Author: Eleanore Ablan-Owen

Tuesday, September 20th 6-8PM
Ypsilanti Freight House

The Community Dinner & Gathering on Tuesday, September 20th is an opportunity for community members to look at ways that we can have an impact on how monies are spent & to learn more about the ideas that community members have about what we need to serve people better.

Registration requested, not mandatory. This is an open, free community dinner & gathering. Registration helps us to plan for the logistics & food for the event.

The Interfaith Council for Peace & Justice (ICPJ) supports the call of Black Lives Matter and others to re-envision the way that we spend public monies. We want investments in the education, health and safety of our communities, instead of investments in the criminalizing, caging, and harming of BIPOC people and poor people. We want investments in BIPOC communities, determined by communities themselves, and divestment from exploitative forces including prisons, fossil fuels, police, surveillance and exploitative corporations.

We are grateful for the financial support of the United Way of Washtenaw County and the First Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Ann Arbor for this project

Ann Arbor Farmers Market
Thursday, October 20th 5:30 – 8PM!

We will be honoring activists who embody the values of ICPJ.

2022 Peace & Justice Honoree: Sheri Wander

Peace and Justice Network Organization: The Dispute Resolution Center (DRC)

Emergent Leader: Victor Liu

Anti-Racist Advocate: Alyshia Dyer

Network Weaver: Voting Access for All Coalition (VAAC)

The Harvest Dinner is ICPJ’s largest fundraiser for this year. Join us to build our ICPJ community and to raise the resources needed to sustain ICPJ’s leadership and activism. Tickets are available for all income levels, including free tickets for friends. All are welcome! Registration Required.
Online Harvest Dinner Registration
Or print, complete, and mail the mail-in Harvest Dinner Registration form located here. There are no bank fees if you send a check.

Dinner will be informal, with opportunities to honor our awardees, entertainment, & food trucks. With your purchase, you will receive dinner tickets to be used at the food trucks.

Saturday, October 22nd
Doors Open at 7pm; Concert at 7:30

Church of the Good Shepherd
2145 Independence Boulevard, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104

Registeration Requested: https://2022-charlie-king-annie-patterson-ICPJ-benefit-concert.eventbrite.com

Charlie King is a musical storyteller and political satirist who sings and writes passionately about the extraordinary lives of ordinary people, in the tradition of Woody Guthrie, Malvina Reynolds, and Pete Seeger (see charlieking.org).  Charlie has performed in Ann Arbor since 1979 and won the Phil Ochs Award for music and activism in 2017. Pete Seeger called Charlie “one of the finest singers and songwriters of our time.

Annie Patterson is the co-creator of the popular songbooks “Rise Up Singing” and “Rise Again.” She is a master song interpreter and accompanies herself on guitar and banjo.

Concert proceeds benefit the Interfaith Council for Peace & Justice. Founded in 1965, ICPJ centers racial and economic justice as we address the root causes of violence from oppression, poverty, environmental devastation, patriarchy, and war. We wage love and practice nonviolence in all its forms through education, community organizing, advocacy, and direct action. We unite across our differences and empower leadership in people to create the change we need for a more peaceful and just world.

Masks are required for in-person attendees, and online streaming is also available.

ICPJ is part of a diverse group of community advocates calling on voters in Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti, and Ypsilanti Township to vote YES on transit in the August 2 election. Good bus and transit service is a 21st century solution that promotes justice, affordability, labor, and the environment. But it needs investment to work well.  The local transit agency, The Ride, has put forward an ambitious transit expansion proposal to do just that, and it deserves voter support.
Good transit promotes justice and equity.

Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti, and Washtenaw County are politically and socially progressive communities that claim strongly held values of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion.  But life in the county doesn’t always live up to those ideals.  In fact, a Martin Prosperity Institute study found that Washtenaw County is the eighth most economically segregated community in the United States.

There are pockets of poverty throughout Washtenaw County, but the county’s neighborhoods with the greatest economic burden are all located in the City of Ypsilanti and Ypsilanti Township.  Many residents of those neighborhoods rely on transit service to get to work, to stores, to school, and wherever they need  or want to go. 

