WFD and Haitian Émigré Grass-Roots Organization

to Co-Host A Forum On Haiti Since The Earthquake SATURDAY - NOVEMBER 6, 2010

2:30 P.M.

HAITIANS – ABANDONED? What hasn’t happened since the earthquake? The terrible earthquake that devastated major portions of the nation of Haiti and caused the deaths of at least 300,000 people brought a resounding response of sympathy and aid from all over the world.  What has happened since the event to rebuild the infrastructure and housing, replace lost industries and jobs, institute proper building codes and provide needed services? Announcing a forum on Haiti since the earthquake – brought to you by Weaving the Fabric of Diversity and FEDADSE* (Federation des Associations du Sud Est).

MARCH AND RALLY

PROTESTING VIOLENCE AGAINST IMMIGRANTS

Saturday, November 13*, 2010

Gather at Noon (rain or shine) (*change of date from 10/23) Meet at First Unitarian at 10:45 to car pool (details TBD) Rally begins at Port Richmond & Castelton Avenues, Staten Island followed by a march to Richmond University Hospital (St. Vincent’s) Seventeen Mexican immigrants have been violently assaulted in the past few months and many more threatened in the Port Richmond area of Staten Island where unemployment has reached epidemic proportions.   Supporting human rights for all people, especially those most vulnerable, is a core Unitarian Universalist value. The Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) has a long history of denominational and congregational support for migrant workers, refugees, and other displaced peoples. Join us in support of immigrant justice, human rights, and jobs for all.  March in unity with various UU churches in the Metro district and other faith-based brothers and sisters against racist unemployment and attacks against immigrants. Meet at Noon at Port Richmond & Castleton Avenues. We will march to Richmond University Hospital. Contact Alex Wolf (alexmwolf(at)gmail.com) or Rita Pearl (rdpearl(at)aol.com) for more details Endorsed by: Various Unitarian Universalist congregations in the Metro District and

• St. Mary’s Episcopal Church Manhattan
• Congregations for Justice and Peace
• Weaving the Fabric of Diversity, First Unitarian Congregational Society Brooklyn
• Make the Road New York
• El Centro
• Project Hospitality
• The Muslim Consultative Network
• Peace Action of Staten Island

Weaving the Fabric of Diversity (WFD) began in the early 1990’s as a response to what was felt to be a racist incident within our congregation.  Since then, the group has developed programs within the congregation & the larger community on aspects of racism and feelings about race.  We consider anti-racism and social action to be an important part of Unitarian Universalist principles and try to live them in our daily lives. WFD programs include:

• In the Spirit of Truth meetings to deal with personal aspects and feelings about race and oppression in a safe, covenantal space.
• Jubilee I & II workshops to help our congregation become more sensitive to personal and institutional racism.
• Three or four forums every year to discuss such topics as police brutality, the Rockefeller drug laws, healthcare in the US and what directions it should take, anti-immigrant racism, our feelings about the Muslim community, gay marriage, the Hart-Rudman Commission and the institution of Homeland security after 9/11, the Atlantic Yards Project, and Hurricane Katrina.
• Ties with the Muslim community in Brooklyn by holding annual Common Threads / Ramadan dinners in support of embattled Muslim neighbors since 2002, and organized members of our congregation to join other city-wide groups in demonstrations at the Brooklyn detention center when Muslim men were being held incommunicado after the attack on the World Trade Center.
• Multi-faith demonstrations in support of the Khalil Gibran Academy when it first opened and its principal, Debi Almontaser, was under severe attack.
• We organized a march to demonstrate at a butcher shop owned by the owner of AgroProcessors, wholesale butchers who brought workers, including underage workers, into the country by providing illegal papers for them and made them work under inhumane conditions in their huge slaughterhouse in Iowa where immigrant workers were rounded up by Federal authorities in 2008 and held on criminal charges.  The owners of this business also refused to recognize the union for their warehouse workers in Red Hook, Brooklyn, in defiance of court orders.
• We invited controversial lawyer Lynn Stewart to First Unitarian to talk about her arrest and what it meant to defense attorneys in the US.
• We hold a yearly Juneteenth service and street picnic to celebrate the ending of slavery in this country.