Social Justice News Group

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Comment by Ric Blacksten on May 14, 2013 at 11:28am

I have discovered that Offender Aid and Restoration (OAR) of Arlington/Alexandria has an Advocacy Group.  (I attended a meeting last night and found it very informative.)  I see they have scheduled on May 15 (tomorrow!) and June 5, from 6-8pm, a Study Group on Michelle Alexander's The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness.  I believe these will be held at the offices of Offender Aid and Restoration, 1400 North Uhle Street, Suite 704, Arlington, VA 22201.  Info@OARonline.org, (703)228-7030.  Hope some of you can join me.  Ric Blacksten (703)980-5899, hricblacksten@yahoo.com

Comment by Ric Blacksten on May 12, 2013 at 10:28am

Have you ever been involved with the UUCA English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Program. Are you interested in possibly volunteering as English conversationalist and/or teacher and wish to meet some of our (adult) students and their families?  Then

Come to the ESOL Potluck Party/Supper 4-7pm, Sunday 5/19/13!

Stay, if you can, for Movie Night afterwards! 7pm-End

at the home of Ric and Anne Blacksten, 4413 18th St., N., Arlington, VA 22207

(about a mile north of Ballston Metro, between Utah St. and Glebe Rd.)

 e are inviting any of you and any students who wish to stay for a movie to do so.  I can get iTunes and Netflix streaming on my moderately large flat screen TV, and will probably have the Netflix Les Miserables DVD on hand should people wish to see that.  We can just put it up to a vote.  So we still will have the party/supper from 4-7pm and then have the movie afterwards for those who wish to continue the party.  

Flyer:  20130511%20ESOL%20Party.pdf

Contact Ric for more info:  (703)980.5899, uucaEnglishRic@gmail.com

Comment by Ric Blacksten on May 9, 2013 at 6:15pm

Please consider volunteering with Offender Aid and Restoration (OAR).

Currently I seem to be the only UUCA member volunteering with OAR.  I'd love to have some of you join me.  There are many opportunities both in the Arlington County Detention Facility (ACDF), the Alexandria facility, and at the OAR offices across from the Arlington Court House. See http://oaronline.org.

In the past I have done everything from GED and language tutoring, to helping with an anger management class and a chess club.  Currently I run a basic computer class on Thursday evenings at the ACDF, help three different client with more advanced computer skills at the OAR offices on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday afternoons, and occassionally proctor GED exams at the ACDF.  It is a joy to help these eager clients improve their skills.  

You should not have concerns about safety working in the ACDF.  This is a very modern jail with total security.  I feel safer there than on the street.  The vast, vast majority inmates in the programs appreciate us volunteers and behave as well as anyone on the outside.  But you are always free to remove clients for class rolls if they prove difficult.  There is a mandatory application for new volunteers and morning-long orientation session, where you will learn how to avoid any potential problems, properly observe jail security and etiquette, and avoid any potential problems.

Feel free to contact me with questions:  Ric (703)980-5899

And if volunteering does not appeal to you, your donations to OAR are very much needed and appreciated.

Comment by Ric Blacksten on May 9, 2013 at 5:36pm

Please join me at the Offender Aid and Restoration (OAR) Advocacy Group
May 13th from 6-8 p.m.
at St. George’s Episcopal Church
across the street from the VA Square-GMU Metro Station

• Explore these questions:  Is the opposite of poverty, wealth? Or is the opposite of poverty, justice?
• Get involved in the fight to end mass incarceration!
• Break down barriers people experience when transitioning from incarceration to our communities!

Please RSVP Katy Steinbeck, Director of Reentry, at 703-228-7519 or email OAR at reentry@oaronline.org.  

Or let me know and I'll pass it on. Ric Blacksten (703)980-5899 

Comment by Lavona Grow on January 30, 2013 at 12:38am

UUSJ Forum "Inequalities Matter: The Poisonous Effects of Dark Money in Politics" Feb. 9, 10-noon at All Souls Church.  The UU's for Social Justice (UUSJ) invites you to join Bob Edgar, President of Common Cause a nonpartisan, nonprofit citizen lobbying and advocacy organization, for a discussion about one of the root causes of wealth inequality - the role that secret “dark money” plays in politics, and what that means for “we the people.” Bob’s presentation will be followed by a segment from Bill Moyers’ documentary, The United States of *ALEC, a response panel discussion, and audience Q&A. Come to learn more about these issues, gather resources, and identify action steps that you and your congregation can take to make a difference.

The elections are over and now the hard work of the citizens begins!

*the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) that has unprecedented access to our state legislators and creates “model legislation” -templates for bills- behind closed doors. 

About Bob Edgar:  CEO and President of Common Cause; an ordained minister; former general secretary of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA; and elected in 1974 to the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania. Elected in the wake of the Watergate scandal, Bob was part of the congressional class that led sweeping reforms of Congress.

Location: All Souls Church Unitarian, 1500 Harvard St. (at 16th St.) N.W., Washington, DC. Nearest Metro is Columbia Heights Station on the Green/Yellow Line

Registration & Contact Information: Free. Register at www.uusj.org click on “Register for Upcoming Event” banner at the top of the page; or www.commoncause.org/InequalityMatters; For more information or to register by email or phone: info@uusj.org with your name, congregation or organization affiliation if any. Or call 202- 600-9132. 

