funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, the main provider of aid in Gaza, and the FY24 budget has made that cut permanent through this year. Stopping these funds is a form of collective punishment that would deepen the humanitarian crisis. Tell Congress to restore funding for Palestinian aid today!
Researchers link border wall height with increased trauma cases: In 2019, the U.S. government raised the border wall with Mexico from 18 feet to 30 feet. Since then, trauma centers along the border have treated an unprecedented number of people injured after falling from the wall. To prevent more injuries and deaths, the U.S. must ensure there are safe ways for people to seek asylum, says AFSC’s Pedro Rios. (Spectrum News)
Register: Stopping the militarization of border communities (March 26, 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT): Join us for the next webinar in our monthly series “Protecting Migrant Rights in an Election Year.” This month, you’ll hear firsthand from AFSC staff with our U.S.-Mexico Border Program and New Hampshire Program. We’ll examine how militarized approaches to migration harm people seeking refuge and people living in border communities. We’ll also talk about AFSC's decades-long work to stop border militarization and how you can support our efforts.
Boycott Chevron!: The Chevron corporation runs gas fields and pipelines off the coast of Palestine and Israel that, among other things, supply power to the Israeli military and illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank. That makes Chevron a major partner in the Israeli occupation, apartheid, and illegal exploitation of Palestinian land and resources. AFSC is part of a growing international coalition calling on Chevron to stop supporting genocide and apartheid. Join us by sending a message to the CEO of Chevron today!
New Jersey advocates urge state to pay promised pay raises to people in prison: Incarcerated people in New Jersey make just $1 to $7 a day for jobs ranging from laundry service to paralegal work. Last year, the governor budgeted funds to increase those wages. But the Department of Corrections has yet to pay even a dollar out of that funding. The department must "get that money … to the people it was promised to,” says AFSC’s Bonnie Kerness. “Reentry is very tied up with a person’s economics, and what they walk out of prison with.” (New Jersey Monitor)
