The Resistance Center for Peace and Justice

07/24/2022

Join us for A Call for Peace: Remembering Hiroshima & Nagasaki on Sunday, August 7th as we commemorate the 77th anniversary of the tragic U.S. bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Share the flyer to spread the word. 💙

01/14/2022

MLK Day is Monday! The in-person African American Heritage Walking Tour in Florence has been canceled, but a virtual tour is available on YouTube:

https://davidrugglescenter.org/.../african-american.../

Register for the convocation and workshops below!

12:00 PM - 1:15 PM
Convocation:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_29KNAgJhS3uX_zYfBkbhvg

1:30 PM - 2:45 PM
A Virtual Conversation with MLK and Juanita and Wally Nelson (The Nelson Legacy Project) https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0lce-vqTgpHtepPIXZQQ2U4deeHfCFiGZS

Privilege and Intersectionality (Indivisible Pittsfield)
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIkcu2prTwpGdNO4F4FUBw4iNmKUjD_tpA1

Dreamland with Aaliyah: Social Justice & Stories
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIof-GgrDwjE92MsZ9-ig5x9ORkb4laeMX2

What Does it Look Like to Interrupt, Then and Now? (Students of Color Alliance, JFK Middle School)
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEpceuqrD0tGtejLZ27FluEsv_sxwRPE7_s

3:00 PM - 4:15 PM
Building Movements of Solidarity in a Time of Climate Emergency (Climate Action Now and Springfield Climate Justice Coalition) https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZErfu6urD4uGtDV3GlBOQTY81vckWcOVspG

National Healing and Transformation through Intersectional Organizing (Massachusetts Poor People's Campaign)
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0vd-qpqDwuGNDBHc1CVe9kXlaMvMbf5gpn

Indigenous Reparations in Practice (Western Mass Showing Up for Racial Justice)
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEpdOCrqDgoG9KeDCP9KS7q5C8X_U2jc6wM

Restorative Community Building for Justice (Racial Equity and Learning [REAL] in the Northampton Public Schools)
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUkcO-trDsqE9RRmQi65a5rxwfX2t9AtQrM

01/07/2022

Due to the current COVID-19 surge, our 38th MLK Day celebration will be fully virtual, including the walking tour in Florence. The link to register for the convocation over Zoom is attached to the event page and below, along with the workshop schedule as well as links to register for each workshop. Thank you all for understanding this last-minute change, and we hope to still see you (virtually) there!

Walking Tour of Florence:
https://davidrugglescenter.org/visit/african-american-heritage-trail/

12:00 PM - 1:15 PM
Convocation:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_29KNAgJhS3uX_zYfBkbhvg

1:30 PM - 2:45 PM
A Virtual Conversation with MLK and Juanita and Wally Nelson (The Nelson Legacy Project) https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0lce-vqTgpHtepPIXZQQ2U4deeHfCFiGZS

Privilege and Intersectionality (Indivisible Pittsfield)
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIkcu2prTwpGdNO4F4FUBw4iNmKUjD_tpA1

Dreamland with Aaliyah: Social Justice & Stories
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIof-GgrDwjE92MsZ9-ig5x9ORkb4laeMX2

What Does it Look Like to Interrupt, Then and Now? (Students of Color Alliance, JFK Middle School)
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEpceuqrD0tGtejLZ27FluEsv_sxwRPE7_s

3:00 PM - 4:15 PM
Building Movements of Solidarity in a Time of Climate Emergency (Climate Action Now and Springfield Climate Justice Coalition) https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZErfu6urD4uGtDV3GlBOQTY81vckWcOVspG

National Healing and Transformation through Intersectional Organizing (Massachusetts Poor People's Campaign)
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0vd-qpqDwuGNDBHc1CVe9kXlaMvMbf5gpn

Indigenous Reparations in Practice (Western Mass Showing Up for Racial Justice)
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEpdOCrqDgoG9KeDCP9KS7q5C8X_U2jc6wM

Restorative Community Building for Justice (Racial Equity and Learning [REAL] in the Northampton Public Schools)
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUkcO-trDsqE9RRmQi65a5rxwfX2t9AtQrM

Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebration - Convocation. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webinar.

01/06/2022

MLK Day 2022 announcement! We're excited to be virtually hosting eight community workshops. Workshops will begin at 1:30 pm. The full schedule will be announced soon. We hope to see you there!

12/01/2021

In memory of Dr. Marty Nathan

“Yehi zichra mahapecha”: May her memory be a revolution. These Hebrew words were the first thing that came to me on hearing about the loss of Marty Nathan, a person who spent such a long time being so steadfastly, defiantly revolutionary. One of my strongest beliefs is that we should listen most carefully to anyone who has spent a long time being consistently on the right side of history. This is exactly where Marty was for about a half century of activism: from health care access to racial justice and addressing the climate crisis she was a shining example of living and acting out the values she had. Just this year she was such a worthy Frances Crowe Award recipient. Frances founded what has become The Resistance Center and set the legacy we continue working to fulfill. At TRC we are deeply grateful for all the ways Marty supported our campaigns for peace, demilitarization, youth advocacy, and migrant justice.

