[pjw] RSVP/ PJW UPDATE: Our recent newsletter & July 20 quarterly meeting

[Peace and Justice Works]

PJW supporters

Many of you should have received our June 2024 newsletter, the PJW UPDATE, 
in the mail in the past week or so.

It's jam-packed with info, but two highlights are (I'm plugging this every 
day when I can!) the Noor Ghazi livestream event on Tuesday June 25 at 5 
PM and the summer quarterly meeting on Saturday July 20 at noon.

Contact us if you have any questions.

Thanks!

dan handelman
secretary
peace and justice works

-----------------

PJW UPDATE
June 6. 2024

Peace and Justice Works members, volunteers, and supporters:

Join us for the
PJW SUMMER QUARTERLY MEETING
Saturday, July 20, 2024
12 noon (conversation); 12:30 PM (meeting)
*Conference call- contact us for info*

Please join the call! Peace and Justice Works' 32nd Summer Quarterly 
meeting will be held on Saturday, July 20. We continue to hold our 
meetings by remote for maximum safety of vulnerable populations, but are 
constantly evaluating in-person options. We begin with casual conversation 
at 12 noon, followed by the meeting from 12:30-2:30 PM. Please RSVP to get 
the conference call information.

The proposed agenda includes:

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

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

--set Fall Quarterly meeting.

Membership is not required to attend-- this is a good place to learn about 
what's going on and plug in!

Iraq Affinity Group Hosting Livestream with Peace Activist Noor Ghazi

The Peace and Justice Works Iraq Affinity Group (IAG) continues to educate 
the public on how the US affects people through economic, military and 
other policies. As we have each year since 2020, the IAG is hosting a 
livestream forum in June. The speaker will be Noor Ghazi, an 
Iraqi-American peace activist whose family was impacted by sanctions, the 
US invasion, and the fallout from it. To accommodate east coast time, we 
will start the forum on Tuesday, June 25 at 5 PM Pacific Time. The topic: 
"The US Invasion of Iraq: Intended or Unintended Consequences?" Attend by 
watching at youtube.com/peaceandjusticeworks and you can use email to send 
in questions for the Q&A! Instructions to be shared during the event.

It's hard to believe that the IAG has been hosting the Friday Rally for 
Peace and Justice each week at 5 PM at SW Yamhill and Broadway for four 
years now. The rally has been there every week since Portland Peaceful 
Response Coalition started it in November 2001. In March, we marked the 
21st anniversary of the Iraq War. In January, we faced an oncoming ice 
storm to note 22 years of Guantanamo prison being open. We also handed out 
War Resisters League information about the military budget on the Friday 
before Tax Day and updated our statement on the war in Ukraine in May.

This year's Hiroshima/Nagasaki memorial is being collectively organized, 
with Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility hosting planning 
meetings. The IAG has been involved in planning the event, which is 
tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, August 6 (Hiroshima day) at 6 PM 
in-person at the Japanese American Historical Plaza in Waterfront Park.

The IAG usually meets on second Mondays at 5 PM.

Flying Focus Programs Concentrate on Israel/Palestine, Climate and More

Flying Focus Video Collective (FFVC) has been around for 33 years, two of 
them as a project group of PJW. Recent programs have included both new 
information and reruns of older shows about the conflict in 
Israel/Palestine. Other shows have focused on the climate crisis, 
celebrating the life of unique Portland activist Barry Sutton, the 
appropriation of people's land and space, and more. You can see several 
shows on the Flying Focus YouTube page youtube.com/flyingfocusshows. Write 
to ffvc at flyingfocus.org to learn more!

Portland Copwatch Prompts Changes in State Deadly Force Database, 
Continues Local Work

As it has every year since 2014, Portland Copwatch (PCW), our project 
group which focuses on police accountability, sent another letter tracking 
law enforcement deadly force incidents in Oregon to the state Attorney 
General. PCW followed up this year by sending lists of the 74 incidents 
missing from the database (along with errors that need correcting) to 27 
District Attorneys. This prompted the posting of at least eight of the 
missing incidents, the addition of the "ethnicity" field to the publicly 
available data, and responses from two DAs.

In addition, Copwatch testifies to City Council about oversight, payments 
made due to police misconduct (PPB violence at 2020 protests has cost the 
City over $2.5 million), how sweeping houseless people disrupts their 
lives, and more. We counted over 33 weeks in 2023 at which PCW spoke to 
the City, sometimes on multiple topics in the same week.

PCW also continues to monitor the US Department of Justice Settlement 
Agreement. Quarterly reports from the Compliance Officer/Community Liaison 
will soon be replaced by semi-annual analysis from a Court-Appointed 
Monitor, approved at a federal court hearing in May where PCW members 
testified. Related to the Agreement, PCW attends meetings of the Portland 
Committee on Community Engaged Policing, the Training Advisory Council, 
and more. As Portland prepares to institute some form of the new oversight 
system added to the City Charter in 2020, PCW is keeping an eye on efforts 
to dilute that Board's powers (including by the police "union"), and how 
the current system, the "Independent" Police Review and its Citizen Review 
Committee, will smoothly transition to the new one.

In January, Copwatch once again coordinated Council testimony about 
Portland Police cooperation with the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force 
(JTTF). The reports continue to be threadbare and show that-- if they're 
to be believed-- there are few cases of local cops being drawn into 
federal investigation. Even when they do, the suspects often have more of 
a mental health issue than a motivation of "terrorism."

PCW also continues to accept calls on its incident report line 
(503-321-5120). The People's Police Report is still printed regularly 
three times a year. Get more information at portlandcopwatch.org.

You Can Make the World a Whole Lot Brighter

Peace and Justice Works has been educating the public on war and peace, 
police accountability and other interrelated issues for over 32 years. 
Your financial support, volunteer efforts and networking help us circulate 
information to create a better planet.

We hope you will use send back information to indicate if you want to 
volunteer (4 hours a year can earn a voting membership), donate money/ 
wish list items, or pay a $20-45 sliding scale membership. Send donations 
to PO Box 42456/Portland, OR 97242. If you donate online, use our page at 
Network for Good (see options for recurring donations) and indicate the 
project/s you support in the "designation" field.  Find links to the NFG 
site at pjw.info. Because we are all volunteers, your donations support 
our relatively small office, websites and printed materials. Call or text 
us at 503-235-3065 if you want to help out, ask a question or leave 
feedback.

You, our supporters, are what keeps the peace light burning here!