Defund the Police & Abolish ICE!: Building Solidarity in the Fight Against the Carceral State

Defund the Police & Abolish ICE!: Building Solidarity in the Fight Against the Carceral State

-By Kina Thorpe, Dayna Stimson, and Ashley Smith, Community Voices for Immigrant Rights Video: United in the Fight for Liberation. Message from people inside Mesa Verde Detention Center in solidarity with Black Lives Matter Movement. The Black-led multiracial working-class uprising against police brutality is the most significant social movement in decades and the largest wave…

How has COVID-19 affected BIPOC and Mental Health?

How has COVID-19 affected BIPOC and Mental Health?

-Moirha Smith, PJC Intern This article is about the effects of COVID-19 on students of color and their mental health. Two students are first-generation college students. The pandemic has increased the vulnerability of minorities who are already marginalized. Interviews were conducted by a Black identifying student.   Interview #1 How has the pandemic affected you?…

Ben & Jerry’s:  Buying Almonds is Sooo Not Enough

Ben & Jerry’s: Buying Almonds is Sooo Not Enough

-The BDS Committee, Vermonters for Justice in Palestine In 2013, VTJP launched an international campaign calling on Ben & Jerry’s to end its Israeli franchise’s complicity with Israel’s illegal settlement regime in Occupied Palestine. While a great deal has happened since then, B&J’s “peace & love” ice cream, manufactured in Israel, is still being stocked…

Leaving the Peace & Justice Center

Leaving the Peace & Justice Center

-Rachel Siegel, PJC Executive Director My class and race privilege limit my ability to do this work with the expertise and authenticity that this organization deserves.  I came to this solid understanding after participating in the Anne Braden Anti-Racist Organizer Training Program for white social justice activists last year. As a nonprofit, like most nonprofits, we do not…

Time to Act:  Burlington Must End Collaboration Between Police and ICE

Time to Act: Burlington Must End Collaboration Between Police and ICE

-By Betsy McGavisk and Ashley Smith (PJC Member) Editor’s note: This commentary is by Ashley Smith, of Burlington, a socialist writer and activist who writes for various publications including Harpers, Truthout, Jacobin, and New Politics, and Betsy McGavisk, of Burlington, a community organizer at Rights and Democracy.  The Trump administration’s all-out assault on immigrant rights…