Marty had some real privileges in life. She could’ve chosen just to be happy with those. Instead she chose to share what she had through working with groups from La Cliniquita to her more recent climate justice work and tireless anti-pipeline organizing. Her activism came at a terrible cost, especially when she lost her husband and was a victim herself of white supremacist terror in the 1979 Greensboro Massacre. Then and so many times since, she could’ve given up but instead only seemed to come back stronger and fiercer.

As a species we are under serious threats, all of our own making. If we respond to the escalating climate crises we continue to cause with our same old tools of racist and white supremacist violence, xenophobia, nationalism, increasing authoritarianism, and war with weapons of mass destruction then humans may not survive the next century. If we do come together to save ourselves and the planet, it will be because we have the courage to act on the legacy of brave activists like Marty Nathan. May her memory and example inspire all of us to be a part of her revolution!

-Avery J on behalf of The Resistance Center for Peace and Justice

11/09/2021

Dear Friends of The Resistance Center,

We would like to thank you for your support of The Resistance Center for Peace and Justice. As you know, times have been difficult. Our all-volunteer Board of Directors and Committee Members have been working hard to sustain the mission of the organization but the status quo is not sustainable. We are once again at a crossroads where we have to make a difficult decision about the future of the organization.

We have experienced challenges in recruiting staff members, attrition in the Board of Directors and difficulty retaining volunteers. In addition, Gladys Franco will be stepping down from her role as Chair of the Board of Directors at the end of the year. We invite all friends and supporters of TRC to our Advisory Board meeting on Tuesday, November 16, 2021 at 6:00 p.m., via Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89323022053 to share your guidance with us on how to move forward. We are considering the pros and cons of the following options and will make a final decision by the end of November:

Sunsetting - Dissolve the organization and give up our 501c3 non-profit status in January 2022 after our Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Celebration. We would tie off the loose ends to our work and distribute funds raised and equipment to other community organizations in line with our mission.

Merge - Entrust our active campaigns to another community organization in line with our mission to continue our anti-militarism work in Western Massachusetts.

Restructuring - Refocus our mission and restructure our governing system in order to maintain the integrity of our programmatic work, our 501c3 non-profit status, and move forward with our mission. This option is not viable without significant recruitment of new leadership at all levels, including a new Chair of the Board.

Your continued support is more important than ever during this transition. Everyone is invited to submit written feedback via this Google Form: (https://forms.gle/pUrLz4Zcs9WGcoK1A). We especially request your written feedback if you’re unable to make the meeting on November 16th. We look forward to hearing your advice and discussing the future of The Resistance Center for Peace and Justice with you.

Please help us work out next steps for TRC, our campaigns, and the future of peace work in Western Mass.!

11/09/2021

Dear Friends of The Resistance Center,

We would like to thank you for your support of The Resistance Center for Peace and Justice. As you know, times have been difficult. Our all-volunteer Board of Directors and Committee Members have been working hard to sustain the mission of the organization but the status quo is not sustainable. We are once again at a crossroads where we have to make a difficult decision about the future of the organization.

We have experienced challenges in recruiting staff members, attrition in the Board of Directors and difficulty retaining volunteers. In addition, Gladys Franco will be stepping down from her role as Chair of the Board of Directors at the end of the year. We invite all friends and supporters of TRC to our Advisory Board meeting on Tuesday, November 16, 2021 at 6:00 p.m., via Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89323022053 to share your guidance with us on how to move forward. We are considering the pros and cons of the following options and will make a final decision by the end of November:

Sunsetting - Dissolve the organization and give up our 501c3 non-profit status in January 2022 after our Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Celebration. We would tie off the loose ends to our work and distribute funds raised and equipment to other community organizations in line with our mission.

Merge - Entrust our active campaigns to another community organization in line with our mission to continue our anti-militarism work in Western Massachusetts.

Restructuring - Refocus our mission and restructure our governing system in order to maintain the integrity of our programmatic work, our 501c3 non-profit status, and move forward with our mission. This option is not viable without significant recruitment of new leadership at all levels, including a new Chair of the Board.

Your continued support is more important than ever during this transition. Everyone is invited to submit written feedback via this Google Form: (https://forms.gle/pUrLz4Zcs9WGcoK1A). We especially request your written feedback if you’re unable to make the meeting on November 16th. We look forward to hearing your advice and discussing the future of The Resistance Center for Peace and Justice with you.

10/02/2021

Not going down quietly!

10/02/2021

10/02/2021

Yesterday, dozens of us stood outside L3Harris in Northampton for Shut Down Creech! No Drone Warfare! in solidarity with anti-killer drone protestors at Creech Air Force Base and to honor all those killed by US drone warfare. We must reject every part of the war machine.

Thank you Northampton Open Media for capturing the rally. Check it out on YouTube here.
https://youtu.be/e1JmXY9l7r8

Rally outside of weapons contractor L3Harris on Friday, October 1st at 3:30PM! Together, we will be in solidarity with anti-killer drone protestors at Creech...