<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">Hi Everyone - We have a multiracial community coalition here in Santa Cruz organizing to address institutional racism in Santa Cruz County. Our official name is: The Santa Cruz County Coalition for Overcoming Racism (SCCCOR). Over the past 2 years, we've organized 4 listening sessions throughout the county for testimony around racism. We also have bi-monthly community gatherings and 6 action groups (housing, health care, employment, immigration, law enforcement and education) where folks are working on various projects to educate around and combat systemic racism. We have added a group recently to address "crisis intervention." One of our African American community members has been blatantly targeted by the Klan and during a large event we held last summer, some neo nazis were out front with the confederate flag. <div>So for those of you who know of Santa Cruz - it is characterized as a predominantly white, "progressive" (hippy, eco-activists), working to upper middle class, beach, redwoods and farming community. In Watsonville (south county) we have all kinds of immigration rights issues to address. In the San Lorenzo Valley (north county) there is a strong and organized group of Klan. In between is Santa Cruz where most well-meaning white folks think that electing Obama solved the racism problem. I believe Klan type of activity is becoming more active here, including recruitment at two high schools.</div><div>So while I've painted Santa Cruz in some pretty broad strokes here ( I do like living here), I just wanted to chime in and share about some action we're pursuing on the central coast of California.</div><div><br></div><div>my best-</div><div>Lauren</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Century Gothic" size="3" style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Century Gothic'; "><i>Lauren Parker Kucera</i></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Century Gothic'">Producer, Shades Of Youth</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Century Gothic" size="3" style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Century Gothic'; "><a href="http://www.antiracism.com">www.antiracism.com</a></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Century Gothic'"><br></font></div></span></div><div><br><div><div>On Oct 5, 2009, at 12:27 PM, Dottye Burt-Markowitz wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="padding-top: 1ex; padding-right: 1ex; padding-bottom: 1ex; padding-left: 1ex; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: small; "><div dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: medium; "><div class="defangedMessage"><div id="me90593"><div> I don't know either about real growth in the organized movements. But I definitely think those movements are helping to open wide a door that has seemed to be shut on overt racist expression by a significant segment of the white population. Of course, helped by the intentional appeal to racist thinking in the political arena and the clueless way in which the media deals with it all. </div><div> </div><div>I'm currently working with a Christian organization that covers the state of MD and I'm seriously thinking about making an appeal to them to monitor and stand up against this kind of activity in our state (where, outside of Baltimore, there is a long history of active white supremacist activity). Has anyone out there been working with churches on this? </div><div> </div><div>Dottye</div><div> </div><div>On Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:16 -0500, "Timothy Wise" <<a href="mailto:timjwise@mac.com">timjwise@mac.com</a>> wrote:</div><blockquote type="cite" class="me90593QuoteMessage" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; border-left-width: 2px; border-left-style: solid; border-left-color: rgb(20, 79, 174); padding-left: 1em; ">I agree, there is something new happening right now. It had been about 7 years since I'd had a Nazi show up at one of my speeches, but I had one (from the National Alliance) come to my speech last month in Kentucky...also a serious uptick in hate mail lately. I don't think this necessarily signifies real growth in these groups, per se, but it may indicate a growing boldness in the face of the Obama Administration, and the belief by some of the more fascist type groups that they can harness some of the more mainstream public anger in a blatantly white nationalist/supremacist direction.<div> </div><div>tim wise</div><div><br><div><div>On Oct 5, 2009, at 2:11 PM, Dottye Burt-Markowitz wrote:</div><br class="me90593Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; border-left-width: 2px; border-left-style: solid; border-left-color: rgb(0, 99, 18); padding-left: 1em; border-top-color: rgb(0, 99, 18); border-right-color: rgb(0, 99, 18); border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 99, 18); "><span class="me90593Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Futura; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 1ex; padding-right: 1ex; padding-bottom: 1ex; padding-left: 1ex; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: small; "><div dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: medium; "><div class="me90593defangedMessage"><div