NO PAPERS, NO FEAR: SB1070 is here.

 Driving without an AZ license 
is apparently cause to suspect one is in the country illegally. 

Funny how mine just got lost.

---------this in today from my friends at PUENTE---------

Today, SB1070 goes into effect.  The courts have failed us, allowing racial profiling to be made law.  Here in Maricopa County, we already live 1070 every day under Arpaio.  According to the Department of Justice, he enacts the 'worst case of racial profiling' they have ever seen.  Judge Bolton's recent ruling, to allow section 2b to take effect today, will only expand the human rights crisis in Arizona.  The police can no longer protect and serve our communities, but only racially profile us.

Ahora la SB1070 entro en efecto. Las cortes nos han fallado, dejando que el perfil racial se haga ley. Aquí en el condado deMaricopa, ya vivimos con la SB1070 todo los días con Arpaio. Como el Departamento de Justicia a dicho ‘ Arpaio a cometido el peor caso de perfil racial’ que han visto. Hoy la juez Bolton a dejado que la sección 2b entre en efecto, esto solo incrementara la crisis de derechos humanos en Arizona. La policía ya no nos puede proteger y servir, solo detenernos por perfil racial.

We will remember today as not only the day that 1070 went into effect, threatening to separate our families and communities.  We will also remember today as the birth of a new era of the struggle for human rights, justice, and dignity in Arizona, a struggle that will not stop until we win.  We have seen that we can depend on no one but ourselves to turn the tide from hate to human rights.  We know that building our community's power is the way we will stop deportations and family separation.  We know that together we are strong and that together, we can overcome Arpaio, 1070, and police-ICE collaboration.  When we unite and take brave action, we are unstoppable.

Recordaremos este día no solo como el día que la SB1070 entro en efecto amenazando a separar nuestras familias ycomunidades. También recordaremos este día como el día que a nacido una nueva época de lucha por derechos humanos, justicia y dignidad en Arizona, una lucha que no parrara hasta que ganaremos. Hemos visto que no podemos depender en nadie mas que en nosotros para cambiar de odio a derechos humanos. Sabemos que construyendo el poder de nuestra comunidad es como pararemos las deportaciones y la separación de familias. Sabemos que juntos somos mas fuertes y podemos vencer a, SB1070, Arpaio, y la cooperación de policía e inmigración. Cuando nos unimos y tomamos acciones de valentía somos imparables.

So today, more than ever, we need you to join us in the struggle for human rights and dignity that is happening right now in Arizona.  As many before us have said, and as we know now is true, when injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty.  This is the moment we fulfill our duty by organizing and growing the grassroots movement against hate, racism, and deportations.

Ahora mas que nunca necesitamos que nos acompañen en la lucha por los derechos humanos y la dignidad que esta pasando en Arizona. Como muchos antes de nosotros han dicho, y ahora sabemos que es verdad, cuando la injusticia se hace ley, la rebeldía se hace obligación. Este es el momento que efectuamos nuestra obligación en organizarnos y crecer el movimiento del pueblo contra el odio, racismo y las deportaciones.

Call to Struggle/Llamado a La Lucha:

1. WE FIGHT FEAR: We continue to organize our community  as we know that the way we will stop hate is by building a movement based on the power that already exists in our own families, neighborhoods, and communities.  As our members who travelled with the No Papers, No Fear Ride for Justice doing civil disobedience here and at the Democratic National Convention showed us, we are safer when we organize and come out of the shadows.  We have learned how to organize to stop deportations and family separation through know your rights trainings and by building peaceful neighborhood defense networks.   Send us an email at info@puenteaz.org to join our next Curso de Defensa, or to help us organize one in your neighborhood.
  