“We have to show that we are serious about our values of justice and equity,” said Desirae Simmons of ICPJ, “it takes a collective investment in transit infrastructure for us to move closer to a time when anyone can get from one point to another without a personal vehicle and without having to spend so much extra time to do so.” 
Good transit helps build a community that supports working people.

Better transit service can help make all three communities impacted by this change more inclusive and more affordable for working people.  Transportation is the second largest household expense in the U.S. after housing – more expensive than food or health care.  Many county residents have jobs that cannot be performed remotely, so must have reliable transportation to and from work.  

“In addition to the positive impacts this measure will have on working families generally, The Ride’s drivers are union members and The Ride has consistently employed union labor for infrastructure upgrades, said Huron Valley Area Labor Federation President Ian Robinson.  “So supporting this measure will mean more union jobs and a stronger labor movement in our region.” 

Good transit helps build a more inclusive and affordable community.

Housing and transportation costs are often the two highest expenses for any household’s budget. In addition to the high cost of housing, car dependence also makes our region less affordable, but a good transit system connects working people and families with the jobs and services they need. 

New affordable housing developments planned in downtown Ann Arbor and Depot Town in Ypsilanti, as well as housing along future transit corridor zoning districts, will likely mean more residents relying more often on public transit. For that to work, buses need to run more frequent and extended services than they do now – including in the evenings and on weekends.

“The Washtenaw Housing Alliance supports this millage, the long-desired investments it proposes, and the transformation it can have in connecting housing access and economic opportunity for so many in our county,” said Amanda Carlisle, Director of WHA.Good transit is a great climate solution.

When buses run frequently enough, car owners start to rely less and less on their own personal vehicles.  A good bus system gets some people out of their cars, reducing carbon emissions.  A recent comprehensive literature review of studies on what works to get people out of their cars found that one of the most effective strategies is to provide good transit service. On average, a trip by bus reduces carbon emissions by approximately 45% compared to that same trip by car.  

“Better transit service is a critical piece of the global clean energy transition, and it’s a key component of the climate plans in Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti,” said Mike Garfield, Director of the Ecology Center.  “The Ride is also planning to convert their entire bus fleet to zero-emission vehicles by 2038, which means they would have to start the transition within the time frame of this millage.”  

Vote YES for the August 2 Transit Proposal

The Ride’s plan would create an Ann Arbor-Ypsilanti express bus route, decreasing travel time by 30%, and serving as a precursor to a future Bus Rapid Transit service.  The plan would increase the frequency of service; expand overnight service in Ypsilanti and Ypsilanti Township; provide in-person customer service at the Ypsilanti Transit Center; provide longer hours of service on weekends and weeknights; and provide capital for future improvements like bus rapid transit, zero emission vehicles, terminals, and more.

The Ride’s long-term plan can be read here, and the agency’s description of the ballot proposal is here. 
Southeast Michigan was built around cars and trucks, and public transit has mostly been an afterthought. It isn’t easy to buck a century of southeast Michigan car culture, but Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti, and Ypsilanti Township can start to do it now.  Vote YES for transit on August 2.

For more information about the campaign to pass the ballot proposal, or to get involved, please visit MovingUsForwardTogether.com.

Register at the link here:
https://bit.ly/ICPJGenerationsLaunchParty

All Are Welcome!!!
For no-cost tickets, please complete this form: https://forms.gle/SnxcBZCQb7ubKW6w5
or email Info@ICPJ.org, or leave a message at 734.663.1870

Now it the Time to Act Boldly for Racial and Economic Justice!

ICPJ is launching the Generations Campaign – an opportunity to deepen community conversations, to build investment in our work and the community, and to honor the wisdom and passion of seasoned advocates and emerging leaders.

The status quo is a powerful force. We cannot overcome it alone. We recognize that to build the relationships necessary to create just change, we need to move outside of what is, and move toward what will be.

We need to mobilize more people in our communities to act, across differences, with aligned values toward a shared vision of racial and economic justice.

We need to organize ourselves in ways that respect history, culture, and differences and that prioritize and build authentic relationships to deepen the impact of our work.

We need to repair the systemic and intergenerational harms of white supremacy, capitalism, and militarism. We need to repair harms through transformative systems change – and also with liberating, healing practices within our relationships and in the ways that we go about this work.

