Impeach Trump – Say No to white supremacy

Pass Immediate Covid Relief legislation

Greenfield Town Common

Called for by Racial Justice Rising and Franklin County Continuing the Political Revolution

Please wear masks

The “Stand Out for Democracy” will NOT happen today, Wednesday, Nov. 4.

We still don’t know what is happening with the election. And although Trump has said a few things about what he would like to do, he actually has not DONE anything yet.

So, we will continue to watch and see what happens with the election itself and how Trump reacts.

There is a good chance that our event will occur within the next day or two, so please continue to check your email and FCCPR on Facebook on a regular basis.

We will do our best to alert you by noon of the day that the event is scheduled to take place.

Stay tuned. Thank you for standing up for democracy.

Protect the Right to Vote!       Respect the Will of the People!

As part of the national effort to “Protect the Results”, there will be a stand-out for democracy to ensure that all votes are counted. If President Trump claims victory before all the votes are counted or if there is a clear Biden win and he refuses to concede or any similar scenario, national Protect the Results will contact us to be part of the national response. Obviously, it would be a lot easier to have a specific date to go into the streets, but, in this situation, we could be doing that on November 4^th or later that week.

Greenfield will have a standout for democracy at 4 pm on that day by standing masked 6 feet apart around Greenfield Common and down Main and Federal Street and Bank Row as far as our numbers will allow. We are suggesting that folks bring string, yarn, rope or ribbon 6 feet long (actually a bit longer so you can hold it) upon which well will attach signs stating that we want every vote to be counted and the results to be respected. We have a couple of samples that you can use https://drive.google.com/file/d/19JlmuccSGYwXpBfC784gG7zr78wj5h_M/view?usp=sharing

Or

 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hUcbC8Jr8uXJG7fNfpvz2O_wdJ2xX2K6/view?usp=sharing

….or make up your own.

If you are feeling uncomfortable about standing outside near others, we are welcoming car caravans which can go up and down our route with signs on the cars or in the windows and beeping horns.

So…..

Stay tuned…. Go to https://www.facebook.com/FCContinuingPoliticalRevolution for the latest information.

RSVP and sign up for notifications on https://www.mobilize.us/ptr/event/351015/ or mobbilize.us/ptr/event

4-6pm  via Zoom

Preparing for the Elections and After

Please Register in advance for this meeting:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZErdOGhqTMjHdwNc3WUUknhW5VPaiigKwQ0

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

We have all seen and heard the statements by Trump that the elections will be rigged against him and his intentions to stay in power.

Join us for a discussion and plan making session on what our response will be if Trump and the Republicans try to steal this election.

Please look these web sites and read the following articles that discuss our need to defend democracy (our vision of democracy not corporate America’s version).

https://choosedemocracy.us/

The Election That Could Break America, from the Atlantic Monthly

Trump’s Threat to Democracy : A speech by Bernie Sanders on Sept 24, 2020.  The actual speech starts at about 11:40 in the video

A dozen FCCPR members rallied at the Greenfield Post Office Saturday, August 29.  This banner said it all!         

Greenfield Recorder, July 23, 2020.   My Turn

By E. Martin Schotz, MD

The current pandemic and the looming threat of climate chaos have heightened people’s awareness that humans as a species are vulnerable and that international cooperation is absolutely necessary in addressing these problems. When we combine this with the massive demonstrations against racism, one has a sense that major social changes may be possible. But another related threat often goes ignored and unmentioned — the threat of war.

For decades the government of the United States has pursued so-called “national security” with astronomical expenditures on weapons of war, at the top of which is our vast arsenal of “nuclear weapons.” I put “nuclear weapons” in quotations because these are not weapons in any real sense. Rather “nuclear weapons” are instruments of mass murder and genocide.

This August we commemorate the 75th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, attacks that intentionally killed hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians immediately and in the radioactive aftermath. We, the people of the United States, have never honestly faced these racist crimes against humanity. Instead we have continued on a path of destruction, spending trillions of dollars on wars and weapons, when we need to be devoting ourselves to international cooperation for the health and welfare of all people and all of nature.

President Eisenhower in his farewell address warned us, “In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military industrial complex.” (Jan 17, 1961). And even more relevant were Eisenhower’s words on April 16, 1953. “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children…. This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron.”