1. LUCHAMOS CONTRA EL MIEDO: Organizando a nuestra comunidad, ya sabemos que pararemos el odio creando un movimiento basado en el poder que ya existe en nuestras familias, barrios y comunidades, como los que han viajado en la caravana Sin Papeles Sin Miedo nos han mostrado hacienda desobediencia civil aquí y en Carolina del Norte, estamos mas seguros cuando nos organizamos y salimos de las sombras. Sabemos organizar para parrar deportaciones y la separación de familias, ensenando los derechos y creando bases de redes de protección. Mándenos un mensaje 
a info@puenteaz.org para involucrarse en nuestro próximos curso de defensa.

2. WE FIGHT HATE:  SB1070 poses a moral dilemma that everyone must answer: will you comply with hate or will you side with the struggle for human rights and dignity?  We demand that every city, every police department, every school, and every institution in Arizona refuse to comply with SB1070 by not allowing their officers to racially profile.  To businesses, we ask your support in not complying with 1070 by becoming Human Rights Zones.  Those that do not we will boycott.

 2. LUCHAMOS CONTRA EL ODIO: La SB1070 crea un dilema moral que todos tendrán que contestar: cumplirás con el odio o estarás de el lado de los derechos humanos y la dignidad? Le pedimos a todas la ciudades, municipios, departamentos de policía, escuelas, o cualquier otra institución en Arizona que NO cumpla con la SB1070, no dejando que sus oficiales cometan violaciones de perfil racial a nuestra comunidad. A negocios les pedimos su apoyo al igual no cumplir con la ley y a negocios que estén al favor les haremos boicot.

3. WE FIGHT DEPORTATIONS: We know that Arizona cannot deport people on its own. President Obama can follow the brave example that undocumented people have set by taking immediate action to stop deporting Arpaio and 1070's victims by ending Secure Communities in Arizona.  Sign the petition at bit.ly/potus1070.

3. LUCHAMOS CONTRA LAS DEPORTACIONES: Sabemos que Arizona no puede deportar a personas solo. El presidente Obama puede seguir la valentía que la gente indocumentada a mostrado y tomar acción inmediata y parar las deportaciones de las victimas de la SB1070 y Arpaio, con solo terminar el programa de comunidades seguras en Arizona firma la petición aquí bit.ly/potus1070.
  

How you can get involved/Para involucrarte:

Tell your story: Share your experience of racial profiling.  The more we go public with what is happening to our community, the safer we are.  Contact us for support at info@puenteaz.org.

Cuenta tu historia: Comparte tu experiencia de perfil racial.  Lo mas que hablamos en publico sobre lo que pasa en nuestra comunidad, lo mas seguro estamos.  Escribenos por apoyo a info@puenteaz.org.

Stay informed: Follow us on Twitter @puenteaz and Like us on Facebook

Quedate informad@: Siguenos en Twitter @puenteaz y da nos Like en Facebook.

Share our updates: Spread the word on the human rights crisis happening in Arizona and the powerful ways we are fighting back

Comparte nuestros datos: Corre la voz sobre la crisis de derechos humanos pasando en Arizona, y las maneras poderosas que luchamos y resistimos.

Volunteer with the Puente Movement: There are so many ways to get involved in the struggle for human rights, from canvassing local businesses as part of our Human Rights Zone campaign, to fundraising, to teaching English classes, and so much more.  Email volunteer@puenteaz.org to get involved!

Ser Voluntari@ con el Movimiento Puente: Hay tantas maneras de involucrarte con la lucha por los derechos humanos, desde pedir negocios locales ser parte de nuestra campana de Zonas De Derechos Humanos, a recaudar fondos, a ensenar clases de Ingles, y mucho mas!  Mandanos un email a volunteer@puenteaz.ogr para involucrarte!

Donate: Help us sustain and grow our movement.  Donate at puenteaz.org.

In struggle, 

Puente Arizona

 

LGBTQ Prisoner support: Communities of Resistance's Bent Bars Collective.

Got that cool transgender clip art symbol I used in the post above from these folks, the Bent Bars Collective. They're a British group that formed specifically to build a bridge between community members and LGBTQ prisoners. What follows is an intro and link to their current newsletter, after which is the intro and link to their first newsletter. The links to each are for pdf copies so you can print and mail them to prisoners who might be interested. The writing appears to be done by GLBTQ prisoners, and may be useful in reducing the isolation that GLBTQ prisoners here struggle constantly with. Perhaps it will inspire a similar solidarity collective to form here.


