One Year Anniversary for Dignity Vigils in Bellingham / Letter to Bellingham City and Whatcom County Councils, Dena Jensen

February 13, 2018  Dena Jensen

Dear Bellingham City Council and Whatcom County Council:

I am writing early this week to let you know that next week there will be a special Dignity Vigil honoring the one year anniversary of these vigils in downtown Bellingham held in solidarity with immigrant and undocumented people, and to stand against law enforcement and federal immigration collaboration which leads to deportation. I hope you will all plan on attending during any portion, or all of the 11:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m. time period. I will send you more details about next Monday’s vigil when they are available!:

https://www.facebook.com/events/144972296180055/ Continue reading

On the Take / Salish Sea Maritime, Jay Taber

salish-sea-maritime
[NWNW Admin’s Note: This post by Jay Taber on Salish Sea Maritime points us to some historical material with which to gain perspective on the current smear campaigns against Whatcom and Skagit County farm worker and immigrant advocacy groups like Community to Community Development and the farm worker union Familias Unidas por la Justicia, along with campaigns against grassroots social and environmental justice group, Redline Salish Sea, and the non-profit environmental advocacy group RE Sources for Sustainable Communities. 

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Gerald Baron’s incorrect characterization and marginalization of Community to Community and FUJ’s efforts / Facebook post, Sj Robson

seattle times sarbanand

August 13, 2017  Sandy Robson

The August 12, Seattle Times article provided a good report on the recent events surrounding Sarbanand Farms and the tragic death of H-2A farm worker Honesto Silva Ibarra. However, in the article, local public relations guru Gerald Baron took an opportunity to defend Sarbanand Farms, and to hurl accusations at two local organizations which are trying to help the fired and displaced H-2A farm workers. Continue reading

Elfo asks, why citizen oversight for community safety? Answers become apparent / Noisy Waters Northwest

August 2, 2017  Dena Jensen

On Saturday July 22, 2017 Community to Community Development posted a live-feed of their Family Forum for Community Safety that was held that evening at the Bellingham Public Library.

Near the end of the event, the facilitator, Rosalinda Guillen of Community to Community Devolopment, explained why she was being direct and public with this discussion.  She said that people are concerned about the federal government finding ways to impose immigration regulations and to make the county sheriff comply with immigration enforcement. Whatcom County Sheriff Bill Elfo responded, indicating that federal officials had already tried to exert pressure and impose regulations, but that his sheriff’s office had said no and that they would continue to say no to federal mandates. Continue reading

City Council Member responses to the idea of changing the name of Pickett Bridge / Facebook Post, Noisy Waters Norhtwest

western front pickett bridge
July 25, 2017  Dena Jensen
I encourage people to read this opinion piece in The Western Front by Suzanna Leung, and take a look at the chart of Bellingham City Council Member responses to the idea of changing the name of Pickett Bridge, which is named for a Confederate General who, according to historian Leslie Gordon “was appalled by the notion of freeing slaves and arming black men to fight.”

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Citizens: BPD dismissive of people of color / NorthwestCitizen, Ralph Schwartz

Junga Subedar of the Whatcom Civil Rights Project, left, hands crime reports to Detective Caryn Queen, center, and Detective Sgt. Claudia Murphy, right, Tuesday, April 26, inside the Bellingham Police Department lobby.

 

Tue, Apr 26, 2016, 7:04 pm  Ralph Schwartz

Saying the police failed to investigate assaults against protesters who marched in downtown Bellingham two months earlier, a group of citizens turned in their own crime reports on Tuesday, April 26, to the Bellingham Police Department.

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