We need to sustain ourselves and our community so that we are ready for what comes next.

The Generations Campaign is a three-year campaign to build ICPJ’s organizational capacity and our collective, community capacity to accelerate action to match the urgency of now.

The gathering is free to attend, although donations are always welcome. Please register at the link here so that we can plan accordingly. Also, sign up to bring a potluck dish for the community meal or to volunteer for logistics for the community gathering.

This is an in-person event as we do our best to gather safely together. Please wear masks and respect others’ space. (We will have extra masks and hand sanitizer.)

Connect & Act (1-5pm) is an opportunity for the community to come together in order to learn, share, and act for justice and collective power. This year it will be run as an “unconference” (though with less technology than the article describes). This means that the sessions are determined by who is in the space and the conversations that happen allow everyone to bring in their expertise.

We’ve had some members already provide topics that they would like to share with others. These include:

• Improved Medicare for All
• Immigration Justice Issues & Driver’s Licenses for All
• People’s Budget for Dignity & Justice
• Organizing for Sustainability & Solar Power
• Organizing for Environmental Justice
• Sustainable Food, Farm Production, & Supply System
• And more to be offered day-of!

What do you want to share?!? What conversations would you like to launch or expand?

The Annual Meeting (5:30-7pm) will be an opportunity to gather around good food with the ICPJ members and network. We will share an update and vote on ICPJ business.

You can register to bring a potluck dish for the Annual Meeting and someone will be in touch with you for more information.

Register for the (online) event here:  https://www.eventbrite.com/e/228024355987. 
There is no cost for these events, but your donations to ICPJ help us to be able to continue this work of educating and mobilizing in our communities. 

Mary Anne is an educator, an activist, and a spiritual guide. For over 30 years her area of focus has been on human rights in Latin America. She has worked in the U.S. to raise consciousness about the U.S.’s role in human rights violations in Latin America and the need for substantive change in our foreign policy.  In the last two decades, this work has taken her on multiple human rights delegations to several Latin American countries, connecting with and accompanying courageous people working in their own countries to defend those whose human rights are highly threatened.  She has been part of the Latin America Caucus of Interfaith Council for Peace & Justice (ICPJ) in Ann Arbor for decades.

Since 2009, Mary Anne has traveled to Honduras a dozen times or more on various human rights delegations, often with SOA Watch.  In the last few years she has been part of several SHARE Foundation delegations to Honduras addressing crucial moments in the volatile recent history.  Her most recent delegation was in December 2021 in the wake of the historic election process there.

This event is hosted by The Interfaith Council for Peace & Justice Latin America Caucus, the University of Michigan Latin American & Caribbean Studies, Wayne State University Center for Latino/a & Latin American Studies, and Huron Valley DSA

Library Lane and Fifth Avenue Noon to 6 and into the evening with Drums and Dancing, weather permitting

THURSDAY April 21, 2022:
The Commons is Open, Cars are Gone. Tables and Chairs. carpets and kids toys, open Mic. Central Park Now!
noon > opening bell and Land Acknowledgement
12:30 >. “DecaDome” Commons office and information point, Set up opening
1-2 >. Discussion: The Commons is Commonly Pooled Resources Self-Managed by the Users:
What resources can we commonly pool?
2-3 > Discussion: Artists Brainstorming Public Art Ideas for the Center of the City
Murals for the walls and Elevator Building. Entry and Exit Signage
Chalking for fun—“chalk the walk you talk”
3-5 more chalking, open mic, music,…

FRIDAY…actual Earth Day April 22, 2022.
noon bell
noon-12:30 Land Acknowledgement : What Earth Are We on
Land Return. What can be done.? Potawatomi relations.
12:30-1:00 Opening Question : What Earth Day means to me …(reading from the “survey”)
Opening song. and sing along
Music [Jim Griff Griffin ]
1:-2:30 Mayoral Candidates discussion debate: All Candidates Invited
Climate calamities, social needs, mutual aid and the commons are all questions facing our tree town:
What do candidates have to say?

