MILPA’s Doc Watch: Reel Injun

a Series of Documentary Films Focused on Chicano Culture, Local Activism, Media Representation, and Mass Incarceration & Policing

NEXT FILM : Reel Injun
Monday • August 5 • 5:30 – 7:30 PM • FREE
315 Main St, Ste 205 • Watsonville 

Synopsis by PBS and Preview here.

MILPA’s Doc Watch is a series of documentary film screenings throughout the summer at their Watsonville office intended to stir up conversation, cultivate a critical analysis of issues that have impacted Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities, and, most importantly, build community. 

MILPA Collective is, first and foremost, a movement space designed for, and led by, formerly incarcerated and system-impacted individuals. They are committed to supporting next-generation infrastructure and leadership within communities, organizations, and systems. They center cultural healing, racial equity and LOVE in their practices and advocacy.

“MILPA” is derived from the Uto-Aztecan Nahuatl word “milli” and is an agricultural process that describes the Las Tres Hermanas (3 sisters) planting system. Traditionally, the sisters were corn, beans, and squash, yet they are interchangeable with various other vegetables and fruits. The three crops grow interdependently to support each other. MILPA metaphorically uses that process to create a working philosophy rooted in anti-colonial and anti-racist ideology.

 Learn more here

Like to Dance? Disco Fundraiser at Barrios Unidos

A Benefit for the People of Gaza 
Sponsored by Palestine Solidarity Central Coast

Saturday • July 27 • Doors at 7 PM, DJ’s at 8 PM 
Sliding Scale $20 – $30 • 100% of proceeds will go towards e-sims for Palestinians in Gaza
Barrios Unidos • 1823 Soquel Ave • Santa Cruz

From Palestine Solidarity Central Coast:
“Join us at the E-SIM DISCO – a benefit dance filled with passion and purpose. Our goal is to assist with connecting the people of Gaza with each other and the world by sending 100% of our proceeds as e-sim cards.  Feel the energy of Featured DJs: Mothership Connection (Cumbia, Boogie, Freestyle), Hani Gata (Ambient, Experimental, House), Casa Primos (Reggaeton, RnB, Old School Funk).
Barrios Unidos will be our gracious host. For those interested in work trade opportunities, we welcome you with open arms. Reach out to PSCC to learn more and get involved at PalestinianSolidarityCC@proton.me or @palestinesolidarity.cc
Let’s come together to dance for liberation and imagine a new world where all voices are heard.

We strive to make this event accessible to all. Limited parking is available in the back lot, and the venue is mostly wheelchair accessible with some seating provided. Water and refreshments will be on hand to keep you energized throughout the night.”

Demand Governor Newsom Close At Least 5 More State Prisons

Starting with CRC Norco

The California Rehabilitation Center (CRC) in Norco, CA, stands as a symbol of systemic failure and inhumane conditions. Advocates and officials alike have long called for its closure due to reports of violence, lack of adequate programs, infestations, dilapidation, and extreme heat. In response, CURB is demanding immediate action, urging Governor Newsom to commit to shutting down at least 5 additional prisons, starting with CRC Norco. 

Sign the petition here.

Learn more and get more involved at bit.ly/closecrc.

Support SB 299 for 100% Voter Registration in CA

California’s voting systems must be reformed to include all Californians, especially working-class communities of color who have systematically been left out of access to political power. Our state’s legacy of racist voter registration policies is keeping working-class communities of color from voting, allowing corporations to overpower our voices.

SB 299, the bill to create a path to 100% voter registration, faces a tough hearing in Assembly Elections. Send an email to your committee member to encourage them to vote for a future where California’s democracy works for the people, by the people.

Tell Assembly Elections Chair Gail Pellerin to vote YES on SB 299!

People’s Budget for Santa Cruz County

Check out our People’s Budget Slidedeck and Letter

In the fall of 2023, SURJ Santa Cruz County began a collaboration with our accountability partner, MILPA, to do a local “Study and Action” focused on our county jails, how they are failing us, and how to make our communities safer by investing in healthcare and housing instead of carceral systems. Much of what we learned is summarized in this Santa Cruz County 2024 People’s Budget slidedeck and letter. 

Here’s our slidedeck from our People’s Budget Webinar highlighting our input to the Santa Cruz County budget:

SCC ’24-’25 People’s Budget 101 slidedeckDownload

On June 3rd, we submitted this letter, signed (over only a few days) by 13 organizations and 125 individuals to the County Board of Supervisors.

