TOY Drop Off: 555 Main St. (behind Ramos Furniture) Watsonville 95076
Tuesday 4-6pm
Thursday 4-9pm

Toys will be delivered to communities in Watsonville on December 24th by Santa and elves!

NO Toy GUNS and NO BARBIES…

Residents Say Remaining Proactive Against Violence Has Made Big Difference!
Event will honor local residents who lost their lives to domestic and street violence.

On Saturday, October 29, 2011, hundreds of local residents will be joining the 18TH ANNUAL WATSONVILLE PEACE & UNITY MARCH which will take place at noon on the Watsonville Plaza. The Peace ceremony begins at NOON. We march at 1PM SHARP. Several community leaders, family members of victims of violence and youth will be addressing the effects of violence on our communities.

“This march is an ongoing effort to stop the destruction of our youth and community by violence,” said Sandino Gomez, an organizer of the Watsonville Peace and Unity Coalition. “It creates a community consciousness about becoming actively involved in reducing violence and improving our neighborhoods for our future generations.”

“Remaining proactive against violence has made a tremendous difference,” said Yovanna Bravo, an event organizer. “After this march first began seventeen years ago, we have seen other efforts emerge throughout our city to bring peace and unity to all our homes, schools, and neighborhoods, and to keep awareness and action focused on building positive community here in Watsonville.”

ALL FAMILIES WHO HAVE LOST LOVED ONES TO VIOLENCE ARE INVITED TO SET UP AN ALTAR BEFORE THE PEACE CEREMONY BEGINS AT NOON. This yearly event continues to be organized by a coalition of concerned students, parents, community-based organizations, churches and families who have lost their loved ones to community violence. We will never forget the names of our loved ones lost.

We will also be presenting the “Barrio Warrior” award to one of our local educators, artists and community advocates, Jovita Molina!!! It is an honor to give Jovita this award for her tireless organizing, cultural work and participation in improving our community.

Joining the march this year will be a special interfaith contingent of indigenous people and their supporters from many different countries and belief systems who have united in their opposition to nuclear weapons and nuclear energy, including Buddhist monks from Fukishima, Japan. They will be joining the Peace and Unity March on Saturday October 29th. For more information about the walk and those involved please see www.canuclearwalk.com

This will also be a Day of the Dead celebration. Community is invited to set up Dia de Los Muertos altars.

We hope you can cover our 18-year anniversary of this very important event that is primarily organized by Watsonville residents and youth!

WHAT: The 18th Annual Watsonville Peace & Unity March
WHEN: Saturday, October 29, 2011
TIME: NOON Opening Ceremony, 1PM March Begins
WHERE: Ceremony on City Plaza & March will take place throughout various neighborhoods.

Room: Student Activity Center – Room 202; the main room on the second floor

OCTOBER 8, 2011 FROM 10AM TO 4PM

Santa Cruz County is known for its liberal atmosphere and agricultural abundance. However, this community has had a lengthy history of racial injustice and discrimination from the anti-Filipino riots in 1929 to the ongoing police harassment of Latino youth.

We hope you attend this educational workshop to learn and share about the local historical mechanisms of racial oppression, the distributions of power, and the organizing tools that we need to ameliorate our community.

Guest Speakers and food will be provided.
A sliding scale of $20-50 (contact us for additional options)

Please Register Today at: www.overcomeracism.org
or call (831) 425-4500

Topics that will be discussed are:

1. The History of Racial Injustice and
Resistance in Santa Cruz County

2. Understanding Institutional
Power Dynamics.

3. What is an Organizer?

4. Direct Community Organizing 101
(campaign strategies, media, etc)

About us:

SCCCCOR focuses on exposing and addressing systemic racism found throughout county institutions, especially within the sectors of education, employment, housing, law enforcement, healthcare and immigration. We seek to alleviate the sometimes-unattended consequences of policies, programs, and procedures that sometimes disenfranchise people. We do this through education, community building, and raising awareness through the individual group and community level. This workshop is the core of this transformational work.
For more information go to: www.overcomeracism.org

When politicians want to hide their actual positions and beliefs to the public (for fear of public backlash), they usually do one of two things (or both).

