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UID:Indybay-18800614
SEQUENCE:18937617
CREATED:20170703T170100Z
DESCRIPTION:United Against Hate - A forum on how to combat the increase in racist 
 violence in our communities\n\nBERKELEY—On Sunday, July 9, community 
 members from across the Bay Area will gather to discuss the rise in racist 
 hate group activity in Berkeley, and how to effectively respond to it 
 through grassroots unity. This event is prompted by community concern 
 following several events and demonstrations organized by fascists in 
 Berkeley. In anticipation that white supremacist organizing will continue 
 if unchecked, the purpose of the panel is to develop shared principles, 
 goals and plans for organizing defense against hate and racism and building 
 solidarity across targeted communities.\n\nThe panel of speakers will 
 address histories of white supremacy and anti-racist organizing as well as 
 proactive strategies for broad-based community defense. Following the 
 panel, there will be time for attendees to organize into groups to talk 
 about building local Berkeley unity, prepare for defense and plan positive 
 events against all forms of hate.\n\nIt has been widely documented that 
 hate speech and racist, anti-Black, anti-immigrant, sexist, Islamophobic, 
 and anti-LGBTQ violence have been more prevalent across the country since 
 Trump began his presidential bid. Organizations are coming together to talk 
 about how communities are being targeted by groups organizing around the 
 hatred of people of color, women, Muslims, queer and transgender people, 
 and immigrants. They plan on developing community defense strategies 
 against increased racist violence before hatred gains any more ground in 
 Berkeley and the broader Bay Area.\n\n“The recent stabbing of three 
 people in Portland by a white supremacist who was spewing Islamophobic hate 
 and the murder of Nabra Hassanen in Virginia on the way back from her 
 mosque should make the stakes here very clear,” says says Lara Kiswani of 
 the Arab Resource and Organizing Center. “This isn’t about protecting 
 ‘free speech,’ it’s about protecting ourselves and each other from 
 escalating racist violence.  Hate speech is not free – it costs us our 
 sense of belonging in our own community and our sense of safety.  And it 
 can cost us our very lives.”\n\nOrganizers have also expressed concern 
 about the police using information gathered from right-wing extremists to 
 politically isolate and criminally prosecute anti-fascist activists. 
 Berkeley Police Department has arrested at least one local activist, 
 raiding a San Leandro and Oakland home with a warrant seeking proof of 
 political affiliations including books, posters, and web-browsing history. 
 At the activists arraignments, white supremacist and other fascist 
 activists have come to express violent racism and anti-semistism aimed at 
 Dan Siegel, the anti-fascist protesters defense lawyer, and Berkeley Mayor 
 Jesse Arreguin, among others.\n\n“I am deeply alarmed by the recent 
 collaboration between the Berkeley Police Department (BPD) and these 
 right-wing extremists.  Rather than criminalize people who are standing up 
 to fascism, we should be focusing on how to stop the spread of racist and 
 misogynist hate in our community. Berkeley owes a great debt to those who 
 defended us against fascism” says Sara Kershnar, twenty-five year 
 resident of Berkeley.\n\n“When the BPD brutalizes and arrests Black Lives 
 Matter Protestors, and then starts working with neo-Nazis to target 
 anti-fascists, it’s pretty clear whose side they’re on,” says Donna 
 Willmott, of the white anti-racist organization Catalyst Project, a forum 
 co-sponsor.  The Berkeley Police Department has been under fire in recent 
 weeks for their extreme use of force on demonstrators at a recent City 
 Council hearing on police militarization and for refusing to make public an 
 independent review on their use of racial profiling.\n\nThe panel and small 
 group discussions will be moderated by Woods Ervin of Critical Resistance 
 and Sara Kershnar of the National Lawyers Guild-SF.  \n\nPanelists will 
 include:\n\n·         Daniela, AFFIRM and Northern California Anti-Racist 
 Action\n·         Judith Mirkinson, Vice President of National Lawyer’s 
 Guild – SF Bay Area\n·         Lara Kiswani, Arab Resource and 
 Organizing Center\n·         Tur-Ha Ak, Anti-Police Terror 
 Project\n\nLocal organizations working to stop the spread of racist hate 
 speech and violence will be available for press interviews before the 
 forum. Several hundred people are expected to attend. This event is 
 intended to spark community strategies for resistance and may be followed 
 by other Berkeley events – including a march and block party celebrating 
 our unity, community defense and de-escalation trainings, and a unity 
 concert.\n https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2017/07/03/18800614.php
SUMMARY:United Against Hate - A forum on how to combat the increase in racist violence
LOCATION:North Berkeley Senior Center\n1901 Hearst Ave, Berkeley
URL:https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2017/07/03/18800614.php
DTSTART:20170709T223000Z
DTEND:20170710T013000Z
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