Please call Schools Chancellor Dennis  Walcott  to tell him to stop neighborhood school closings in Bed-Stuy and other Brooklyn neighborhoods.  Comments can be left for Chancellor Walcott at 311 Monday through Friday from 8 am to 6 pm.

Organizing meetings will be held at JHS 258, 141 Macon St. between Marcy and Tompkins, on Weds., Jan. 25th, 6 pm, and Friday, Jan. 27th, 5 pm.  There will be a rally outside the school on Mon., Jan. 30th, 3pm, and a public hearing on Tues., Jan. 31st, 6pm.  All supporters are welcome.

A new Prime Minister, Simpson Miller, has been elected in Jamaica, West Indies.  Folks who oppose the homophobia present in that country are celebrating because Ms. Miller has stated that she will appoint a member of the LGBT community to her cabinet.

On Wednesday, January 25th, 5:30 pm, at 6 Harrison Street, NYC, in the CWA local 1180 offices, the Coalition of Concerned Legal Professionals is holding a forum about dealing with mortgage foreclosures.  CCLP  is located at 25 Chapel Street, north of Tillary, off of Jay Street in downtown Brooklyn.  Phone: 718-522-1619.

With the increased awareness of economic injustice highlighted by the Occupy movement, the time was right for the rally on November 21, 2011 in support of the NYC Fair Wages bill in City Council.  There was a full house at the immense Riverside Church that night, with speakers that included elected officials, diverse clergy, union reps, community non-profits, and a keynote by Benjamin Jealous, President & CEO of the NAACP.  Everyone was moved by the dancing, singing and a broadcast of Rev. Maring Luther King Jr’s “Beyond Vietnam” speech in Riverside Church on April 4, 1967, just before the Poor People’s Campaign in Washington DC.   A City Council hearing about the bill was held the following day; the bill needs to be sponsored by Council Speaker Quinn in order to be put to a vote.

On November 18, 2011,  Henry and Jaki Florsheim from BFP’s DOC committee and Naomi Allen of BFP’s Israel-Palestine committee attended the noon rally and Friday prayer service in Foley Square protesting the NYPD/CIA repression of Muslim communities.  Tom Martinez of BFP’s  DOC and Latin-American Committee spoke impressively at the moving event.  It was covered by several NYC broadcast media.

On November 15, 2011, DOC members attended a forum reflecting on the experience of Park 51′s new Islamic Center in downtown Manhattan.  Panel members were: Susan of Common Cause NY, Peter of People for the American Way, and Megan of the Muslim Consultative Network.  They concurred with the NY Civil Liberties Union report that potentially controversial ventures must be planned carefully with an emphasis on messaging, community outreach, youth engagement, management training, and holding public officials accountable.  www.rightwingwatch blog provided organized, funded, dishonest opposition.  Park 51 continues to operate, holding prayers and classes in Arabic.

BFP and its  Diversity/Outreach and Peace and Economic Justice committees tabled at the November 12 Occupy Brooklyn event in the Korean War Vets Park on Cadman Plaza.  We connected with familiar allies such as FUREE and Coalition of Concerned Legal Professionals and made new connections with others, including The Slave Theaters in Bed-Stuy and Coalition of Concerned Medical Professionals.

The website for Occupy Brooklyn is www.occupybk.org or email pej@brooklynpeace.org for further updates about the next general assembly and activities involving foreclosed properties, fire department cutbacks, and labor rallies.  There will be a teach-in abut charter schools and educational policy on January 18th. 

On the 2-month anniversary of occupy Wall Street, various demonstrations took place, including a gathering at Brooklyn’s Borough Hall on Court Street.  There was a sizable turnout on a cold day.  DOC’s Jaki Florsheim spoke on behalf of Brooklyn For Peace and was covered by local Brooklyn media.

Go to www.allout.org for a comprehensive list of businesses that contribute to a large organization that donates to other, homophobic organizations.  Allout has contacted these businesses to demand a stop to this practice.  If you patronize one of the businesses, you can contact them directly.

The Summer 2011 issue of “Intelligence Report”, published by Southern Poverty Law Center , has  a cover article ” Jihad Against Islam,” which has paragraphs about Brooklyn’s Debbie Almontaser and about the Park 51 mosque. Their web address is www.splcenter.org.

Incoming freshmen at Brooklyn College were asked to read this book by Brooklyn College professor Moustafa Bayoumi last fall. To find out more about the book, see the author’s website, www.moustafabayoumi.com