dancewater: Upcoming events for the week of June 25, 2017

UPCOMING EVENTS CALENDAR BY DANCEWATER

06/26/17 HEATH CARE COMMUNITY CONVERSATION IN MARION

You are invited to a Health Care Community Conversation on the Benefits of Health Coverage. What: Health Care and Your Community Supper. Where: McDowell Senior Center, 100 Spaulding Road, Marion 28752. When: Monday, June 26, 5:30-6:30 p.m. The discussion will address: The Affordable Care Act, North Carolina’s Medicaid Program, including Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Ways to Become a Health Care Advocate. Please join staff from the NC Justice Center for this important discussion. Reserve your seat today. Email Nicole Dozier, NC Justice Center at Nicole@ncjustice.org or leave a message: 919-856-2146. Please include the names in your party so we may be prepared with the proper amount of meeting materials.

06/26/17 RALLY FOR HEALTHCARE IN ASHEVILLE

Monday 26 June 2017. 5:00PM-6:00PM. Join a nonpartisan rally speaking out against the recent congressional health care bill. This event will host the following speakers who will discuss the effects of the legislation: Jaclyn Kiger, Pisgah Legal, Alia Tood, ASRW, John Wingerter, Council on Aging, Jasmine Beach-Ferrara, Campaign for Southern Equality and music from David LaMotte. No contact information.

06/27/17 HEALTHCARE FOR ALL

Healthcare For All: A Workable Solution. June 27 @ 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm. Join us for Asheville’s first educational symposium on Single Payer Healthcare. Leaders of Physicians for a National Health Program will present details on a just, cost-effective solution to our healthcare crisis. Dr. Carol Paris, the current chair of Physicians for a National Health Program, and Dr. Jessica Schorr Saxe, the chair of Healthcare Justice NC are the featured speakers. Regional Western North Carolina healthcare providers/patients Dr. Eric Halvorson, Dr. Ellen Kaczmarek, Beth Gage, Dr. Errington Thompson and Dr. Christina McQuiston will share compelling perspectives on their experiences with our current healthcare system. The symposium will be moderated by Joe Sam Queen, former state legislator from Waynesville. Limited seating. Doors open at 6:30. Organized by IndivisibleAVL Healthcare Team. Email: healthcare@indivisibleavl.org.

06/27/17 PISGAH LEGAL SERVICES LUNCH SESSION

Learn about how the political climate affects people in poverty in WNC. Join us on Tuesday, June 27 at 11:30am for a lunch session focused on how policy-making in the current political climate affects our neighbors living in poverty here in Western North Carolina. During this lunch, PLS attorneys will explore challenges faced by low-income individuals and their families and will talk briefly about what PLS is doing to help. Lunch is provided. Please RSVP to Brent McKnight at brent@pisgahlegal.org or 828-210-3405.

06/27/17 ASURJ DO!SCUSSION

Every Tuesday since December 2016. The Do!scussion is a safe space in which to talk about what we see that encourages us to continue to create multi-racial coalitions in Asheville. It is also a space in which we talk about what we are struggling with. Hard for you to get out of bed and get to work on dismantling the white supremacy? Come on over, and we'll talk about it. Then, we'll get to Do!ing! The six organizing principles of SURJ are: 1) Accountability through Action, 2) Mutual Interest, 3) Take Risks and Keep Going, 4) Calling in More, 5) Enough for Everyone, and 6) Growth is Good. Time is 10 AM and location is Firestorm Coffee & Books at 610 Haywood Road in west Asheville. Contact Firestorm at info@firestorm.coop for more information.

06/28/17 VETERANS FOR PEACE VIGIL - BECAUSE THE WARS STILL GO ON

Every Tuesday, Veterans for Peace Chapter 099 holds a vigil at Vance Monument in downtown Asheville. Time is 5 PM. This has been happening since 2002. No matter the weather, no matter if it falls on a holiday, they are out there standing for peace. Last year, our former president dropped 26,000 bombs on seven different countries. The current president seems to be trying to match or beat that horrible record. Meanwhile we are banning refugees from those countries we have destroyed. Show you are publicly against our country's endless wars and occupations by standing with Veterans for Peace.