It was little more than 10 years later, on June 10, 1963, that President Kennedy delivered a critically important speech about peace at American University in Washington, D.C. President Kennedy’s speech came after his harrowing experience in the “Cuban Missile Crisis” when the world narrowly escaped catastrophic destruction. The president was able to find a way out of the crisis, because he had AP previously developed a private correspondence with Soviet Premier Nikita Krushchev. Based on that correspondence they were able to understand each other and find common ground.

President Kennedy opened his discussion with the following words: “I have … chosen this time and this place to discuss a topic on which ignorance too often abounds and the truth is too rarely perceived – yet it is the most important topic on earth: world peace.

“What kind of peace do I mean? What kind of peace do we seek? Not a Pax Americana enforced on the world by American weapons of war. Not the peace of the grave or the security of the slave. I am talking about genuine peace, the kind of peace that makes life worth living, the kind that enables … nations to grow and to build a better life for their children — not merely peace for Americans but peace for all men and women — not mere peace in our time but peace for all time.”

In his speech President Kennedy tried to articulate for the American people the principles that are necessary for a different kind of world order and provided a rough road map of how to get there. At this moment, it is essential to go back to President Kennedy’s speech. I urge everyone who is reading this article to go to the text of that speech, read it, listen carefully to it, and ponder its message.

Click here for JFK’s speech.

The vision articulated in this speech by President Kennedy is critical for the survival of humankind today. Peace will only be possible, if enough of us take some small measure of responsibility for it. Once you have listened to the speech and read it, you can print it out, and share it with family, friends, neighbors and co- workers. Then you and they can join in seeking to make real President Kennedy’s vision.

E. Martin Schotz, MD, is a retired physician living in Cummington and a member of the Peace Task Force of Franklin County Continuing the Political Revolution. He can be reached at eli.schotz@gmail.com.

To sign up for this event click here.

Franklin County Continuing the Political Revolution joins the chorus of millions of individuals and groups in the U.S. and around the world who have spoken out against the institutional racism that, for more than 400 years has continued to claim the lives and livelihoods of people of color. We encourage all of our members and the public at large to challenge racism in whatever forms it manifests itself. White privilege is a subtle and not-so-subtle way of dividing people who are all struggling against the degradation foisted on us by the capitalist system that places profit for a few above the needs of the many. None of us will be able to live our lives fully until all are able to do so. 

Specifically, we support the efforts of Black Lives Matter and Defund413 in their demands to:

• • End the resource officer in the public schools. This position tends to criminalize difficult behavior of children rather than looking to the underlying problems and solving them. Statistics have demonstrated that children of color are more likely to be singled out for discipline by the resource officer. We support the use of these funds to increase counseling and support services for students in our schools.

• • End the use of money bail within our court system. The cash bail system penalizes low income people, who are disproportionately people of color, by preventing them from returning home while awaiting adjudication of the legal issues at hand. This is not only a difficulty for the arrested individual, but also the individual’s family as this causes the loss of employment and greater financial insecurity. And it reverberates through the entire community. People of means, even modest means, have the ability to continue employment while awaiting trial. This system criminalizes poverty and should be eliminated.

• • Reallocate funds from the police to mental health first responders, peer supports, substance abuse services, domestic and intimate partner violence advocacy and support. The police are presently expected to respond to situations for which they are not well trained. A task force should be developed to re-imagine the work of the police and direct funds to services that more appropriately deal with the issues at hand. When that plan has been devised, funds should then be reallocated to social service organizations or to the hiring of additional appropriately trained staff to deal with the social and human service issues that are often today part of the police portfolio.

• • Create a police review board with power. Install an independent citizens complaint review board that will have authority to review all complaints including the use of force and will determine disciplinary actions for offending officers. The review board would be composed of people with direct experience of police brutality or misconduct along with others concerned about equitable enforcement of the law. The board would approve de-escalation, racial justice, restraint and other training in an ongoing manner. 

We look forward to working with Black Lives Matter, Racial Justice for Franklin County–Solidarity and Action, Racial Justice Rising and other organizations in creating a more equitable and just society.

On Tuesday, June 16 FCCPR members and friends massed at a number of post offices around the County to show our concern about the future of the U.S.P.S., one of the oldest institutions in the country. A push toward privatization, which would almost certainly result in closures of rural post offices (not enough profit there!), is being resisted nationwide.

FCCPR is distributing ‘Save the Post Office’ stickers that you can put on your mail. To request some, use this link.