.#1 >> #2 >> #3
*speaking order by lot. time equalized

2:30-2:45***brief introduction. Green Brick Road to Sustainability and Survival,
Local climate and earth conscious organizations invited to be a “green brick”
with a table or easel giving visual program presentation, and a leaflet inviting
citizen participation, for those walking the Green Bricks, on a pathway through the commons

2:45-3:15. Earth Dance and plastic burial Megan Sims
Save Soil program
Music

3:15-4. The Green Team: reporting work: Growing the Earth, Community Garden, pollinators, composting, seeds and
volunteers,
4-4:30. A2 zero City Climate plan, Sustainable Energy Utility.

4:30-5. music: opening song again. Mary and Eric Fithian

5-5:15 Global Big Picture…The next COP Conference of Parties, Intergovernmental Report,
Deep Adaptation and Extinction Rebellion.
5:15. -5:30. “New Earth Manifesto” opening reading
5:30- 6… Game “Adapt”: Bridget O’Brien
Music band and drumming into the evening

SATURDAY: April 23
noon: bell
12-12;20 Land Acknowledgement and Knowledge from our relations
12:20-12:30 What Earth Day means to me…: Elected Officials and Candidates

12:20-:-12:30 -Exhibits open: The “commons” book and drawings table, City Energy Plan exhibit.
12:30 -1:30 John Heath band
1:30-2:00. Reports from the Green Brick Road to Sustainability and Survival: Fermi, Line 5, Prohibition Treaty, Public Power, Climate Lobby, Student Actions
2:00-3:00. Music and talk.
3- 3:30 Poetry. One Single Rose. Rose Marie Wilson

3:30 -4:00. Peter Linebaugh: The Commons in the world, Enclosure, Privatization and Theft: with time for Questions.
“Climate calamity as the ultimate enclosure.”
4:00 -4:30
Ann Arbor City A2Zero 2030 carbon neutral program, with time for questions Missy Stultz
Project Grow 50th anniversary Scott Richardson….
What Earth Day means to me: candidates : Angeline Smith
Council of the Commons : Lisa Disch

   Adam Zemke : introducer

4:30-6. MUSIC HEADLINER LAITH AL-SAADI

6:-7:00-ish PM on **** Drumming and drum circle, bring your drum

Dancing into the evening

SUNDAY: April 24
Noon. Bell.
12-12:30 Land Acknowledgement and Restoration draft Resolution? How!
12:30- 1:30 Sunday Prayers and words
What Earth Days Means to me: open Mic
open mic
1:30 -2:30 Sunday Band Steve Somers

2:30-3:30 One hour Thinking outside the box:
2:30 -3: New Earth Manifesto, concluded reading and 2022 vision Odile Hugonot Haber
3:- 3:30 Peace Table.. .Art for making Peace with the Earth Alan Haber

3:30-4:30 Sunday Band Ralph McKee

4:30 on. open jamming
>>> next actions. discussion tables and meet-ups
Bloomsday Party May 21-22
Juneteenth June 19 and the United Nations Decade for People of African descent, 2015-2024,
Reparations how! Ann Arbor-Asheville Alliance
Ann Arbor Bicentennial 1824-2024 To what future? Vision,History, Outreach, inclusive,
Flea Market in July…pass on your good old stuff,

6PM Clean up: aiming for zero waste, leave no trace.

In an effort to contribute to the goal of a criminal legal system that ensures equal justice for all participants, Citizens for Racial Equity in Washtenaw (CREW) was formed to gather public data on the charging and sentencing of individuals in Washtenaw County and to assess whether the data reflected any racial disparities and the impact of any disparity on members of our community.

ICPJ,WeROC and the Faith Leaders Forum are hosting a virtual community forum as a follow-up to the CREW report. What happened since it was released, what the response has been, and what still needs to be done will be discussed.

What you can do:

1. Register in advance for this community meeting at the link here.
2. Read the CREW Report on Racial Disparities in the Washtenaw County Criminal Legal System at the link here. 
3. Read about the Judicial Tenure Commission (JTC) complaint The Detroit Free Press published an op-ed submitted by ICPJ’s Eleanore Ablan-Owen and AFSC’s Natalie Holbrook about the lack of response from the JTC regarding their complaint about Judge Archie Brown based on the data from the CREW report at the link here.
4. Visit the Washtenaw Equity Partnership (WEP) website

Register for the (online) event here:  https://www.eventbrite.com/e/228024355987. 
There is no cost for these events, but your donations to ICPJ help us to be able to continue this work of educating and mobilizing in our communities. 