06/28/17 BRIDGE THE GAP

Join host Madelyn Anderson for a book club for those interested in exploring perspectives of people with different life experiences or world views, particularly those marginalized in the USA. We’ll read about the intersection of race, gender, political affiliation, and sexual identification/orientation, as well as discuss ways to take collective action. Meets the last Wednesday of every month. This month’s pick is “Tell Me How It Ends: An Essay in 40 Questions” by Valeria Luiselli. Time is 7 PM. Contact Malaprops for more information.

06/28/17 ASURJ RAPID RESPONSE TRAINING

ASURJ (Asheville Showing Up for Racial Justice) will be leading a discussion on the basic dos and don'ts of showing up to protests and actions when we show up as an act of allyship. Among the discussion points are: How to center the voices of those most impacted, how to intervene if another "ally" is crossing the line, etc. Time is 6 PM and location is Firestorm Coffee & Books at 610 Haywood Road in west Asheville. Contact Firestorm at info@firestorm.coop for more information.

06/30/17 SILENT VIGIL FOR IMMIGRATION REFORM

Time is 5 to 7 PM and location is Henderson County Courthouse on Main Street (between 1st and 2nd Street) in downtown Hendersonville. This is put on by a coalition of non-profits and churches.

07/02/17 POLITICAL PRISONER LETTER WRITING NIGHT

Every first Sunday since February 2017. Each month on 1st Sundays, join members of Blue Ridge Anarchist Black Cross for an evening of solidarity with long term political prisoners: people who have been incarcerated due to their activism and resistance to systems of domination and oppression. We come together each month to celebrate their birthdays by sending words of encouragement and support. We let them know that they--and their sacrifices for our movements--are never far from our minds and hearts. Time is 5 PM and location is Firestorm Coffee & Books at 610 Haywood Road in west Asheville. Contact Firestorm at info@firestorm.coop for more information.

07/04/17 MASS CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE AT LAKE JULIAN

Mass Civil Disobedience: Independence From Fossil Fuels & Corporate Rule! July 4, 406 Overlook Rd Ext, Arden. Come stand, paddle, swim and sit with us is a peaceful non-violent action to let Duke and the world know what we’ve had enough. This came from Frack-Free NC website. This July 4th our community will declare Independence from Fossil Fuels by demanding 100% renewable energy for Asheville and BuncombeCounty and by engaging in a non-violent canoe and kayak action on Lake Julian. A group of citizens and nonprofits have come together to take a stand and fight for our right to a livable planet for our children and grandchildren. A key to this is 100% renewable energy and the right to choose how our electricity is generated. Duke on the other hand is planning to "modernize" with about $25 billion in antiquated nineteenth century fracked gas fuels. On July 4th we claim independence from fossil fuels and corporate rule. We can no longer sit idle as corporations destroy our liberty, our community, and our right to existence in the name of greed and profit. Bring a boat or use one of ours. come even if you do not want to go in a boat on the Lake, by supporting those who can take action, or by simply enjoying the food, the music and the great company. Noon to 3 pm - Food and Live Music, 3pm Speakers, 4pm Launch boats onto the lake; action

07/04/17 VETERANS FOR PEACE VIGIL - BECAUSE THE WARS STILL GO ON

07/04/17 CURRENT EVENTS BOOK CLUB

Join host Bruce Roth for a lively discussion on topics of current interest including war and peace, the economy, the environment, and other hot political topics. This month’s book is “Citizen Scientist: Searching for Heroes and Hope in an Age of Extinction” by Mary Ellen Hannibal. Time is 7 PM and location is Malaprops. Contact Malaprops for more information.

