MLK Visit to Cold War Berlin



Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Visit to Cold War Berlin (1964)
Martin Klimke
Professor of History at NYU
Abu Dhabi
Sunday
April 8, 2018 5:00 pm Aula,
Ely Hall, Vassar College

In commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of Dr. King’s assassination, Professor Klimke will discuss the impact of Dr. King’s visit to Cold War Berlin in 1964. Klimke is the author of numerous books on transnational protest movements, processes of cultural transfer, and global networks of dissent. His most recent book is: Handbook of the Global Sixties.

Poughkeepsie poet Gold Wilkerson will recite one of her poems she wrote in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Thursday, March 22

The criminal justice reform committee of the Dutchess County Progressive Action Alliance (DCPAA) will meet on Thursday, March 22, 2018, at 6:30  PM at the Boardman Road Library in the Town of Poughkeepsie. Agenda: Discussion with Steve Micchio, Executive Director of PEOPLE, Inc. about alternatives to incarceration for individuals suffering with mental health issues.

Right to Know Act


Voting Behavior and Punitive Policies

Prof. Ariel White, assistant professor of political science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will deliver a lecture "Voting Behavior and Punitive Policies"  on Thursday, March 15, at 5:00 PM at SUNY New Paltz in Lecture Center, Room 102. Prof. White will discuss her research into two headline-generating trends that may at first glance seem unrelated: U.S. incarceration rates that are among the highest of any developed nation, and disaffection from government leading to low voter participation, including in New York State, which has one of the lowest voter turnout rates in the country. 

For more details, see here.

COMING HOME GRADUATION 2018

COMING HOME GRADUATION 2018 TO TAKE PLACE MAR. 13

The public is invited to bear witness as the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship honors the graduates of its Coming Home Program on Tuesday, March 13 at 6 p.m. at the Fellowship, 67 South Randolph Avenue, Poughkeepsie. This is the third Coming Home class to graduate in as many years.

The Coming Home Life Skills Empowerment Program seeks to empower men and women who are returning from incarceration and is based on a well-established model carrying a track record of success and over a thousand graduates in the New York metropolitan area in the past two decades. Participants work with facilitators and mentors to support personal healing and growth, life skills development and reintegration into the community. It is sponsored by the UU Fellowship of Poughkeepsie, The Beck Institute on Religion and Poverty, and The Fordham University Graduate School of Social Service.

Participants begin each Tuesday evening in the 19-week program by enjoying a communal dinner, served each week by a different local congregation. This is followed by meetings in which participants are matched with a mentor and explore life skills development, goal-setting, and sharing their personal stories. The program culminates in a graduation ceremony, to which all members of the community are invited to celebrate the achievements of each of the graduates.

The graduation ceremony will begin with coffee, desserts and snacks. There will be music and (short) speeches; the graduates will be invited to speak about their experiences in the program; and their mentors will share their experience of mentoring these extraordinary individuals.

The Coming Home Program is made possible in part by generous grants from the New York State Convention of Universalists, the Unitarian Universalist Association and The  Community Foundations of the Hudson Valley, including:

The Jeannette F. Schlobach Fund
The Jonah Sherman Family Fund The Richard S. & Harriet K. Fein Fund
The Stevens Family Fund
The William & Marcella Teahan Memorial Fund

For more information, contact Pat Lamanna at patla42@gmail.com or 845-309-3853.

Upcoming Events of Interest

Dear friends, 
I would like to invite you to take part in the following events. Please also help spread the word by forwarding this message, sharing the Facebook events (linked below), and telling your contacts.
Best,
Jamie

Thursday, March 8, 7:00-9:00, The Living Roots of Civil Rights
Library at the AJ Williams-Myers African Roots Library, 43 Gill Street, Kingston
Angeline Butler and Muriel Tillinghast will visit Kingston’s African Roots Library to share their insights into effective organizing, movement building, and non-violent activism, each one with over fifty years of experience on the front lines of the Civil Rights Movement. Join us as we honor the 58th anniversary of the first mass sit-in arrests in the south, February 27th, 1960 and the subsequent collaboration with the Highlander School around March 8th, that same year. Angeline Butler and Muriel Tillinghast both rode with the Freedom Riders, as part of a broad effort to secure mass transit rights for African-Americans. Muriel was also part of “Mississippi Summer” in 1964 to increase black voter registration. Their remarkable stories were recently published in the inspiring new book Hands on the Freedom Plow (from Illinois University Press). Music will be included. 

Sunday, March 18, 3:00-5:00, Film Screening: Dolores
Hudson Valley LGBTQ Community Center, 300 Wall Street, Kingston
Dolores Huerta is among the most important, yet least known, activists in American history. An equal partner in co-founding the first farm workers unions with Cesar Chavez, her enormous contributions have gone largely unrecognized. Dolores tirelessly led the fight for racial and labor justice alongside Chavez, becoming one of the most defiant feminists of the twentieth century—and she continues the fight to this day, at 87. With intimate and unprecedented access to this intensely private mother to eleven, the film reveals the raw, personal stakes involved in committing one’s life to social change. Directed by Peter Bratt.  The film is in English with Spanish subtitles. The screening will be followed by a community discussion (Spanish-English interpretation will be available). Snacks will be provided at this event!

Thursday, March 22, 6:30-8:30, Film Screening: Fundi: The Story of Ella Baker
Library at the AJ Williams-Myers African Roots Library, 43 Gill Street, Kingston
“The kind of role that I tried to play was to pick up pieces or put together pieces out of which I hoped organization might come. My theory is, strong people don’t need strong leaders.” --Ella Baker. From the Young Negro Cooperative league in 1930 to the NAACP in 1940 to the Southern Christian Leadership Council in 1957 to the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee in 1960 and on into the 1970’s and 80’s Ella Baker walked the walk, talked the talk, and did the work for the Black Freedom Struggle in America. She was not someone who looked for the spotlight. She was an organizer and a teacher who devoted her life to building the grass-roots organizations and developing the local leaders without whom the movement could not have been sustained. This is how she earned her nickname – “Fundi”, a Swahili word for a person who passes skills from one generation to another.

Sunday, March 25, 3:00-5:00, Sign-Making Party for the Black Women's March
Library at the AJ Williams-Myers African Roots Library, 43 Gill Street, Kingston
Join Rise Up Kingston and the LGBTQ Community for Racial Justice for a sign-making party for the Black Women's March on April 7th. Bring your poster board, art supplies, and friends! About the March: Black Women’s March: Continuing the Legacy of Harriet Tubman, We March Out of Love, Care and Concern for Our People!!! April 7th, 2018: CVS parking lot, corner of Broadway and Route 119, Tarrytown, New York. You can support the efforts here: www.callblackline.com

March For Our Lives (March 24)