Occupy Kensington Meeting
Sunday, November 11th, 7:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
From Occupy Kensington:
Dear Neighbors and Fellow Activists,
Many are feeling overwhelmed, angry, sad, or perplexed after the recent
spate of violence, fueled by racist, xenophobic, anti-immigrant, anti
Muslim, and antisemitic rhetoric.
A few weeks ago, in Queens, white supremacists from The Vanguard posted
flyers telling residents it was their "Civic Duty" to turn in "illegal
aliens" to ICE—chillingly reminiscent of similar tactics used during the
rise of Nazi Germany.
Since then, of course, there has been the more widely-publicized
attempted violence against prominent critics of the President, the
synagogue massacre, and the shooting of two random African Americans by a
racist who tried and failed earlier to enter a black church.
While it may take years to build anew at a national level, there is much
we can and should do immediately as a neighborhood. When white
supremacist fliers appeared in Queens, Make The Road by Walking, which
has a Queens branch, replaced the offending fliers with their own. City
Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer took to Twitter with a video of himself
tearing down one of The Vanguard’s signs.
These swift counter measures made CNN News and were doubtless empowering
for the neighborhood. Such responses also send a message of
neighborhood unity to white supremacists.
Occupy Kensington is well-situated to mobilize in the event of a similar
incident here. Not only is much of our membership well-educated on
immigration issues but we also have hands-on experience from two flier-posting/distribution campaigns.
Please join other Occupy Kensington members for a meeting on Sunday,
November 11th, at 7:30 p.m., at 309 E. 5th Street. Bring your thoughts
on confronting the current situation at a neighborhood level as well as
ideas on (a) an immediate flier posting to boost morale and promote
neighborhood solidarity and/or unity around pro-immigrant, anti-racist
values and (b) a preparedness plan for rapid response in the event of an
incident (including, but not restricted to, our own flier posting).
We look forward to seeing you!
In Solidarity!
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