07/04/17 ASURJ DO!SCUSSION

07/05/17 CITIZENS-POLICE ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING

This meeting is organized by the City of Asheville. This meeting is free and open to the public. They meet in the first floor Conference Room at the Public Works Building at 161 South Charlotte Street in downtown Asheville. Time is 5 PM. Call 251-1122 for more information.

07/09/17

Please join our Western North Carolina chapter on Sunday, July 9, for the chapter’s annual meeting and “Celebration of Liberty” in Asheville. Our dedicated volunteer chapter will be honoring Asheville’s Women’s March with its 2017 Evan Mahaney Champion of Liberty Award and will vote to elect new board members. Karen Anderson, Executive Director of ACLU of North Carolina will be there to talk about opportunities and challenges ahead as we work to protect and advance civil liberties for all in North Carolina. The event is free and open to the public. Dessert will be provided. Cash bar for all beverages. When: 3 p.m., Sunday, July 9, 2017. Where: The Altamont Theatre, 18 Church St, Asheville 28801. Contact: Mike Meno, ACLU of North Carolina, 919-348-9623 or mmeno@acluofnc.org.

07/11/17 VETERANS FOR PEACE VIGIL - BECAUSE THE WARS STILL GO ON

07/11/17 ASURJ DO!SCUSSION

07/13/17 DOCUMENTARY FILM IN ASHEVILLE

July 13th movie “FIX IT” — Health Care At The Tipping Point. Location is the Pack Memorial Library, Lord Auditorium in downtown Asheville. 6:00 PM doors open, 6:15 – 7:15 movie, followed by Q & A. Free. Email: healthcare@indivisibleavl.org.

07/18/17 VETERANS FOR PEACE VIGIL - BECAUSE THE WARS STILL GO ON

07/18/17 ASURJ DO!SCUSSION

07/19/17 GREEN DRINKS

This is a Sustainability and Social Justice Meet-up. Come early for community connections and green drink specials. This happens on the third Wednesday of each month. Socializing from 5:30 – 6PM and presentation from 6 – 7PM. Location is The Block Off Biltmore at 39 South Market Street at Asheville. Call 828-254-9277 for more information.

07/21/17 WNC PHYSICIANS FOR SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY MEETING

Physicians, health personnel and everyone; all are welcomed at our monthly meetings held on the third Friday of each month. Bring a brown bag lunch around noon. This will be held at The First Congregational United Church of Christ, Room E205, at 20 Oak Street (just off College St. in downtown Asheville). Time is noon to 2 PM. Meeting starts at 12:30. Parking is available behind the church. Enter the church or ring doorbell at the glass doors on Oak Street. For more information contact Dr. Terry Clark, Chair, 633-0892 or Dr. Lew Patrie, 299-1242.

07/25/17 VETERANS FOR PEACE VIGIL - BECAUSE THE WARS STILL GO ON

07/25/17 ASURJ DO!SCUSSION

07/28/17 SILENT VIGIL FOR IMMIGRATION REFORM

Time is 5 to 7 PM and location is Henderson County Courthouse on Main Street (between 1st and 2nd Street) in downtown Hendersonville. This is put on by a coalition of non-profits and churches.

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ONGOING EVENTS

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TUESDAY

Veterans for Peace have a weekly vigil at 5 PM at Pack Square, Vance Monument during most of the year, but after standard time kicks in, they meet at 4:30 PM.

Showing Up for Racial Justice Do!scussion at Firestorm Coffee & Books at 610 Haywood Road in west Asheville. 10 AM. Educating and organizing white people for racial justice.

Rally at historic Courthouse in Hendersonville at 5 PM on the first Tuesday of the month. Organized by the Progressive Organized Women.

WEDNESDAY

Haywood Peace Vigilers have a weekly vigil at 4 PM at Haywood County Courthouse in Waynesville

French Broad Riverkeeper has a paddle-n-plant to prevent sediment erosion most Wednesdays and Saturdays. Registration required at anna@mountaintrue.org.

