Calendar

Monthly interfaith prayer meeting, held on second Sundays, dedicated to survivors and victims of violence and police terror in Oakland.

“Remember the saying: ‘Of all pilgrimages the greatest is to relieve the sorrow-laden heart.'” ~ ‘Abdu’l-Bahá

The Baha’i community of Oakland is organizing this gathering for the community to connect, share prayers, writings and poems from all spiritual traditions, reflect and recharge and build coalitions interested in healing.

Come share prayers, quotes, poems, and favorite passages from your scriptures with us. Simple breakfast will be served.

“Thy name is my healing, O my God, and remembrance of Thee is my remedy. Nearness to Thee is my hope, and love for Thee is my companion. Thy mercy to me is my healing and my succor in both this world and the world to come. Thou, verily, art the All-Bountiful, the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.” ~ Bahá’u’lláh

Oakland District 1 Single Payer Canvass

RSVP for Location https://tinyurl.com/ya3645d6

Join us in North Oakland for a single-payer canvass, Sunday, October 8th from 1-5pm. The day will include lunch, a training on how to canvass, one-on-one practice time, and canvassing in the neighborhood!

Peter S. Arno, PhD, one of the leading researchers for the University of Massachusetts-Amherst PERI team will speak about SB 562 and the Sanders Medicare for all bill, and the financing of each.

Dr. Arno is an economist and Senior Fellow and Director of Health Policy Research at the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and a Senior Fellow at the National Academy of Social Insurance. He recently served on the Board of Directors of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security & Medicare Foundation from 2013 to 2017. Dr. Arno received his doctorate in economics at the New School for Social Research and was a Pew Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Institute for Health Policy Studies and the Institute for Health and Aging at UCSF and a Scholar of the American Foundation for AIDS Research.

Sponsors: HCA – Contra Costa County, AFSCME local 2700, East Bay Single Payer Coalition

GAR SMITH explores the business of war: the environmental and social consequences of war. The War and Environment Reader spotlights the damage military violence inflicts on regional and global ecosystems.  The Reader anthology features a wide array of global perspectives, including Medea Benjamin, Helen Caldicott, Daniel Ellsberg, Winona LaDuke, Jerry Mander, Dr. Jane Goodall, Koohan Paik, Vandana Shiva, David Swanson, and Jody Williams.

Gar Smith is editor emeritus of Earth Island Journal, a veteran of Berkeley’s Free Speech Movement, a Project Censored award-winning investigative reporter, and the author of Nuclear Roulette: The Truth About the Most Dangerous Energy Source on Earth (Chelsea Green, 2012).

Breakout Groups
We were thrilled by your enthusiasm in Breakout Groups at Green Sundays a few months ago. To grow that energy, we’re having Breakout Groups starting around 6:45 at the beginning of the County Council meetings after the 15 minute potluck refreshment break that follows our Green Sunday programs. Which group will you roll with?  (County Councilor Brett Dixon will organize the groups this Sunday.)
1. ELECTIONS (including endorsements, campaigning, ballot drives, voter guide)
2. More CONVERSATION re Militarism and the Environment, AND Green Party ORIENTATION
3. OUTREACH (recruiting, social events, networking with other groups)
4. TECH (website, social media, newsletter, recording/broadcasting our events)
5. OPERATIONS (including Green Sunday plans, fundraising, working with state and national Green Party)

Bay Area people! Existence is Resistance is having a report back from Palestine tonight in Oakland. Check out more: https://t.co/1hGocKiQQy pic.twitter.com/tT2pwBUPpz

— Abby Martin (@AbbyMartin) October 7, 2017

Sing songs with Ocupella and hold signs, use a sign created by Tax the Rich or create your own on the GOP-Trump tax plan.

Just a few weeks shy of the October 10 hearing, the Trump administration announced its third iteration of the Muslim Ban. Three new nations were added to the list of countries facing restrictions—Chad, North Korea and Venezuela—and one country, Sudan, was removed from the list. In light of this development, the Supreme Court removed oral arguments from its calendar and asked for additional briefing from the parties.

The Muslim and refugee bans are discriminatory, unconstitutional and inhumane in the same vein as the Chinese Exclusion Act, the Japanese American incarceration, and special registration after 9/11.

The addition of non-Muslim majority countries to the ban, namely North Korea and Venezuela, does not negate its inherent anti-Muslim intent.

It also affirms the white supremacist, exclusionary policies of the Trump administration that discriminate on the basis of faith, national origin, and immigration status. We must remember history and raise our voices. Join us in declaring No. Muslim. Ban. Ever.

Regardless of what happens in the courtroom, we encourage communities to join us on October 9th at Civic Center Plaza in SF, to band together against Trump’s Muslim Bans and their impact on our communities.

Please join us for an evening vigil, to uplift the voices of those most impacted. Speakers from the original 6 impacted countries, refugees, and allies, and poetry and music from ASWAT Bay Area Arabic Music Ensemble. We also hope to include and uplift the voices of those impacted by Trump’s newest Ban, Chad, North Korea and Venezuela.

