Category: Events

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March 19, 2021

This month, we celebrate both International Women’s Day and Pesach (Passover).

Join us to hear testimonies from women impacted by the systems of prison and immigration detention, as women are the largest growing incarcerated population.

Come listen to a retelling of the freedom-from-bondage message of Passover and the roles women play in liberation interpreted by Rabbi Katie Mizrahi and Rabbi Mychal Copeland.

Join us to learn how you can be take part in advocacy and action to support immigrants and free others who are not yet free. None of us are free until all of us are free.
Let us work together to build a society that upholds equity, fairness, and justice.

It is our hope that Gabby Solano (pictured above) will be able to speak with us in person at the vigil. In just two weeks, Gabby, a 48-year old immigrant and domestic violence survivor, is scheduled to be released from the Central California Women’s Facility (CCWF) in Chowchilla, CA after serving a 20 years and earning a commutation and parole. Her family is waiting to welcome her home. Unfortunately, ICE has placed a hold on Gabby and is seeking to send her to ICE detention and deport her to Mexico, a country she left as a baby. Please take action to ask Governor Newsom to use his power to protect immigrant survivors and not allow CDCR to transfer her to ICE custody. To take action, see: bit.ly/FreeGabbyToolkit

Co-hosts of this month’s vigil:

• Or Shalom Jewish Community
• Congregation Sha’ar Zahav
• Young Women’s Freedom Center
• California Coalition of Women Prisoners
• Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity

Join us on Feb 12th, for our interfaith vigil, Reparations as a Spiritual Practice. We will reflect on the Japanese American experience of seeking and achieving reparations. Together we will uplift the call for reparations for other communities, including Indigenous and African Americans.
Our monthly interfaith vigil honors the Japanese American Day of Remembrance. On February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which led to the forced removal and incarceration of some 120,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry living on the West Coast. 
Thirty years after the closing of the camps, Japanese Americans launched a campaign calling for the redress for restitution, which resulted in a financial compensation of $20,000 per person, an apology by Congress acknowledging the wrong, and funds to establish an educational trust fund.
Join us in honoring Japanese American Day of Remembrance and the larger call for reparations for other communities!

Speakers include: Reverend Deborah Lee, Reverend Grace Suzuki, Jeff Matsuoka, Coke Tani. Satsuki Ina, Riki Eijima, Chizu Omori, Joyce Nakamura, Julie Yumi Hatta, Margo Okazawa-Rey, Reverend Myrna Bernadel-Huey. Music provided by: Francis Wong

Co-hosted by: Buena Vista United Methodist Church, Pine United Methodist Church, Berkeley Buddhist Temple, San Francisco Bay Area Day of Remembrance Committee, Sycamore Congregational Church, Tsuru for Solidarity.

During this presidential election, democracy was severely tested, but our country rose to the occasion to ensure it was safeguarded. It is time to celebrate and keep vigil for our vision to be fulfilled!

The vigil will be on the week of the President’s Inauguration.