Reclaim the Dream March could have been better.

I can say that probably more than 10,000 people took part in “Reclaim the Dream” March. It started at Dumbar High School culminating at the Washington Mall. The march did not have radical speakers or left leaning or calls for actions but rather it was more of a loud sermon since many of the speakers were reverends with their Jesus loves you speeches and God Bless America. It was more of a religious, Christian, and nationalist March with some complaints about the social and economic plight of African Americans. Other speakers included government officials, union leaders and Democratic Party elected officials and two token Latino speakers

From the Human Rights Coalition: Muslim men at SCI Coal Township under fire for observing Ramadan, Prisoners refused food, called 'cave monkeys' & 'terrorists' by racist guards.

Photo from Imam Jamil Al-Amin on Liberating the Soul

Past Coverage by HRC: Former Prisoners Testify at Hearing on Solitary Confinement... | Related: Black August Commemorative Educational Call: Political Prisoners, Prisoners of War in the United States and the legacy of repression and resistance

AZ Snowbowl plans to destroy the northern Arizona environment & deserate sacred sites

On August 30th the Flagstaff City Council will decide whether to allow its original contract to be amended so Arizona Snowbowl (a privately owned business) could use city potable water for snow making on the San Francisco Peaks instead of treated sewage effluent (direct reclaimed water). Because using reclaimed sewage water is proving legally difficult, Snowbowl is looking for an 11 million dollar Federal subsidy to use more expensive and precious potable water.

On Thursday, April 19th, a crowd of around 60 made up of McCarley Gardens Tenants and their supporters gathered across the street from St. John Baptist Church on the McCarley Gardens property to voice their opposition to the sale of their homes. The rally was called by the McCarley Gardens Tenants Association along with Buffalo Tenants United, and was the first mobilization in a campaign to defend McCarley Gardens.

Participants of the rally were asked to sign petition cards to Housing and Urban Development (HUD), asking HUD to keep to their restructuring agreement with the owners of the property, St. John Baptist Church. This agreement calls for the land where McCarley Gardens sits today to remain affordable housing until 2035.

Rev. Chapman has stated his interest in selling the land to the University at Buffalo for their medical corridor, a plan that Chapman believes will help to revitalize the Fruit Belt neighborhood. The McCarley Gardens Tenants Association however, cites concerns of gentrification, and of course, the mass eviction (or possibly relocation) of the McCarley Gardens community. read more

by John H. published to the open publishing newswire: Houstonians raised the money to buy a bus and send it with the Pastors for Peace 21st Friendshipment Caravan to Cuba. Local folks gathered to decorate a school bus that will be taken to Cuba by the Pastors For Peace. Local supporters have been raising supplies, along with the school bus, that will very soon be presented to the Cuban people. By the time the bus leaves Houston, it will be full of much needed medical supplies, as well as school supplies. Local artist, Emaniah, laid out the design for the painting. Photos
Earlier, folks came out to help raise money for the Pastors for Peace, caravan to Cuba, which will come through Houston next week. Photos

From IFCO/Pastors for Peace: Many of us hoped that President Obama's election would bring about some changes in many aspects of US policy -- including the ending of the illegal, immoral, and internationally condemned US economic blockade against Cuba...But Cuba is still deemed an 'enemy' under the Trading with the Enemies Act. Sales of US products to Cuba are still severely restricted, and sales of Cuban products to the US are absolutely forbidden. Banks and businesses in other countries are still harassed for doing business with Cuba. The travel ban on US citizens visiting Cuba remains. [read full release]

Following a week of hate mail directed at Rabbi Lerner and the staff of Tikkun magazine, the rabbi's home was vandalized on May third. The attack was apparently prompted by Tikkun's announcement that they will give an award to Judge Richard Goldstone because of his courage in standing up for human rights in Palestine/Israel.

A bumper sticker affixed on property at Rabbi Lerner's home read "fight terror--support Israel". On it was a caricature of Judge Goldstone, whose UN report on Israel's human rights violations in its attack on Gaza last year has been denounced as pro-terrorism by right wingers in Israel and the U.S. Read more | Tikkun Magazine

Between the glowing press reports on Burl Cain's work, there are hints that gaining access to prison programming — education programs, for example — may be conditional on whether a prisoner is willing to embrace evangelical Christianity.

Yesterday and again today (Thursday) here in Philadelphia we are waking up to a city that is (by virtue of a snowstorm) making an extraordinarily unusual citywide Shabbat.

Only a blizzard brings Shabbat to an American city. But that is a reminder of how profound is the need for "Free Time for a Free People. " Overwork and its misshapen twin, disemployment, are both the symptoms and the causes of an unfree society. It is no accident that in our story of Liberation from Mitzrayyim, the Tight and Narrow Place, the first change in the life of the Israelites -- even before Sinai - is the practice and celebration of Shabbat.

