WILPF – Feb. 2014

WILPF – Feb. 2014

WILPF BUSINESS MEETING

WILPF will meet Thursday February 13, 7PM, at Fresno Center for Nonviolence, 1584 N Van Ness. This meeting is open to all members.

WOMEN IN BLACK

February 5, first Wednesday of each month at noon at Fresno County Courthouse; come on the month in which your birthday falls! Wear black, bring a sign if you wish, and stand in silence for peace.

STIR IT UP – WILPF – ON KFCF 88.1 FM (LISTENER-SUPPORTED FREE SPEECH RADIO FOR CENTRAL CALIFORNIA)

February 26 3PM (4th Wednesday of each month) Jean Hays does outstanding interviews on subjects involving WILPF interests and activities. Tune in!

RAGING GRANNIES

Meetings on selected Mondays at 7PM. Call Ellie at 229-9807 for details.

FRESNO RISING AGAIN !   V-DAY FEBRUARY 14

Fresno will be rising again for justice on February 14th to celebrate V-Day 2014, One Billion Risings’ second annual event. Last year, 207 countries participated in this global campaign to end violence against women around the world. To learn more about what events will take place in Fresno this year, visit www.facebook.com/FresnoRising <http://www.facebook.com/FresnoRising> or go to www.onebillionrising.org <http://www.onebillionrising.org> to find other V-Day events in the central valley. You can also call Kyla at (559)346-8253. Join us as we rise, release, and dance for justice!

MEMBERSHIP NEWS

FRESNO WILPF is very pleased to welcome new members Charles Ashley, Beverly Fitzpatrick, Jocelyn Kauder, and Cherith Merson, who joined recently. They have all received our 2014 Directory. If you did not pick up your copy at our Craft Faire and would like yours mailed, please contact Membership Chair, Nora deWitt, by phoning 225-1894 or e-mailing noradewitt@gmail.com.

SAVE THE DATE & GATHER YOUR STUFF – YARD SALE COMES BACK!

WILPF announces the return of the Great WILPF Yard Sale!! It will happen Saturday, May 17 at Patty Bennett’s home at 512 E. Harvard, as a part of the Harvard Street Sale. PLEASE begin to gather things you would like to contribute to this event. It’s a great way to begin the New Year. More info in coming WILPF pages in the Alliance.

CINECULTURE SPECIAL EVENTS

February 21: Of Civil Rights and Wrongs: The Fred Korematsu Story

Discussants – Eric Paul Fournier (dir.) & Ken Korematsu

Fred Korematsu, born in 1919 in Oakland, resisted the government’s 1942 confinement of Japanese-Americans in concentration camps. His case went to the Supreme Court and he lost. In 1983 a judge formally vacated the conviction, which cleared Korematsu’s name, but did not overturn the Supreme Court’s decision. Korematsu said, “I would like to see the government admit that they were wrong and do something about it so this will never happen again to any American citizen of any race, creed, or color.” He also said, “If anyone should do any pardoning, I should be the one pardoning the government for what they did to the Japanese- American people.” After 2001, Korematsu criticized US persecution of citizens of Middle-eastern descent. He filed 2 amicus briefs with the Supreme Court, warning them not to repeat the same mistake. Shortly before his death in 2005 he urged people to protest: “Don’t be afraid to speak up. One person can make a difference, even if it takes forty years.”

WILPF and the Tehipite Chapter of the Sierra Club will co-sponsor the CineCulture showing of Bidder 70 on March 21. Bidder 70 is the story of Tim DeChristopher’s brave act of buying 22,000 acres of BLM land with the intent of saving it from oil and gas leases.

Film Screenings Fridays 5:30 p.m. Peters Education Center Auditorium

HUMAN RIGHTS DAY COMMEMORATION

As a representative of the Human Rights Coalition of the Central Valley and a WILPF member, I thank the Raging Grannies and Fresno WILPF for supporting the December 2013 Fresno Human Rights Day commemoration. The event brought a new awareness to the theme, “Human Trafficking – Modern Day Slavery That’s Closer Than You Think” We all need to realize that many victims are hidden in our own US cities, that this is not just a problem in third world countries. Human Trafficking is a heinous crime and a gross violation of human rights affecting 12 million people who are forced into labor or sexual servitude. Many victims are so traumatized that they feel they have no other options and fear for their lives if they leave their trafficker. According to the National Human Trafficking Resource Center, human trafficking is widespread throughout the United States. U.S. federal law defines victims of human trafficking as children involved in the sex trade and adults age 18 or over who are coerced or deceived into commercial sex acts, and anyone forced into different forms of “labor or services,” such as domestic workers held in a home, or farm-workers forced to labor against their will. Traffickers use force, fraud, and/or coercion to control their victims. No community is immune to human trafficking and its crippling effects. In Fresno County alone, more than 100 cases have been reported during the last two years. We all need to help stop human trafficking. If you suspect that an individual is a victim or somehow involved in forced labor or sexual exploitation, please contact the National Human Trafficking Resource Center (888) 373-7888 OR call the Fresno PD Coalition Against Human Trafficking (559) 621-5950

Peace ~ Teresa Castillo

*****

WILPF page edited by Leni Villagomez Reeves lenivreeves@gmail.com

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  • Community Alliance

    The Community Alliance is a monthly newspaper that has been published in Fresno, California, since 1996. The purpose of the newspaper is to help build a progressive movement for social and economic justice.

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