Green Drinks meets at 7 PM at The Block Off Biltmore on the third Wednesday of the month.

Sierra Club meets at 7 PM at Unitarian Universalist in Asheville on the first Wednesday of the month.

THURSDAY

Political Prisoners Letter Writing at Firestorm Coffee & Books at 6 PM on fourth Thursday of the month. Materials provided.

Welcome Home Tour by Homeward Bound on the third Thursday of the month at 11 AM. Call 258-1695 for more information.

Asheville Prison Books Program is held at Downtown Books & News from 4 to 7 PM.

FRIDAY

Women in Black have a weekly vigil at noon at the City Hall in Hendersonville.

Standing Up For Racial Justice event is held at 10 AM at 23 Edwin Street, next to the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Asheville. Educating and organizing white people for racial justice.

SATURDAY

French Broad Riverkeeper has a paddle-n-plant to prevent sediment erosion most Wednesdays and Saturdays. Registration required at anna@mountaintrue.org.

Mountain True holds urban forest workdays on the second Saturday of the month at Richmond Hill Park from 9 AM to 1 PM. Call 258-8737 for more information.

Citizen’s Climate Lobby meeting at 12:30 PM at Kairos West Community Center on second Saturday of the month.

Food Not Bombs serves free vegan/vegetarian food every Saturday at noon at Pritchard Park.

Dances of Universal Peace on the third Saturdays at 7:30 at 1 School Road in Asheville.

SUNDAY

Asheville National Organization for Women meeting at 2:30 PM at YWCA of Asheville on second Sunday of the month.

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ACTIONS AND READINGS

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U.S. Forest Service to Hold Open Houses on Forest Plan Revision

ASHEVILLE, N.C., June 6, 2017 - The U.S. Forest Service will hold open houses across the Nantahala and Pisgah National Forests from late June to early August to provide the public with opportunities to talk with Forest Service staff about local issues, district projects, and the Nantahala and Pisgah Forest Plan revision.

"Public attendance at meetings like these helps us to understand your needs, concerns, and values and helps you understand Forest Service programs and activities," explains Allen Nicholas, Forest Supervisor for National Forests in North Carolina.

The open houses allow the public to talk directly with Forest Service staff one-on-one. Each District Open House will highlight the areas within that district. District rangers and members of the Forest Plan revision team will be available to discuss the materials on each of the following days and locations:

June 29, 6-8 p.m.: Grandfather Ranger District at Foothills Conference Center, 2128 S. Sterling St., Morganton

July 11, 6-8 p.m.: Nantahala Ranger District at Tartan Hall, 26 Church St., Franklin

July 13, 6-8 p.m.: Pisgah Ranger District Office, 1600 Pisgah Hwy, Brevard

July 25, 3-6 p.m.: Appalachian Ranger District at Appalachian District Office, 632 Manor Road, Mars Hill

July 25, 3-6 p.m.: Cheoah Ranger District at Cheoah District Office, 1070 Massey Branch Road, Robbinsville

August 8, 3-6 p.m., Tusquitee Ranger District, Brasstown Community Center, 255 Settawig Rd, Brasstown

The Nantahala and Pisgah National Forests have been revising their Forest Plan, a required document that provides a general framework to guide management of the Forests. As part of the process, 30 public meetings have been held in communities throughout western North Carolina.

Over the past year, the Forest Service has been releasing pre-draft plan materials on the National Forests in North Carolina website - www.fs.usda.gov/goto/nfsnc/ncprevision. Additional materials are posted to the site's Plan Revision Under Construction page as they become available.

"This material is not a preferred alternative or even a draft plan. It represents our latest thinking which has been shaped by public input," said Michelle Aldridge, planning team lead. "In particular, we heard a lot from the public about how places matter to them, so we created a new chapter on Geographic Areas to reflect that."

By separating the Forests into 12 distinct landscapes, Geographic Areas highlight opportunities for restoration and sustainable recreation; connections to nearby communities; and partnerships with the public, other organizations, and governments in different parts of the Forests. Each geographic area also has goals identified that will serve as emphases for management during plan implementation.