What follows is part of a statement on "Free Time for a Free People" that in 2001 The Shalom Center initiated and won broad support for. You can read the full statement here, with sections on the biblical origins of Free Time, its spiritual and economic aspects, and the path toward organizing support for social change toward "free time." For an entire section of articles on this question, click here.

Firsthand account from someone who traveled to Haiti on a Scientology plane — and witnessed firsthand the ineptitude, quackery and irresponsibility of the church's minions in a disaster zone.

I arrived at JFK last week, ready to go. I knew we were traveling with doctors and EMTs, but I didn't expect to see 50 scientologists, in their yellow shirts with Volunteer Minister on them. They were completely unprepared for going to a third world country, let alone a disaster zone. One girl was in designer cowboy boots. I asked her if she'd brought any sturdier footwear.

"Oh no, these'll be fine."

UPDATES: via Gawker: "Anonymous" Pledges to Fight Scientologist Efforts in Haiti || via blog "The Mirror of Dr. Lilly von Marcab: The True Nature of Scientology's "Vulture Ministers"

Greencard-holding Father of Four and Immigrant Rights Leader Ripped from Family and Detained for Deportation during Holidays.

December 30, 2009 -- Despite being a legal immigrant in the United States since 1986, and despite being the husband of a U.S. citizen and father of four U.S. citizen children, Jean Montrevil, a long time community leader and activist, was detained for deportation to Haiti this morning. Mr. Montrevil was attending a regular check in when he was detained by agents of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Montrevil is facing deportation for a 20-year old conviction, for which he has long since served his sentence; he has never broken any law since. Press release from NYC New Sanctuary Movement | Coverage from Democracy Now! | UPDATE: Emergency Rally, 1/1/10: "Stop Taking Our Parents Away"

PHOTO: Jean's daughter Janiah places her broken heart for all to see. credit: Mizue Aizeki

Christmas is bittersweet for Maria Marroquin this year. Only fifteen percent of the workers who show up have been matched with jobs on any given day. Gifts from the community supplement the meager incomes earned by those who come to the Center every morning...and wait. As Executive Director of the Day Worker Center of Mountain View, she looks back at the financially bleak 2009 with high hopes for the promise 2010 holds.

Related: Amarga Navidad: Homenaje a los víctimas de la masacre de Acteal, Chiapas

ECHO PARK - En la iglesia metodista de Echo Park, el sub-comité teatral del Comité Pro-Democracia en México realizó la actuación de una obra de teatro popular para conmemorar la masacre de Acteal de 1997. La obra fue desempeñada en conjunto con presentaciones musicales y poéticas. Informe: Obra teatral en homenaje a los víctimas de la masacre de Acteal, Chiapas por Rockero

RELATED: Immigration advocates advise against holiday travel on bus and rail due to constant raids by Inland Empire Rapid Response Network | | The Eighth Annual AntiMall by RP

STOP AZ Snowbowl! Protests

The struggle to protect the Holy San Francisco Peaks and community health from ski area expansion and wastewater snowmaking continues.

Although a current lawsuit filed by the Save the Peaks Coalition and community members has halted the ski business' efforts to make sewage snow, community support is still needed.

On Sunday, November 8th, Beth El Synagogue in St. Louis Park hosted former Secretary of State, National Security Adviser and oil company apparatchik Condoleezza Rice; Twin Cities Indymedia got footage of Rice attacking the Goldstone Report which exposed Israeli war crimes in Gaza.

Members of Beth El's congregation protested the offensive invitation for months, only to get refused access to the congregation newsletter and board discussions. Women Against Military Madness (WAMM) led the organizing of an anti-torture protest outside.

During the action, Beth El security and the police attempted to demand the protest relocate away from the nearest public sidewalk into a so-called "FIRST AMENDMENT AREA" because Beth El had obtained its own protest permit from the St Louis Park police, apparently a 'covert op' of sorts. (The police didn't indicate if free speech still existed in other 'areas'.) On two occasions beforehand the police refused to return calls about any possible permits, then they attempted to spring this setup on WAMM, merely proving further the hopeless corruption and futility of the entire demonstration permit system itself. Of course profits were involved for Rice, who netted cash from the high-price event. Below: more videos, photo stills, detailed notes on Rice's speech, and the fight inside Beth El.

Mikey Weinstein, founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation and author of the book “God on our Side” spoke at the Rochester Institute of Technology on October 17th. He emphasized that the greatest threat to our national security was the Dominionist Fundamentalist Evangelical Christian take over of our military.

Mr. Weinstein also spoke about the proselytizing that goes on within the military, not just amongst the US military personnel, but also in the countries that the US now occupies. Mr. Weinstein stated and that American Fundamentalists Christians had been embedded with the US solders and that they had distributed over 1.8 million of their bibles while in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Video: Mr. Weinstein at RIT

Additional Information: Military Religious Freedom Foundation's Urgent Issues