SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2020
Weekend Reading
Dear John,
Earlier this week, the Senate released its spending bills for 2021, which include billions of dollars for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP)—two agencies with a long history of human rights abuses and terrorizing our communities.
While communities across the U.S. continue to await much needed coronavirus relief, we must tell Congress to stop writing a blank check to agencies that waste taxpayer dollars, undermine our values, and harm our communities. [link removed]
Here are this week's resources to help you stay informed and support your activism.
Register for our "Creating police-free schools" webinar: [link removed] Please join us Nov. 19 to hear from young organizers in St. Louis, Chicago, and Oakland about their efforts to create police-free schools that are safer for students of color and invest in well-being, not policing.
Emergency aid for survivors of Hurricane Eta in Guatemala: [link removed] AFSC and local partners are delivering food, clothing, and hygiene supplies to local shelters in hard-hit areas, providing aid to more than 500 displaced people. “We are deeply humbled by the tireless efforts of our staff and partners to keep our communities safe,” says AFSC’s Luis Paiz Bekker.
Supporting youth organizers in Chicago during COVID-19: [link removed] AFSC is providing youth with groceries, personal protective equipment, and other necessities—while supporting their mutual aid efforts and ongoing work to stop militarism, policing, and surveillance in their communities, writes AFSC’s Debbie Southorn.
AFSC calls for restoration of funding for United Nations Relief and Works Agency: [link removed] The funding crisis is a direct result of the Trump administration’s decision to cut all funding to UNRWA in 2018—and comes at a time when UNRWA staff are providing vital frontline assistance to Palestinian refugees at risk of COVID-19 infection.
Protect incarcerated people from COVID-19!: [link removed] The coronavirus is rampant in U.S. carceral facilities—where they have been more than a quarter-million cases among incarcerated people as well as staff and at least 1,450 deaths. Tell public officials to release as many people as possible and take steps to protect the health and safety of all!
Why it’s time to boycott Pillsbury: [link removed] General Mills manufactures Pillsbury products in an illegal Israeli settlement in the occupied Palestinian territory—violating international law and contributing to gross human rights abuses. Learn more about why it's important to keep Pillsbury products off of your shopping list this holiday season.
Compassion in Action Matching Gift Challenge: [link removed] Thank you to everyone who has contributed to AFSC’s Compassion in Action Matching Gift Challenge! If you have not yet made a gift and it’s within your means, please donate today to help us reach our goal by Nov. 19! A generous donor is matching gifts up to $1 million.
Be well and take care
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American Friends Service Committee
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Philadelphia, PA 19102
United States
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