Management Area plan components outline how the general forest areas of Interface, Matrix, and Backcountry will be managed. A set of pre-draft maps shows these places on the forest landscape, and adjacent lands not managed by the U.S. Forest Service are included for context. Results from the required Wild and Scenic River Evaluation and information on possible Special Interest Areas are also currently posted on the website.

By fall 2017, the public will have had an opportunity for early review and input on nearly all aspects of the developing plan. When the Forest Plan draft is finalized, the public will again have an opportunity to review the plan during the formal comment period after the complete draft plan and alternative analyses are released in spring 2018.

While there is no formal NEPA or legal comment period at this time, the Forest Service is accepting input at NCplanrevision@fs.fed.us with the subject line "Spring 2017 material Plan Building Blocks" or by mail at this address: Attn: Plan Revision, National Forests in North Carolina, 160A Zillicoa St, Asheville, NC 28801. Comments will be most useful when received by August 31.

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Nobody Wants Trump in Office More Than Democrats

By David Swanson

http://davidswanson.org/nobody-wants-trump-in-office-more-than-democrats/

Ordinary people who identify themselves as Democrats have a variety of mostly noble intentions and desires. Elected Democrats in Washington, D.C., are another matter entirely. When voters gave them majorities in Congress in 2006, telling exit pollsters that the top reason was to end the war on Iraq, Rahm Emanuel openly told the Washington Post they planned to keep the war going in order to run “against it” again in 2008. And they did. And it worked. And it was all open and transparent, but nobody really cared. Refusing to end the war or impeach Bush was ranked as “less evil” than being Bush.

If Democratic politicians had some desire to accomplish something (ending wars, saving the earth’s climate, closing prisons, whatever) they would work to create a culture in Washington in which those who abuse power are held accountable, subpoenaed, held in contempt, impeached, removed, unelected. Because their only goals seem to be staying in office, pleasing funders, getting on TV, etc., they are the top supporters of keeping Donald Trump in office through 2018, after which they will tell us that it would really be best to keep him around and run “against” him again in 2020. Republicans, in contrast, are generally turned off by such prospects.

The Democrats’ cynical calculation is the source of a great deal of the “Pence would be worse” malarkey we hear. In reality it doesn’t matter who comes next in comparison to whether who comes next can be held to the rule of law. But you won’t convince an elected Democrat of that. Instead you have to convince them that we will make their lives a living hell unless they impeach Trump, and that impeaching Trump will win them support.

If Democrats cared about either doing their job or removing Trump from office, they would be going after Trump right now for illegally shooting down a Syrian plane, illegally drone bombing numerous nations, conducting numerous illegal wars, illegal prejudicial bans on immigrants, illegal willful destruction of the earth’s climate, unconstitutional domestic and foreign profiteering from his public office, and a whole laundry list of crimes from sexual assault to voter intimidation.

The Russia obsession has, I think, three clear motivations:

1) It shifts blame from a broken U.S. election system, a lousy Democratic candidate, and the DNC’s rigging of its own primary to a foreign entity.

2) It sells a lot of weapons.

3) It keeps Trump in office.

Is that third one the hardest to understand? Think about it this way: If you wanted to “investigate” one of the other charges I list above, the investigation would be instantly over. The evidence is public and beyond dispute. But if you hold “investigations” of vague Russian something-or-other, you can go for months or years with the top news story being whose lawyer hired their own lawyer and other tangential cow pies, keeping “Trump did some evil treasonous thing” in the news for every crazed gun-owner and potential voter to hear over and over again, without actually removing Trump from office.

Of course, I’d love to be proved wrong. That would require action by members of Congress.

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The Body Count Rises In The U.S. War Against Black People

By Ajamu Baraka, www.counterpunch.org

Before we can even process the acquittal of the murders of Philado Castile, we hear about another murder of a black person by the police occupation forces. This time the victim, Charleena Lyles, is a black woman who was also five months pregnant.

