Anti-Racist Roleplay with SURJ RVA: Preparing for the Holidays

Are you going to have to deal with some iteration of racist relatives this holiday season? Are you tired of just letting it go when your family members say something awful? Well, Showing Up for Racial Justice SURJ Richmond has some tips for having that talk.

Tuesday, December 19th 2017, from 7-9pm, in the basement of 1010 North Thompson Street, Richmond VA, Richmond's chapter of Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) is holding a session to practice holiday conversations about race, share advice and strategies, and more.

Free, open to the public. Free childcare is available, but please contact childcare.surj.rva@gmail.com if you plan to use it. For more info and to RSVP, see the link.

Anti-Racist Parenting Meeting with SURJ RVA

Sunday, July 23rd 2017, from 2-4pm, location to be added, Showing Up for Racial Justice SURJ Richmond is holding an anti-racist parenting meeting.

Free. 

For more info and to RSVP, see this link. 

SURJ Richmond Research and Policy Meeting

Tuesday, July 18th 2017, from 5:30-7pm, location TBA, Showing Up for Racial Justice SURJ Richmond is holding a research and policy meeting. From the event description: "Join other Richmond-area folks using research and policy to advance racial justice alongside key campaign partners. All who support these goals are welcome to attend."

For more information and to RSVP, see this link. 

Brief recap: July 8th 2017 Anti-KKK Counterprotest, Charlottesville VA

To see photos of the demonstration, check out the Virginia Defender's album here. 

This past Saturday, I attended a counterdemonstration opposing a Klan rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. A segment of the Ku Klux Klan from Pelham, North Carolina held a rally in Charlottesville's Justice Park, in front of the Robert E. Lee statue, to protest the city's decision to sell its monuments honoring Confederate leaders. To my understanding, the group Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) Charlottesville called this specific counter-demo, but there were a ton of groups with a presence, and various events earlier in the day. Lots of Richmonders were there in solidarity.  

There were about 2,500 counterdemonstrators, around 100 police officers from the city, county, and state, and approximately 30 to 40 Klan members. There were also a handful of Klan supporters in the crowd, but they were a tiny minority who mostly stayed clustered near the police. 

Police erected barriers to allow the Klan to move in and out of the park; a couple of activists tried to prevent their entry, and were arrested. The Klansmen ultimately entered at about 3:45, guarded by police in riot gear, and stood around shouting racial slurs and doing Nazi salutes for a while— I'm certain they spoke, also, but they were drowned out by boos and chants. When they were eventually ushered out, still under heavy guard, another group of counterdemonstrators tried to block their egress and were arrested. The police then issued an order to disperse, declared the gathering unlawful, and used three tear gas canisters. Mayor Mike Signer is now saying that police were provoked when protesters attacked them with pepper spray, but there's no evidence, video or otherwise, that this actually happened. Black Lives Matter Charlottesville has a write-up confronting this claim here. 

Throughout the course of the event, 23 anti-Klan activists were arrested. You can contribute to their legal fund here. 

Prior to the demonstration, anti-racist activists in the area faced police surveillance and unannounced visits to homes and workplaces from detectives wanting information on their activities and affiliations. Al-Jazeera recently published an article on the disparate reaction of Charlottesville police to left groups vs. far right groups like the Klan. 

Groups like the Klan hold events like these for two reasons: to intimidate, and to recruit. When you show up to oppose them in numbers like Charlottesville did this weekend, you prevent recruiting and show them for cowards. For all their posturing, they were only able to show up and scream racial slurs from behind a line of riot cops. 

That said, let's get ready for Round 2: a local white supremacist has called a larger "Unite the Right" rally on August 12th, at Charlottesville's Emancipation Park. More details on that in another post. 

Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) Richmond General Meeting

Sunday, April 30th 2017, from 4-6pm, at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Richmond (1000 Blanton Avenue, Richmond VA), the racial justice group SURJ Richmond is holding their monthly general meeting. 

As always, an orientation on what SURJ is and what it stands for will be held from 4-5pm, followed by the regular meeting from 5-6pm. 

The venue is wheelchair accessible. To request childcare, email childcare.surj.rva@gmail.com with the age(s) of the children. 

Anti-Racist Parenting Meeting with SURJ Richmond

Sunday, March 26th 2017, from 2-4pm, at the First UU Church of Richmond (1000 Blanton Avenue, Richmond VA), SURJ Richmond is holding a monthly committee meeting on fighting racism from the position of parents and caregivers. 

Open to the public. Childcare is available upon request. 

For more info and to RSVP, see this link. 

Showing Up for Racial Justice RVA: March General Meeting

Tuesday, March 28th 2017, from 7-9pm, at the First UU Church of Richmond (1000 Blanton Avenue, Richmond VA), Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) RVA is holding their March meeting. From 7-8pm, there will be an introduction on what SURJ is and what they do, followed by the meeting from 8-9pm. At the meeting, the SURJ-RVA Policy Team will provide a legislative recap of the 2017 General Assembly session, and talk about how to navigate the news to stay informed. 

The venue is wheelchair accessible. See the event page for details on getting childcare. Free and open to the public. 

For more info and to RSVP, see the link. 

Protest Trump's Racist AG Jeff Sessions

Tomorrow, March 15th 2017, at 9:30am, on the sidewalk outside of the Suntrust Building (919 East Main Street, Richmond VA), the VACOLAO - Virginia Coalition of Latino Organizations and a large group of partners and grassroots activists will be holding a demonstration against Trump's Attorney General Jeff Sessions. From the media release:

"Attorney General Jeff Sessions is unfit for his position and unwelcome in Richmond. With his history of voter suppression, opposing civil rights legislation, and denigrating entire demographics of our national population, it is clear that he cannot be trusted to uphold our laws or human rights. We do not believe that AG Sessions has the desire, capacity, or will to act in the best interest of Americans."

The involved organizations include: the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy, Virginia Organizing, United Faith Leaders, Together We Will Virginia, Showing Up for Racial Justice SURJ Richmond, Southerners On New Ground, the Sierra Club Virginia Chapter, New Virginia Majority, LWCC - Liberal Women of Chesterfield County, Justice RVA, Indivisible Richmond, ICE Out of RVA, Equality Virginia, and the ACLU of Virginia.

For more information and to RSVP, see this link. Street parking will be limited. 

SURJ Northern Virginia: Community Response to Hate Meeting

For people up in Northern VA: Tomorrow, Friday January 26th 2017, at 7pm, at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington (4444 Arlington Boulevard, Arlington, VA), SURJ Northern Virginia is holding a meeting to plan responses to white nationalist Richard Spencer's plans to open an Arlington office. 

Spencer (the guy who got clocked in the ear by an anti-fascist on inauguration day while giving a TV interview) is the president of the National Policy Institute, a white supremacist think-tank. Among another things, Spencer has publicly called for the genocide of Black people, organized an armed anti-Jew march in his home town, and advocates transforming America into a whites-only state. For more info and to RSVP, see the link.

For more info or to RSVP, see this link.