Todd Miller writes a weekly post for The Border Chronicle. He has researched and written about border issues for more than 15 years, the last eight as an independent journalist and writer. He resides in Tucson, Arizona, but also has spent many years living and working in Oaxaca, Mexico. His work has appeared in the New York Times, TomDispatch, The Nation, San Francisco Chronicle, In These Times, Guernica, and Al Jazeera English, among other places.

Miller has authored four books: Build Bridges, Not Walls: A Journey to a World Without Borders (City Lights, 2021) Empire of Borders: The Expansion of the U.S. Border Around the World (Verso, 2019), Storming the Wall: Climate Change, Migration, and Homeland Security (City Lights, 2017), and Border Patrol Nation: Dispatches from the Front Lines of Homeland Security (City Lights, 2014). Todd is a contributing editor on border and immigration issues for NACLA Report on the Americas and its column “Border Wars”. http://www.toddmillerwriter.com/

This event is hosted by The Interfaith Council for Peace & Justice Latin America Caucus, the University of Michigan Latin American & Caribbean Studies, Wayne State University Center for Latino/a & Latin American Studies, and Huron Valley DSA

Be a part of the County’s process for developing its Resilient Washtenaw climate action plan! Join the Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice (www.icpj.org) in a zoom “listening” session with Washtenaw County’s Climate Plan developers on Wednesday, March 9 from 3:00-4:00 pm. (See description below). 

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87480741091?pwd=WHpmUFB5Z0Fkcld4YkdkbXdwdFlLZz09

Meeting ID: 874 8074 1091
Passcode: 703389
One tap mobile
+19294362866,,87480741091# US (New York)
+13017158592,,87480741091# US (Washington DC)
The meeting facilitators are Matt Naud (consultant for the project, mnaud@recycle.com) and Andrew DeLeeuw (Dir of Strategic Planning and staff to the county’s Environmental Council, deleeuwa@washtenaw.org). 

Climate Plan Listening Session Format:
1.    The county facilitators will provide a brief overview of Washtenaw County’s climate challenges, the 2022 initial Climate Plan timeline and how the public and ICPJ can participate in the process.*
Questions for participants:
2.Do you have existing recommendations that should be considered as part of the Resilient Washtenaw plan process?
a.    This is a rapid brainstorm to list basic areas for improvements such as: 
                                               i.     Environmental Justice for BIPOC 
                                             ii.     Offer a Zero Waste Challenge program to the whole County
                                            iii.     Make a Solarize program available to all County residents
                                            iv.     Promote urban farming efforts with permitting and access to intercity plots 
 and community gardens
                                             v.     Support and advocate regenerative agricultural practices
                                            vi.     Etc.

b.    After everyone has a chance to contribute topic areas, people with more in-depth experiences and suggestions can briefly summarize their projects and send/email longer descriptions to the facilitators in writing. (**See MAJIC example: https://www.majicnow.org/our-platform) 

3.As this work continues, do you have suggestions for ways the county government might continue to partner with ICPJ and/or congregations and other organizationsas the county seeks to become carbon neutral by 2035?

4.    Given that the county is unlikely to be the solution for all of the climate mitigation and adaptation recommendations, do you have thoughts on how the county might use its ability to bring local governmentsand organizationstogether to implement solutions?

5.Questions you/your group has for the planning team.
We hope to see you there!

Nancy Stone, 
Volunteer with ICPJ’s caucus on Consumption, Waste and the Climate Crisis 
Desirae Simmons, 
Co-Director, Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice
*P.S. If possible, please preview Washtenaw County’s one-year Climate Action Planning process as outlined at https://www.washtenaw.org/3465/Climate-Action.  An optional 20-minute video orientation provides Great Lakes climate concerns as well as Washtenaw County-specific climate project materials at www.resilientWashtenaw.org. An initial draft climate plan will be available for public comment by summer 2022, with the final draft report to be sent to the County Commissioners before the end of the year for additional public comment.