[pjw] PJW UPDATE: Our July newsletter & July 22 quarterly meeting

[Peace and Justice Works]

PJW supporters

Below is the text of the July 5 PJW UPDATE, our twice yearly newsletter 
that you may have received via snail mail recently (or will receive soon). 
The text has been modified slightly for email purposes.

Our summer quarterly meeting is coming up a week from this Sunday-- on 
July 22 at Augustana Lutheran Church. It's a good time for people in our 
different project groups, general PJW members and the board to meet and 
keep up to date. It stars with a vegetarian potluck at noon with a meeting 
from 12:30-2 PM.

Please let us know if you have any questions, and if you feel like it let 
us know if you plan to attend.

Thanks!

dan handelman
secretary
peace and justice works


------

Dear Peace and Justice Works members, volunteers, and supporters:

Join us for the

PJW SUMMER QUARTERLY MEETING
Sunday, July 22, 2018 
12 noon (potluck); 12:30 PM (meeting)
Augustana Lutheran Church Fellowship Hall, NE 15th and Knott

Please join us for the 27th PJW summer quarterly meeting coming up on 
Sunday, July 22. Our meeting at the Augustana Lutheran Church (NE 15th and 
Knott) begins with a 12 noon vegetarian potluck (bring vegetarian food and 
non-alcoholic drink to share), followed by the business meeting from 
12:30-2:00 PM.

Proposed agenda:

--updates on Affinity Group work (Iraq, Copwatch, other);

--financial and office update, fund-raising, volunteer outreach;

--set Fall Quarterly meeting.

Quarterly meetings are good to catch up current and prospective new 
members!

Iraq Affinity Group to Host Kathy Kelly, Co-sponsor Hiroshima/Nagasaki 
Memorial

The PJW Iraq Affinity Group (IAG) educates the public on the effects of US 
policy in the "Middle East" and elsewhere. In March, we cosponsored a 
Portland Peaceful Response Coalition Friday Rally to mark 15 years since 
the invasion of Iraq. In April, we organized an emergency rally against 
the bombing of Syria. Shortly after that, we set up a 7 foot tall, 20 foot 
wide banner reading "No War" across from the USS Portland as it was 
commissioned on the waterfront. This was the first event supported by the 
Ann Huntwork Fund for Creative Action. In June, we co-sponsored a forum on 
the Trump administration's decision to end the Iran nuclear agreement and 
set the two countries on a possible path to war funded in part by the Jan 
Bone Memorial Fund for Public Forums.

This September we are working on plans to host Nobel Peace Prize Nominee 
Kathy Kelly of Voices for Creative Nonviolence to speak about Afghanistan, 
Yemen and Iraq, countries Voices continues visiting to inspire peaceful 
activism. On that note, we sent letters to all seven members of Oregon's 
congressional delegation in January asking them to take action to end the 
war in Yemen.

As we have for most every year since our founding, the IAG is 
co-sponsoring the annual Hiroshima and Nagasaki memorial event on Monday, 
August 6 at 6 PM at the Japanese-American Historical Plaza, NW Naito 
Parkway at Davis. Coordinated as usual by Oregon Physicians for Social 
Responsibility, this year's theme is "Facing America's Nuclear Legacy: 
Hiroshima, Nagasaki, & the Pacific Islands." For more information go to 
<http://oregonpsr.org/hiroshima_day_2018>.

We can always use more help-- please come to IAG meetings-- usually on the 
2nd Monday each month!

Portland Copwatch: Tracking Shootings, Observing in the Streets, Pushing 
for Change

Our police accountability affinity group Portland Copwatch (PCW) seeks 
change through civilian action. In January, PCW posted an updated list of 
over 100 deadly force actions by law enforcement in Oregon since 2010. PCW 
was tipped off that the Attorney General finally started listing such 
incidents that ended in deaths-- but found it was incomplete, inaccurate 
and biased. PCW has also engaged the community and city officials about 
recent shootings including that of John Elifritz, a man in mental health 
crisis killed in a houseless shelter in April. At the organizers' request, 
we had a speaker at the 8th anniversary event remembering Keaton Otis in 
May.

Groups of copwatchers walked "beats" on the east and west sides of the 
Willamette in March and May, handing out literature, hearing from 
houseless persons, and luckily not observing any negative police behavior. 
PCW also continues to operate an incident report line (503-321-5120) for 
people to share their experiences with Portland Police or Multnomah County 
Sheriff's deputies.

Also, a Copwatch member sits on the steering committee of the Albina 
Ministerial Alliance Coalition for Justice and Police Reform, which is 
active in the legal case brought by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) 
against the PPB for using excessive force. Four PCW members testified at 
the April Fairness Hearing about the DOJ Settlement Agreement, pointing 
out flaws in the new community body being planned to oversee the 
Agreement.

PCW has met twice with Chief Outlaw, with promises to meet quarterly. We 
made comments on many police policies, which sometimes leads to (minor) 
changes. Copwatch also attends the Citizen Review Committee (CRC) appeals 
on misconduct complaints, and monitors the work of CRC's umbrella agency-- 
the "Independent" Police Review. PCW is currently working on the 25th 
anniversary issue of its newsletter, the People's Police Report. 
Subscriptions are now $20/year for three issues. More info is at 
<http://www.portlandcopwatch.org>.

Help Peace and Justice Works Defeat Police Spying and Promote World Peace

Peace and Justice Works is now in its 27th year of promoting nonviolent 
conflict resolution on local, national and international levels. As part 
of our campaign to get the Portland Police out of the Joint Terrorism Task 
Force, PJW and Portland Copwatch were two of the co-sponsors of an April 
forum featuring former FBI agent Michael German and local panelists. You 
can see video of the forum on our Youtube page at 
<http://www.youtube.com/peaceandjusticeworks>.

We continue to do all of this work on a budget of about $12,000 a year, in 
a completely volunteer run organization. Due to increased expenses, in 
February the group voted to slightly increase our sliding scale membership 
fee-- one year's membership is now $20-45 sliding scale, or 4 hours of 
volunteer time. Memberships, donations and/or items from our wish list 
(see <http://www.pjw.info>) can be sent to PO Box 42456/Portland, OR 
97242. There are also plenty of volunteer tasks we need help with, 
including putting together mailings like this one, putting up flyers, 
event support, and more. War and peace issues are directly connected to 
issues of climate change, immigrant rights, fair trade and so many more 
currently in the forefront. Thanks for being part of our important 
struggle!