id="me90593me51107"><div>Jeff,</div><div> </div><div>I am wondering if other folks on the WAsummit listserve are seeing blatant white supremacist activities in their areas. I got a call last week from a white friend who received an anonymous postcard, obviously from a white supremacist group that chose not to identify itself, telling him (after his name appeared in the newspaper in an article about a telephone pole that needed to be replaced) that "he has more to worry about than a phone pole", and then making racist and anti-immigrant statements about the neighborhood where my friend lives. It's been more than 20 years since we've seen this kind of organized white supremacist activity in Baltimore (where the 65% African American population tends to keep the extreme extremists away or at least out of sight).</div><div> </div><div>Dottye</div><div> </div><div>On Sat, 03 Oct 2009 09:37 -0400, "Jeff Hitchcock" <<a href="mailto:jeffhitchcock@euroamerican.org" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; ">jeffhitchcock@euroamerican.org</a>> wrote:</div><blockquote class="me90593me51107QuoteMessage" type="cite" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; border-left-width: 2px; border-left-style: solid; border-left-color: rgb(20, 79, 174); padding-left: 1em; border-top-color: rgb(84, 0, 0); border-right-color: rgb(84, 0, 0); border-bottom-color: rgb(84, 0, 0); "><div class="me90593me51107Section1"><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; "><span style="font-size: small; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; "><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; "><span style="font-size: small; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; "><a href="http://minnesotaindependent.com/46255/community-mobilizes-to-oppose-neo-nazi-rally-in-minneapolis" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; ">http://minnesotaindependent.com/46255/community-mobilizes-to-oppose-neo-nazi-rally-in-minneapolis</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; "><span style="font-size: small; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; "><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><h1 style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 24pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-weight: bold; "><b><span style="font-size: xx-large; "><span style="font-size: 24pt; "><a href="http://minnesotaindependent.com/46255/community-mobilizes-to-oppose-neo-nazi-rally-in-minneapolis" title="Permanent Link to Community mobilizes to oppose neo-Nazi rally in Minneapolis" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; ">Community mobilizes to oppose neo-Nazi rally in Minneapolis</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></b></h1><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; "><span style="font-size: medium; "><span style="font-size: 12pt; ">By<span class="me90593Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://minnesotaindependent.com/author/andy-birkey/" title="Posts by Andy Birkey" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; ">Andy Birkey</a><span class="me90593Apple-converted-space"> </span>10/2/09 1:17 PM<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; "><span style="font-size: medium; "><span style="font-size: 12pt; "><a href="http://minnesotaindependent.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/200px-Nazi_Swastika.svg.png" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; "><span style="text-decoration: none; "><span><image001.gif></span></span></a>The National Socialist Movement, a homophobic and anti-semitic white supremacist group, is threatening to protest a workshop at the Minneapolis YWCA about white privilege and white supremacy. It will be the first public NSM event here since a 2007 book-burning, and several groups of Twin Citians say they plan to make that visit an unwelcome one.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; "><span style="font-size: medium; "><span style="font-size: 12pt; ">The neo-Nazi group, which<span class="me90593Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://minnesotaindependent.com/2884/top-neo-nazi-group-leaves-minneapolis" target="_blank" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; ">up until late 2007</a><span class="me90593Apple-converted-space"> </span>was headquartered in<span class="me90593Apple-converted-space"> </span>Minneapolis, announced it will protest the “More Than Skin Deep: Uprooting White Privilege and White Supremacy one cell at a time” workshop being<span class="me90593Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.tc.indymedia.org/2009/sep/more-skin-deep-uprooting-white-privilege-and-white-supremacy-one-cell-time" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; ">held Saturday at the Midtown YWCA</a>. The event “is for white people who already have an understanding of white privilege and white supremacy (WP/WS) and want to learn more about how to dismantle WP/WS through embodiment work, education, visioning and practical action.” Attendees will learn to “use critical race content and embodiment exploration to uproot ideologies of white supremacy and systems of white privilege in our lives.