"People United"

Scroll down for:
- SONG Organizing School 8/20 - 23
- Updates on the campaign to stop the new immigrant detention center
- "The Problem of Punishment", the latest entry in Subjectively Speaking
- First Issue of the Virginia Defender available now
- Support the Employee Free Choice Act
- VA opens the door to uranium mining, OK's study

To receive our weekly announcements, updates and event information, send an e-mail to info@thepeopleunited.org with the word "subscribe" in the subject line.

Mountain-top Removal Activists Persevere Through Harassment, Assault and Arrests

by Sue Frankel-Streit

The stand-off at the one lane bridge in front of Massey Coal on June 23rd may have epitomized the stakes for both company and community in the ongoing struggle over mountain top removal. Years of deep passion and thick fear on both sides of the issue met in the street in front of the West Virginia coal company that afternoon.

The hot, summer day began with a tense rally at Marsh Fork Elementary school attended by about 250 local and out-of-towner protesters, and protested by as many Massy miners. The atmosphere was electric, with furious miners initially surrounding the anti-MTR musicians, yelling threats and insults. The small group of fiddlers countered with an upbeat tune, only to be drowned out when miners pulled the plug on the amplifier. A lone banjo player climbed onto a small flat-bed trailer, sat down on a 5-gallon bucket and played for all he was worth. Miners crowded around, insulting his music, blowing air canister horns, daring him to stop playing and respond. On and on he played, drawing the rally around him. . . Read More.

SONG Organizing School
August 20th - 23rd - Richmond, VA

Southerners On New Ground (SONG) in collaboration with Fabulous Local Transgender, Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Leaders all around VA Present:

The SONG Organizing School!!!
For folks from all over the state of Virginia

The SONG Organizing School is a 4-day training and political space (led by Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans folks!) for people committed to social justice work that is cross-issue, anti-oppression, and meets at the crossroads of race, class, culture, gender and sexuality, towards building the local work, unity and interconnection of people in Virginia. Details

Updated 6/21

The Sixth Annual Gathering
of The People United

Taking Root - Building Community, Sustaining Resistance
June 26th - 28th
Shannon Farm, Afton, VA

Each year organizers and activists from across Virginia and the surrounding region gather at the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains for a weekend of networking, socializing and renewal. We invite you to join us again this year.

Agenda
Important Logistical Information
Directions

After Mass Struggle Maximum Sentences Imposed in Taliaferro Murder

By Phil Wilayto

Thanks to a determined public campaign led by the victim's family, a partial victory has been won in the legal battle surrounding the murder of a popular high school student in Powhatan County, Va.

On June 4, after months of mass marches and rallies that have mobilized as many as 700 people in this rural county about 30 miles west of Richmond, Circuit Judge Thomas V. Warren imposed the maximum sentences possible for Tahliek's killers. Read the full story.

Background:
Statement by Taliaferro family and article by Phil Wilayto
Defenders coverage of an earlier Powhatan march
Article on this site after earlier Powhatan march
Related Entries in Subjectively Speaking:
The Problem of Punishment
The Power of Birth and Death

Subjectively Speaking

A regular column written by Sue Frankel-Streit, organizer with The People United, mother of three, independent journalist, builder and performer of radical puppet theater and member of The Little Flower Catholic Worker Farm in Louisa County.

The Problem of Punishment

It's been a long time since I've done any significant jail time, but some sounds remain permanently etched in my normally ephemeral memory. Like the disconnecting click of the telephone, which still calls to mind the empty feeling of sitting on the floor of a small day room, leaning against a cinder block wall, staring at the depressed faces of a dozen lethargic women, with the phone in my hand dead, having hung up of its own accord, my 15 minutes of phone time up, mid-sentence. Or hearing the metal clank of 12 cell doors automatically unlocking at seven am, and 24 sleepy women shuffling out in jail flip flops to stand, fully uniformed, for "count", before shuffling back to bed . . . Read More

Prior Entries

Support Worker's Rights in VA

Richmond Jobs with Justice is leading the struggle in Virginia to pass the Employee Free Choice Act which will strengthen the ability of workers to form unions and strengthen penalties against employers who violate the law in suppressing union activity. Find out more about this vital legislation including simple actions you can take to support it at JWJ's Free Choice Webpage

Virginia Opens the Door to Uranium Mining, OK's Study

A proposal to mine uranium in south-central Virginia advanced this week when a key state body approved a study of the matter. The targeted site is in Virginia's Pittsylvania County just north of the city of Danville and close to the border with North Carolina's Rockingham and Caswell counties. Read the full article in Facing South the online newsmagazine of The Institute for Southern Studies.

Southside residents are organizing opposition to these plans. Contact us to find out how you can get involved.

The Virginia Defender Available Now

The Richmond Defender has now become The Virginia Defender and covers struggles for justice across the sate. The first edition is now available in print and online. More Information

50-mile 'Walk for Disarmnament' to Visit 13 Virginia Military Installations

Anti-war activists in the Hampton Roads area are calling for a five-day, 50-mile walk for peace from June 22nd - 26th. For more information including the itinerary, read the article by Steve Baggarly. Contact the organizers Norfolk Catholic Worker (757) 423-5420 and Norfolk Offbase (757) 490-9797, to get involved.

Update 4/20

Stop the Farmville Detention Center

A campaign for immigrant and prison justice in Virginia.
Background Updates How You Can Help

Latest:

~ Hundreds Converge on Farmville - Protest New Detention Center Plans
~ New Video of Farmville Protest
~ Virginia Immigrant People's Coalition Takes on Farmville Detention Center:
This struggle will now be under the banner of the VIP Coalition. The website is under development. For now check here and Mexicanos sin Fronteras for updates.
~ ICE Halts Detentions at Piedmont
Thanks to the efforts of the individuals and organizations across the state, no more detainees are currently being sent to suffer under the horrendous conditions at Piedmont Regional Jail. This is an important victory and we need to keep up the pressure to stop the new center from opening. Read the story in The Washington Post
~ Media Updates:
Excellent article on Piedmont and Farmville in Good magazine.
NPR's All Things Considered feature story on the Farmville campaign.
The New York Times and The Washington Post report on the detainees exposing medical neglect in the death at Piedmont Regional Jail and our campaign against the new detention center. Also - Listen to an excellent piece by Virginia Public Radio. Go to our media page to see the other regional, national and international media attention this struggle has attracted.
~ There is no consensus:
The Farmville Herald changes its editorial position and one of our campaign goals is achieved.
~ Action Opportunities
Let Farmville Know the Detention Center is Hurting Their Image - Send Town Council an E-mail from the Farmville Parody Site.
Come to Farmville Wednesday, May 13th as we let the Town Council hear our voices during their meeting.
~ Local groups forming in cities around the state to stop the detention center. Contact us to find the one nearest to you.