Interested in car pooling or Metroing?  A number of UUCAers are attending and coordinating their travel plans.  At UUCA contact Lavona at 703-524-4860 or email info@uusj.org.

Sponsored by the Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice in the

National Capital Region 

Comment by Cynthia Adcock on November 12, 2012 at 12:07pm

So here we are recovering from another weather-power disaster.  Now almost all the world of pundits and other important people knows we gotta do something about it.  What people don't know is HOW to start from home base, from our own community.  But there's lots of info available—I keep getting suggestions.  I'd like to gather a small group to share ideas and explore how we at UUCA could make a difference.  Anybody interested?  Call me at 703-892-7164 or write cynthia.adcock@gmail.com.  It's time, and there's not much time.

Comment by Laura Dely on July 30, 2012 at 2:08pm

Colombia Free Trade Acr Didn't End Organizers' Murder

There is a call for social justice types to protest Colombia's lack of action to end the murder of labor leaders there. They again lead the world with 38 labor organizer murders so far this year, even after they signed a Free Trade Agreement that included a Labor Action Plan that if implemented would reduce and help eliminate this problem (that was last fall).

Should we do this in Sept. or do an education event in Sept. and do a protest in early Oct.?  Personally, I don't want to check every bouquet to make sure its not from Colombia (much of our flowers are from there, and yet that is one of the resistent industries).

Please e-mail me at laura.dely@gmail.com if you are interested in this issue, and would want to get involved in raising America's voice against these murders.

 

Comment by Laura Dely on July 12, 2012 at 3:54pm

If you are concerned about the effects of the "Citizens United," please consider signing the online petition to support passage of the "Disclosure Act," a bill that would require all political donations to be disclosed. It is expected to come to the senate floor next Monday, and Senators Webb and Warner need to hear from constituents now on the issue.

The petition is from the great Progressives United group. Visit: http://www.discloseact.com/?tag=ema_20120712disclose_pu and add your name!

Best-

Laura Dely

Sen. Mark Warner:

(202) 224-2023

Sen. Jim Webb:

(202) 224-4024

 

Comment by Laura Dely on July 2, 2012 at 11:49am

 

We’re All Winners with the Affordable Healthcare Act

       

Think about it: who doesn’t like the

Affordable Healthcare Act:

Insurance Companies, Pharmaceutical Industry, the Chamber of Commerce, the Koch Brothers.

What have they done for you lately?  Or ever?

  

Costs: 1/3 of the Bush-era tax cuts

 

With the ACA, insurance companies must spend money on patient care, not bonuses and marketing.This August, Americans will begin to receive rebate checks if their insurance provider spends more on executive pay and marketing instead of things like quality care improvements or patient services.

Health Care Reform Will Lower Premiums By $2,000 Per Family Over The Next Decade.  Health care reform "will save $590 billion or more in national health spending over 2010-2019 and lower premiums by nearly $2,000 per family, according to the Center for American Progress, The annual growth rate in national health expenditures will be slowed from 6.3 percent to 5.7 percent."

 

Without ACA, healthcare costs would have more than doubled by 2020.

Increasing from $4,800 to $10,300 for single policies and from $12,100 to $25,600 for family policies.

 

Lifetime Limits: Gone

 

Pre-existing Conditions: Don’t Matter

 

Young Adults Are Covered to Age 26

 

Preventive Care is Free (including mammograms)

 

Prescription Drug Discounts For Seniors

 

 

In Virginia, we have work to do: don’t let Ken Cuccinelli, Bob McDonnell, and Morgan Griffith take healthcare coverage from the poor (they say they will). Ask them to take the federal dollars to expand Medicaid to include the working poor.

Comment by Lavona Grow on June 12, 2012 at 10:50pm

This month's Share-the-Plate is going to Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition International.  It so happens that the UU Service Committee is co-sponsoring a dinner and discussion Sunday, June 17 about the current situation of torture survivors in immigration detention.  Moya has asked me to forward this message below from UUSC with the details.  LG

Dear Moya, Interested in immigration in the Southwest and issues related to this summer’s General Assembly? Do you want to learn about how to support asylum seekers in the US?   Join UUSC and the Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition International (TASSC) to learn about the current situation of torture survivors in immigration detention and the asylum process and how TASSC is addressing this in the Southwest and throughout the country through their Communities of Healing Program.  When: Sunday, June 17, 2012 at 6:30 PM  Where: TASSC’s office at 4121 Harewood Road, NE, Suite B, Washington DC 20017, near the Catholic University / Brookland Metro on the Red Line  What: For dinner and discussion with UUSC, TASSC, and National Communities of Healing leaders  Please RSVP to Anna Bartlett at abartlett@uusc.org or 617-301-4367  This dinner and discussion is part of weeklong series of events to mark the 15th anniversary of TASSC International’s June Survivor Week. Activities include a three day human rights training for survivors of torture, visits to Congress, panel discussions and presentations, and vigil in front of the White House. Click here for more information about these events.  Sincerely,    Kara Smith Associate for Grassroots Mobilization

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