SCC ’24-’25 Budget Our Values letter no signaturesDownload

Would you or a group you are involved with like to help us continue to study and take action to ensure our tax dollars are used in ways that support genuine safety and justice? Would you like to be part of helping to make systemic change to our county budget to ensure that behavioral health (mental health and substance use disorder) and emergency shelter services are prioritized?
If you do, please email us at info@surjsantacruzcounty.org.  We know that we are stronger together. 

News: ACA 8 is now Proposition 6 !!

State Constitutional Amendment to End Involuntary Servitude
in CA Moves to November Ballot

Last week the California Secretary of State assigned numbers to several California propositions that will be on the ballot this November. 
Formerly known as Assembly Constitutional Amendment No. 8 (ACA 8), this bill addresses involuntary servitude in California prisons. The Assembly measure passed the California Senate with strong bipartisan support.  These actions allow voters to now correct this bastion of slavery by voting YES on PROPOSITION 6. If passed it would change the California Constitution to ban forced labor in any form by ending the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s practice of disciplining any incarcerated person for refusing a forced work assignment.

Stay tuned as the campaign unfolds. Meanwhile updates are posted at the website for Legal Services for Prisoners with Children

Listen: Recording of Carla Wallace, co-founder of SURJ, Interviewed June 3 on KQSD Moment of Truth with Ami Chen Mills

Interviewed June 3 on Moment of Truth with Ami Chen Mills • Recording available

Missed this event? Listen here: KSQD: Moment of Truth: “What Should We Do??” Action Items for the Coming Election

If you missed the live interview on this show last month, you can access it in the KSQD archives. Wallace has plenty to say about SURJ’s vision for tackling this tough political moment.  SURJ’s strategy involves helping re-elect members of the Squad, the most progressive branch of Congress, and moving more white people to be part of the multi-racial struggle for collective liberation.


The interview also includes a guest from Force Multiplier in discussion about this November’s presidential vote. Thank you Ami and KSQD for bringing these important thinkers closer to home.

—– Original Show Announcement —–

Carla Wallace has been part of organizing for change in the South for over 40 years,
with a focus on her home state of Kentucky. She is a co-founder of Showing Up for
Racial Justice (SURJ) which moves white people, in particular, those who are poor,
working class, and rural, to be part of the multi-racial struggle for collective liberation.
Mentored by southern civil rights activists in the Black Liberation Movement and by
white racial justice fighter Anne Braden, Carla is also a co-founder of Louisville’s
Fairness Campaign, which has been nationally honored for the work winning LGBTQ
equity by centering racial justice and connecting community organizing and electoral
work. Carla has been engaged in international solidarity work for over 4 decades,
including leadership in the Anti Apartheid movement for a Free South African and the
ongoing work for a Free Palestine. 

Ami will also be hosting Force Multiplier whose focus is winning Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress this year.  Tune in to hear how both organizations are strategizing to win this November.  

The recording is here.

Cultivating Care

Sunday • July 21  • 6:30 PM • Online • FREE • SURJ Santa Cruz County

In the spirit of collective, interconnected liberation, the intention of Cultivating Care: A Space for White Allies/Accomplices/Co-conspirators to Disrupt White Supremacy is to actively build anti-racist culture by understanding and dismantling white supremacy as it exists in ourselves and our culture. While we are clear that we must also work in relationship with BIPOC to create new systems where all people are valued and thriving, this group is for being in compassionate relationship with each other to address our whiteness. This container is for white folks, wherever we are on our racial justice journey, to have courageous, vulnerable conversations that foster belonging, healing, calling in and showing up.

Register here to join us!  

Weed ‘Em Out!  Cascade Creek Care with Pie Ranch and Amah Mutsun Land Trust

Saturday • July 13 • 9:30 AM -2:30 PM • FREE 
Cascade Ranch, 3100 Cabrillo Hwy, Pescadero

Join Pie Ranch and Amah Mutsun Land Trust to remove eucalyptus sprouts and other invasive species from Cascade Creek on Año Nuevo Point.

Spend time outdoors, meet new people, learn about invasive plants and creek habitats, and help us to care for the ancestral lands of the Quiroste Tribe. This event will also be a great opportunity to learn about how Indigenous perspectives and approaches to land stewardship are being revitalized in open spaces today.

To register for the event, please sign up through Eventbrite!
 

REDISTRIBUTE WEALTH: Center for Farmworker Families

The Center for Farmworker Families increases awareness about the difficult life circumstances of farmworker families while proactively, and directly, supporting improvement in bi-national family life both in the United States and in Mexico. One project maintains a Oaxacan Community Shed which provides food staples and clothing at a property in Watsonville. 

DONATE HERE