Join us in standing up for our communities and against racist laws. Let’s band together to tell the Supreme Court that we are against the Muslim and Refugee Bans.

Over the months leading up to the election, Donald Trump attacked brown and black immigrant communities with xenophobic rhetoric. Not even a week into his presidency, he began making good on his campaign promise of “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims and refugees entering the United States” by instituting his Muslim Ban. With our communities continuously under attack, with the cancellation of DACA, the building of the wall, the massive increase of deportations, the bolstering of policing and militarization, the looming deadline of TPS, the reexpansion of wars abroad and now Trump’s newest ban and the lowering of the refugee cap, we must continue to stand up and speak out against this administration’s violence.

We WILL NOT be silent against white supremacy and Islamophobia.
WE WILL stand up in solidarity for all our communities in the face of any and all discriminatory policies.

Bring your friends and family and join Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus, AROC: Arab Resource & Organizing Center, Black Alliance for Just Immigration, CAIR Bay Area 23rd Annual Banquet and NIAC at San Francisco’s Civic Center Plaza on October 9th, the day before the oral arguments, where we will come together as a community and hear from those most impacted.

PLEASE click the “GOING” button if you will come, and come back often for updates.

To endorse the event please follow this link:
https://goo.gl/forms/wo4Iar8ws6UMvSiq1

Our sponsors so far!:

Lakeshore Avenue Baptist Church – Oakland
Islamic Cultural Center of Northern California (ICCNC)
Media Alliance
VietUnity (East Bay)
Islamophobia Studies Center
Asian Women’s Shelter
Mayor of the City of Oakland, California
Oakland Privacy
Housing Rights Committee of San Francisco
Nikkei Resisters
Japanese American Citizens League (JACL)
Yemeni Alliance Committee
Workers World Party National Conference
Resource Generation (Bay Area)
API Equality – Northern California
California Immigrant Policy Center
Tule Lake Committee
California Faculty Association San Francisco State University Chapter
The Greenlining Institute
Jewish Voice for Peace Bay Area
ASATA – Alliance of South Asians Taking Action
Jobs with Justice San Francisco
Silicon Valley Japanese American Citizen League
San Francisco Living Wage Coalition
Bay Resistance
FemSex
Students for Justice in Palestine at SJSU
Af3irm SF/Bay Area
Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) (Berkeley)
Northern California Islamic Council
Islamophobia Studies Center
Acudir- Alameda County United in Defense of Immigrant Rights
African Advocacy Network (AAN)
TriValley Cultural Jews
Women’s March San Francisco
Billy DeFrank LGBTQ Community Center
Asian Law Alliance
Multifaith Voices for Peace and Justice
Episcopal Priest
Courage Campaign
Santa Cruz Muslim Solidarity Group
International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network
Indivisible San Francisco
Women’s March Bay Area
Chinese Progressive Association
Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA)
Friends of Sabeel North America FOSNA
ACLU of Northern California (Santa Clara Valley Chapter)
Ecumenical Peace Institute
Together We Will – San José
Anakbayan East Bay
The North Peninsula Chapter of the ACLU of Northern California (ACLU-NP)
California Immigrant and Religious Community Protection Coalition
Dolores Street Community Services
BAYAN USA Northern California
GABRIELA SF
South Bay Jewish Voice for Peace
International Socialist Organization – Northern California
ANSWER Coalition – SF
Somos Mayfair
Green Party of Alameda County

Join us in standing up for our communities and against discrimination and injustice. Let’s band together to tell the Supreme Court that we are against the Muslim and Refugee Bans.

The months leading up to the election Donald Trump attacked brown and black immigrant communities with xenophobic rhetoric. Not even a week into his presidency, he began making good on his campaign promise of “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims and refugees entering the United States” by instituting his Muslim Ban. We have seen over the last months, 4th and 9th circuit court’s rule the bans unconstitutional. Now, its fate lies in the hands of the Supreme Court of the United States. With our communities continuously under attack, with the cancellation of DACA, the building of the wall, the massive increase of deportations, the looming deadline of TPS, and the reexpansion of wars abroad, we must continue to stand up and speak out against this administration’s violent policies.

On October 10th, SCOTUS will hear oral arguments in the Muslim Ban case. This is an important moment—win or lose—that will set a major legal, political, and moral precedent. We believe it is critical that there be a strong, loud, mass mobilization that sends a message to the Justices and to this Administration: Muslim communities are organized, and our allies have our backs.

We WILL NOT be silent against white supremacy and Islamophobia, and WE WILL stand up in solidarity for all our communities in the face of any and all discriminatory policies.

Please join us for an evening vigil, to uplift the voices of those most impacted. ASWAT Bay Area Arabic Music Ensemble, speakers from the 6 impacted countries, refugees, and allies will speak, read poetry and sing in solidarity.

Bring your friends and family and join
Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus
AROC: Arab Resource & Organizing Center
Black Alliance for Just Immigration
CAIR – San Francisco Bay Area
and NIAC

at San Francisco’s Civic Center Plaza
on October 9th,
the day before the oral arguments,
where we will come together as a community and hear from those most impacted.

