Interfaith Council for Peace & Justice

Saturday, October 22nd
Doors Open at 7pm; Concert at 7:30

Church of the Good Shepherd
2145 Independence Boulevard, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104

Registeration Requested: https://2022-charlie-king-annie-patterson-ICPJ-benefit-concert.eventbrite.com

Charlie King is a musical storyteller and political satirist who sings and writes passionately about the extraordinary lives of ordinary people, in the tradition of Woody Guthrie, Malvina Reynolds, and Pete Seeger (see charlieking.org).  Charlie has performed in Ann Arbor since 1979 and won the Phil Ochs Award for music and activism in 2017. Pete Seeger called Charlie “one of the finest singers and songwriters of our time.

Annie Patterson is the co-creator of the popular songbooks “Rise Up Singing” and “Rise Again.” She is a master song interpreter and accompanies herself on guitar and banjo.

Concert proceeds benefit the Interfaith Council for Peace & Justice. Founded in 1965, ICPJ centers racial and economic justice as we address the root causes of violence from oppression, poverty, environmental devastation, patriarchy, and war. We wage love and practice nonviolence in all its forms through education, community organizing, advocacy, and direct action. We unite across our differences and empower leadership in people to create the change we need for a more peaceful and just world.

Masks are required for in-person attendees, and online streaming is also available.

The gathering is free to attend, although donations are always welcome. Please register at the link here so that we can plan accordingly. Also, sign up to bring a potluck dish for the community meal or to volunteer for logistics for the community gathering.

This is an in-person event as we do our best to gather safely together. Please wear masks and respect others’ space. (We will have extra masks and hand sanitizer.)

Connect & Act (1-5pm) is an opportunity for the community to come together in order to learn, share, and act for justice and collective power. This year it will be run as an “unconference” (though with less technology than the article describes). This means that the sessions are determined by who is in the space and the conversations that happen allow everyone to bring in their expertise.

We’ve had some members already provide topics that they would like to share with others. These include:

• Improved Medicare for All
• Immigration Justice Issues & Driver’s Licenses for All
• People’s Budget for Dignity & Justice
• Organizing for Sustainability & Solar Power
• Organizing for Environmental Justice
• Sustainable Food, Farm Production, & Supply System
• And more to be offered day-of!

What do you want to share?!? What conversations would you like to launch or expand?

The Annual Meeting (5:30-7pm) will be an opportunity to gather around good food with the ICPJ members and network. We will share an update and vote on ICPJ business.

You can register to bring a potluck dish for the Annual Meeting and someone will be in touch with you for more information.

In an effort to contribute to the goal of a criminal legal system that ensures equal justice for all participants, Citizens for Racial Equity in Washtenaw (CREW) was formed to gather public data on the charging and sentencing of individuals in Washtenaw County and to assess whether the data reflected any racial disparities and the impact of any disparity on members of our community.

ICPJ,WeROC and the Faith Leaders Forum are hosting a virtual community forum as a follow-up to the CREW report. What happened since it was released, what the response has been, and what still needs to be done will be discussed.

What you can do:

1. Register in advance for this community meeting at the link here.
2. Read the CREW Report on Racial Disparities in the Washtenaw County Criminal Legal System at the link here. 
3. Read about the Judicial Tenure Commission (JTC) complaint The Detroit Free Press published an op-ed submitted by ICPJ’s Eleanore Ablan-Owen and AFSC’s Natalie Holbrook about the lack of response from the JTC regarding their complaint about Judge Archie Brown based on the data from the CREW report at the link here.
4. Visit the Washtenaw Equity Partnership (WEP) website

Register for the (online) event here:  https://www.eventbrite.com/e/228024355987.  There is no cost for these events, but your donations to ICPJ help us to be able to continue this work of educating and mobilizing in our communities. 

Danielle, a member of The New Yorker‘s editorial staff, based in New York, lived mostly in El Salvador from 2008 until 2021 and was a freelance investigative, longform reporter. Her work has appeared online in The New Yorker, The New Republic and The Atlantic, among others. She still writes and speaks as an independent journalist.

Her ongoing projects include a series of investigations into narco-activity and corruption in Honduras, with Contracorriente, supported by the Fund for Investigative Journalism, Columbia University’s Center for Mexico and Central America, and the Centro Latinoamericano de Investigación Periodística. Another project involves policing, gangs, and non-carceral and tertiary responses to violence in Central America and in U.S. foreign policy. She has conducted years of reporting on this, funded by grants from various journalism foundations. Danielle has worked as an adjunct professor in the journalism department at CUNY Lehman College and on the research team at The Intercept, among other media posts. Before journalism, she was an NGO-worker and horse trainer. She is an alum of the NYU M.A. in Global Journalism and Latin American Studies.

This event is hosted by The Interfaith Council for Peace & Justice Latin America Caucus, the University of Michigan Latin American & Caribbean Studies, Wayne State University Center for Latino/a & Latin American Studies, and Huron Valley DSA

ICPJ is excited to be participating in this week of environmental action, you can learn more about the challenge and sign up here: https://livezerowaste.org/resident-race-to-zero-waste/