Again, there is anger, confusion and calls for justice from the black community of Seattle, where the latest killing took place. Many might remember that it was in Seattle where two members of the local black community attempted to call out the racist and hypocritical liberal white community during a visit by Bernie Sanders. The black activists were subsequently shouted down by a majority of Bernie’s supporters. One of the issues that the activists wanted to raise was the repressive, heavy-handed tactics of the Seattle Police Department.

Some have argued that this rash of killings of black people caught on video or reported by dozens of witnesses is nothing new, that the images of police chocking, shooting and beating poor black and working-class people is now more visible because of technological innovations that make it easier to capture these images. They are partially right.

As an internal colony in what some refer to as a prison house of nations that characterizes the U.S. nation state, black communities are separated into enclaves of economic exploitation and social degradation by visible and often invisible social and economic processes. The police have played the role not of protectors of the unrealized human rights of black people but as occupation forces. In those occupied zones of repression, everyone knows that the police operate from a different script than the ones presented in the cop shows that permeate popular entertainment culture in the U.S. In those shows, the police are presented as heroic forces battling the

forces of evil, which sometimes causes them to see the law and the rights of individuals as impediments. For many viewers, brutality and other practices is forgiven and even supported because the police are supposedly dealing with the evil irrational forces that lurk in the bowels of the barrios and ghettos in the imagination of the public.

It was perfectly plausible for far too many white people in the U.S. that a wounded Mike Brown, already shot and running away from Darren Wilson, the cop who eventually murdered Michael, would then turn around and run back at Wilson, who claimed he had no other choice but to engulf Michael in a hail of bullets killing this “demon” as Wilson described him. And unfortunately, many whites will find a way to understand how Charleena, who called the police herself to report a burglary, would then find herself dead at the hands of the police she called.

But the psychopathology of white supremacy is not the focus here. We have commented on that issue on numerous occasions. The concern is with some black people who have not grasped the new conditions that we find ourselves in—that black people don’t understand that there will never be justice as defined by the cessation of these kinds of killings. Why? Because incarceration, police killings, beatings, charging our children as adults and locking them away for decades, all of these are inherent in the logic of repression that has always characterized the relationship between the U.S. racist settler-state and black people.

In other words, if Black people really want this to stop we have to come to the difficult conclusion, for some, that the settler-colonial, capitalist, white supremacist state and society is the enemy of black people and most oppressed people in the world. Difficult for many because it means that Black people can no longer deny the fact that we are not equal members of this society, that we are seen as the enemy and that our lives, concerns, perspectives, history and desires for the future are of no concern to the rulers of this state and for vast numbers of ordinary whites.

That is why Charleena Lyles joins Mike Brown, Sandra Bland, Tamir Rice, John Crawford and Philando Castile, just a few of the names of our people victimized in the prime of their lives by the protectors of white power wearing police uniforms.

She will not be the last.

The logic of neoliberal capitalism has transformed our communities and peoples into a sector of the U.S. population that is no longer needed. This new reality buttressed by white supremacist ideology that is unable to see the equal value of non-European (white) life has created a precarious situation for black people, more precarious, than any other period in U.S. history.

African (Black) people are a peaceful people and believe in justice. But there can be no peace without justice. For as long as our people are under attack, as long as our fundamental collective human rights are not recognized, as long as we don’t have the ability to determine our own collective fate, we will resist, we will fight, and we will create the conditions to make sure that the war being waged against us will not continue to be a one- sided conflict.

The essence of the People(s)-Centered Human Rights framework is that the oppressed have a right to right to resist, the right to self-determination, and the right to use whatever means necessary to protect and realize their fundamental rights.

Charleena, we will say your name and the names of all who have fallen as we deliver the final death-blow against this organized barbarism known as the U.S.

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dancewater

Sunday, June 25, 2017

Upcoming events for the week of June 25, 2017

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