Communities of Resistance is the collective's parent group; the UK has a lot of prison abolitionists. Here's their mission statement:

Communities of Resistance (CoRe) is a new grassroots initiative that aims to stop prison expansion in Britain. We oppose building new prisons, because prisons do not make our communities safe. We support and believe in developing effective, community-based solutions to social problems that do not rely on models of imprisonment.

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

Second Bent Bars Newsletter Now Out!

Welcome to the second Bent Bars Newsletter. Here we bring you another collection of writing, poems, images and information contributed by folks on the inside who are part of the project.

It has been a busy year for the Bent Bars Project as our small collective has been working hard to respond to all the communication we recieve. Each week brings another large bundle of letters with new requests, news from those who have now become old friends, news of situations that anger us, bring sadness, inspire us deeply, make us laugh out lud and question our perspectives.

It is a challenge to keep track of everyone contacting us from inside and outside, but we now have more than 70 long-term penpal connections. We are really thrilled that this includes those between people who were inside penpals, were then released and are now writing to others still inside. To read more, click on the link below for a PDF version (5.4MB in size) or write to us if you'd like a paper copy sent by post.

Click here to download the Second Bent Bars Newsletter!

Bent Bars Launches First Newsletter

The Bent Bars Collective is proud to announce our first newsletter! The newsletter is written by and for prisoners and the first issue is on the topic of 'coming out' in prison.

Click on the link below for a PDF version of our first newsletter or if you would like a paper copy, please write to us and we'll send you one.

Since the Bent Bars Project began in February this year, we have received many letters from those in prison. Among the various requests we regularly receive, many asked for information about ‘coming out’ in prison. Yet all the resources we could find on ‘coming out’ were not written with prisoners in mind. So we decided to create our own resource, by asking prisoners to share thoughts and advice on the topic. We put a call out for submissions in July – and asked you to tell us about your own experiences of being out, or not out in prison, and what advice you would give to other prisoners thinking about coming out. The responses are printed here.

One of the aims of the Bent Bars Project is to build links between lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, intersex, queer and gender-nonconforming communities (LGBTQ) inside and outside prison. We work in solidarity with those inside to build stronger community links across prison walls. Issues around 'coming out' ring true for many of us, inside and out: the attitudes of families and friends; wanting to resist being pigeon-holed and identified only by sexuality; fears about prejudice, discrimination, rejection and violence.

Clearly these difficulties are made harder for those inside, where all these problems are increased by the severity and restrictions of prison life. We want to create a space where people inside can read the feelings and perspectives of others facing similar challenges in prison. We also want to make connections between those inside and other LGBTQ people who are currently outside. Prisons magnify repression of queer communities. This repression is at the root of social exclusion that leads to over-representation of LGBTQ communities, communities of colour and low-income communities, within the prison system.

In these pages then you will read the voices of people who answered our call out for writings. The words they have sent us are powerful, moving, funny, creative and harrowing in turn. They offer valuable ideas and raise many questions.


Many prisoners who wrote to us said that we could include their full names with their submissions. Although we wanted to honour those who are “out and proud,” we decided to publish first names or nicknames only for safety reasons. We hope that one day this will not be necessary – that one we will all be free to express ourselves fully and openly.


Once again we want to thank the contributors for all they have shared. It is important also to acknowledge that people inside make many different choices in order to survive, and there are many different ways of expressing identities and sexualities. Many people do not feel safe to come out or even to write to us: for this reason our newsletter cannot be fully representative. For those not able to, or choosing not to 'come out' in prison, we want to acknowledge the strength in those silences as well as the voices heard here.


~From your friends in the Bent Bars Collective

File	Description	File size
BentBars Newsletter 1 - updated	Bent Bars Newsletter 1A	1764 Kb