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; "><span style="font-size: medium; "><span style="font-size: 12pt; ">And workshop attendees will likely get a first-hand look at white supremacy if members of the NSM show up.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; "><span style="font-size: medium; "><span style="font-size: 12pt; ">A number of counter-protests are planned for Saturday. “The NSM has been holding racist anti-immigrant rallies in southern<span class="me90593Apple-converted-space"> </span>Minnesota, and now they are seeking to establish a presence inside the City of<span class="me90593Apple-converted-space"> </span>Minneapolis,” reads a flier posted at the May Day Cafe in south<span class="me90593Apple-converted-space"> </span>Minneapolis. “They plan to bring their racist, homophobic, anti-immigrant, antisemitic message of division and hate right into the heart of the city. They must not go unopposed!”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; "><span style="font-size: medium; "><span style="font-size: 12pt; ">On Wednesday, more than 100<span class="me90593Apple-converted-space"> </span>Minneapolis<span class="me90593Apple-converted-space"> </span>residents attended an emergency meeting to develop strategies for the counter protest.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; "><span style="font-size: medium; "><span style="font-size: 12pt; ">“We need to defend the vibrant, multi-ethnic diversity we have here in<span class="me90593Apple-converted-space"> </span>Minneapolis,” Dan Gannon, an anti-racist community organizer, said in a press release Friday. “Our city must remain a ‘no-go’ zone where white supremacists cannot organize or build a movement with their hate speech and violence.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; "><span style="font-size: medium; "><span style="font-size: 12pt; ">A<span class="me90593Apple-converted-space"> </span>Minneapolis<span class="me90593Apple-converted-space"> </span>resident who attended the meeting, Angelina Vazquez, said, “We’re not going to let this happen in our city. This is an attack on our multiracial, multicultural community. We refuse to be put under siege by violent right-wingers.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; "><span style="font-size: medium; "><span style="font-size: 12pt; ">Workshop organizers say they haven’t organized a counter-protest, but they’re happy the community is coming together to oppose the NSM.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; "><span style="font-size: medium; "><span style="font-size: 12pt; ">Heather Hackman and Susan Raffo are organizing the YWCA workshop. “Susan and I are grateful that people are stepping up against these protesters,” said Hackman. “We are also very grateful for the support of the Y.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; "><span style="font-size: medium; "><span style="font-size: 12pt; ">“There are a number of people responding in a number of ways to this protest, and challenging racism and challenging white privilege,” she said. “It’s clear that this community is not going to stand for this.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; "><span style="font-size: medium; "><span style="font-size: 12pt; ">Hackman says the organizers will address the crowd at 10 am.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; "><span style="font-size: medium; "><span style="font-size: 12pt; ">The Saturday protest will be followed by an NSM-organized rally “against illegal aliens and communism” at the Veteran’s Memorial in<span class="me90593Apple-converted-space"> </span>Austin,<span class="me90593Apple-converted-space"> </span>Minn., on Oct. 17, according to the group’s Web site.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; "><span style="font-size: small; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; "><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><span id="me90593me51107addthis"><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; "><span style="font-size: small; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; ">--Jeff<o:p></o:p></span></span></div></span></div></blockquote></div></div></div><pre>--
Dottye Burt-Markowitz
Paso Training and Consulting
425 South Chester St.
Baltimore MD 21231
phone: 410-327-0134
<a href="mailto:pasoconsulting@fastmail.fm">pasoconsulting@fastmail.fm</a>
</pre>_______________________________________________<br>WAsummit mailing list<br><a href="mailto:WAsummit@lists.wacan.org">WAsummit@lists.wacan.org</a><br><a href="http://lists.wacan.org/listinfo/wasummit">http://lists.wacan.org/listinfo/wasummit</a></div></span></blockquote></div></div></blockquote></div></div></div><pre>--
Dottye Burt-Markowitz
Paso Training and Consulting
425 South Chester St.
Baltimore MD 21231
phone: 410-327-0134
<a href="mailto:pasoconsulting@fastmail.fm">pasoconsulting@fastmail.fm</a>
</pre>_______________________________________________<br>WAsummit mailing list<br><a href="mailto:WAsummit@lists.wacan.org">WAsummit@lists.wacan.org</a><br><a href="http://lists.wacan.org/listinfo/wasummit">http://lists.wacan.org/listinfo/wasummit</a><br></div></span></blockquote></div><br></div><br><br><div apple-content-edited="true"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Century Gothic'"><i><br></i></font></p></div></div></span></div></span> </div><br></body></html>