PLEASE click the “GOING” button if you will come, and come back often for updates.

To endorse the event please follow this link:
https://goo.gl/forms/wo4Iar8ws6UMvSiq1

Our sponsors so far!:

Lakeshore Avenue Baptist Church
Media Alliance
VietUnity – East Bay
Islamophobia Studies Center and Islamophobia Studies Journal
Asian Women’s Shelter
Yemeni Alliance Committee

Join panelists from the Democratic Socialists of America, the International Socialist Organization, Mother Brown’s, Coalition on Homelessness and Swords to Plowshares for an in-depth discussion of radical solutions to homelessness in San Francisco.

This is a unique chance to hear perspectives from the front lines of San Francisco’s most pressing humanitarian crisis and learn how you can get involved!

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OCTOBER 10TH: MARCH FOR KAYLA MOORE
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Show up Oct. 10th to amplify the Moore family’s call for justice for Kayla Moore, their loved one who was killed by BPD in 2013. We’re taking to the streets of Berkeley to lift up Kayla’s name, gear up for court support and demand mental health crisis response that is accessible to trans people, people of color, disabled people and everyone who ends up criminilized and endangered when our cities send cops to respond to crisis.

***Want to help prep for the march?***
Contact us to learn about support tasks/roles!
Email: justice4kaylamoore@gmail.com
Call: 510-548-0425
Come to a meeting, Monday’s, 7pm-9pm at the 2022 Blake St., Berkeley

============================================
ABOUT KAYLA MOORE & HER FAMILY’S COURT CASE
============================================

Kayla Moore was a Black trans woman with a mental health disability – schizophrenia – who was born, raised and living in Berkeley. She was a poet and loved to cook, dance and help people – her neighbors, friends and even strangers on the bus.

On Feb. 12, 2013, Kayla was killed by Berkeley police in her own home after a friend of hers called 911 to request mental health support for Kayla. Four years later, the family has finally been granted trial dates for their civil suit against the City of Berkeley and BPD: October 23-27, 2017. Four years later, we have not forgotten Kayla’s life. Nor have we forgotten Berkeley police’s brutal transphobia and racism, their use of excessive force, and, as the Moore family’s court case points out, their failure to accommodate – let alone respect – Kayla’s mental health disability, schizophrenia.

Kayla’s family’s civil suit centers the City of Berkeley and BPD’s failure to failure to comply with the American’s with Disabilities Act on the night they killed Kayla. To us, it’s common sense that crisis is not a crime and a militarized police response is not the way that cities should offer “support” to people experiencing mental health crises. The Moore family’s court case is a call to action for Berkeley and all cities: it’s time to build non-police crisis responses – in line with the ADA – that truly support and honor people with disabilities, especially those who are so often further criminalized for being Black, Brown, trans and/or homeless.

Learn more at www.justiceforkaylamoore.wordpress.com
Follow us at www.Facebook.com/Justice4KaylaMoore
Email us at justice4kaylamoore@gmail.com

We’re organizing mutual aid for folks who are displaced and affected by the North Bay fires. We’ll be taking donations up to Santa Rosa on Thursday and/or Friday. Stay tuned for next aid actions beyond donations.

Items needed:
Feminine hygiene items
Flashlights w/ new batteries
Tarps
Lip Balm
Deodorant
Diapers and pull-ups
Pack n play
Dust masks
Pet supplies (puppy pads, litter boxes, pet food)

EBDSA DROP OFF LOCATIONS:
4255 Terrace Street, Oakland, 94611
Drop off anytime between 12-7pm Tuesday & Wednesday
Please leave items on the porch

1850 Capistrano Ave, Berkeley, 94707
Drop off items anytime Tuesday & Wednesday
Please leave items in the boxes on the front porch

Some Agenda Items:

• Public Recording of Law Enforcement Activity (Right to Watch)
• Observations of PRC Commissioners who attended Urban Shield
• Review Council revision of policy banning use of pepper spray in crowd control
• Rescind Standing Rule prohibiting non-Berkeley residents from sitting as community members on PRC subcommittees.
• Police Department’s timeline for implementation of body-worn camera program, including finalization of General Order governing use and access to video.
  

Today from 9am–7pm, we’re at 350 Alabama St. collecting supplies to send up north to our family and friends in need. pic.twitter.com/3GGR7Q8r78

— DSA San Francisco (@DSA_SF) October 12, 2017

Join us for an enlightening evening with author, farmer and educator Elviria DiBrigit as she premieres her new book Why We Farm. In her book, DiBrigit shares stories about farmers from Capay Valley, including several who sell at our very own Berkeley Farmers Market!

Why We Farm is a book for people who want to know the whole truth about life as a modern day farmer. Each chapter features a different model of farming. Farmers share the stories behind their work and their lives on the farm; the business side of production, the personal challenges they face, and words of advice for the would-be-farmer. DiBrigit asks hard questions and gives a reverent yet realistic picture of a thriving local food system.

Light refreshments will be provided, including fresh produce samples from some of the farmers included in the book, courtesy of the Berkeley Farmers Market!

Join us at this free event, and reserve your spot here.