The first, and most popular strategy is to use the “procedure” as an excuse. They will say that, “…this is not the way we do things.” They will say that the proposal or request or resolution should have been written differently, or brought to the council differently. Even though in many cases, other resolutions and policies have been enacted in the same way. If a politician does not want to seem intolerant, prejudiced, or even racist, they can use the excuse that the procedure of the policy is simply wrong.

The second, and also popular strategy for politicians to hide their true beliefs or controversial and unpopular positions is to say that their Council or Board is not the proper elected body to deal with the issue. That it is the responsibility of the State or the Federal government. NOT the City Council or governing body they sit on.

Ryan Coonerty used BOTH of these sneaky (often effective) strategies when he spoke and voted against opting out of the Secure Communities program in Santa Cruz City.

In denying the resolution supporting AB 1081 (The Trust Act) and denying the support to Opt Out of the Secure Communities program, Ryan used the first procedural argument during the City Council meeting itself, which you will see in the video. While there has been a Santa Cruz based coalition organizing for months, meeting with the Sheriff, the Latino Affairs Commission and numerous other local organizations, Ryan acted like none of this even happened, when indeed it had.

When over 50 activists entered Ryan’s UCSC lecture class the following week to make his support of Secure Communities more publicly known and point out the contradictions in his “progressive” ideals…he proceeded to use the second popular method of deflecting responsibility. He blamed it on the State District Attorney and President Obama. He told a roomful of immigrant rights activists that they should go speak to Kamala Harris and Barack Obama about this issue.

Meanwhile, in the greater San Francisco Bay area cities, counties, local labor councils (including the Monterey Bay Central Labor Council) and even the entire state of Illinois have passed resolutions supporting the right for a city, county or state to OPT OUT of Secure Communities.

WHY IS MAYOR RYAN COONERTY HIDING HIS APPARENT CONSERVATIVE AND REACTIONARY IDEALS BEHIND THE VEIL OF BUREAUCRACY AND PROCEDURE? NO TRUE PROGRESSIVE CAN SUPPORT SECURE COMMUNITIES! THE CONTRADICTION IS TO BIG!

We call on the progressive citizens of Santa Cruz to disallow this kind of insensitive and dishonest behavior in our Mayor. Please call and e-mail Mayor Ryan Coonerty and question him or share how you feel. We do not want these kinds of contradictions in our leadership. He cannot claim to support the immigrant community and then refuse to condemn a destructive policy such as the Secure Communities program.

THANK YOU!

and

Wednesday, June 15 · 6:00pm – 9:00pm
Louden Nelson Community Center
301 Center Street
Santa Cruz, CA

¿Qué es S-Comm (Comunidades Seguras)?

S-Comm es un programa que permite a los policías locales para comprobar en los registros de inmigración del Departamento de Seguridad Nacional (DHS), las huellas dactilares del individuo que está siendo encarcelado. Si resulta con un indicador en los registros de inmigración, Inmigración (ICE) será notificado automáticamente, incluso si la persona no ha sido condenado por ningún delito y podria ser deportada.

What is S-Comm (Secure Communities)?

S-Comm is a program that allows local police to check the fingerprints of an individual they are booking into a jail against Department of Homeland Security (DHS) immigration databases. If there is a “hit” in an immigration database, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is automatically notified, even if the person has not been convicted of any criminal act and could be deported.

Panelistas invitados de/ Guest Speakers from SIREN, Community Action Board, Defensa de las Mujeres, Santa cruz Immigration Project, and others.

Hosted by the Santa Cruz County ACLU and the Santa Cruz Immigration Action Group and the Watsonville Brown Berets.