Jail before Tar Sands, Canadians Say

There is no mention below of the hundreds dying from cancer north of Alberta.  I feel connected to this group; I was one of 111 arrested here at the end of August.

More than 200 Canadians engaged in civil disobedience, with 117 arrested in Canada’s quiet capital city on Monday. The reason? To protest the Stephen Harper right-wing government’s open support for the oil industry and expanding production in the climate-disrupting tar sands.

The normally placid and polite Canadians shouted, waved banners and demanded the closure of the multi-billion-dollar tar sands oil extraction projects in northern Alberta to protect the global climate and the health of local people and environment.

“People are here because they know that if we don’t turn away from the tar sands and fossil fuels soon it will be too late,” Peter McHugh, a spokesperson for Greenpeace Canada, told IPS.

“The tar sands are unsustainable. Canadians are willing to shift away from fossil fuels but our government isn’t,” Gabby Ackett a university student and protester, told IPS as she stood in front of a long line of police.

In what was proudly touted as “civil” civil disobedience, protesters aged 19 to 84 were arrested for using a step-stool to climb a low barrier separating them from the House of Commons, the seat of Canadian government. The police were friendly and accommodating because the organizers had promised there would be no violence.

“We live downstream and see the affects of tar sands pollution on the fish and the birds,” said George Poitras, a former chief of the Mikisew Cree First Nation in northern Alberta.

Seattle stands in Solidarity with Longview ILWU

See Move to Amend Olympia FB if you are interested in joining this group.

Civic Circle - downtown Longview, WA by the Post Office
Thursday, Sept. 29th, 5:30pm

Dear Friends,

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 21 in Longview, Washington is waging a heroic battle to stop international conglomerate EGT Development from breaking a longstanding master agreement the ILWU has at the Port of Longview's publicly subsidized grain terminal.

As of Monday, about 135 longshore workers and supporters have been detained and/or arrested, including International Pres. Robert McEllrath and Local 21 President Dan Coffman. On Sat. Sept., 24 the ILWU organized informational picketing to protest police violence against ILWU members and the ILWU Ladies Auxillary who have been brutalized by the police while trying to stop grain shipments and stand up for their jobs and livelihoods against EGT's unionbusting.

Now we have the opportunity to show that all of us in the Northwest stand 100 percent with the ILWU Local 21! We hope this is the first of many Labor/community support rallies defending everyone's rights to organize on the job.

We are organizing a car-caravan with others from the Seattle area to leave early Thursday afternoon. Please call New Freeway Hall at 206-722-2453 if you can go, can drive or want a ride.

Please also help spread the word about the solidarity night -- tell your friends, unions, family and co-workers and community groups! Let's send EGT a loud message that unionbusters are not welcome in Washington State!

Call to health care providers

This comes from SEIU:

Dear Caregivers,

With the state’s new $1.4 billion budget deficit that will probably get bigger, DSHS is holding a series of town hall meetings to discuss budget reductions. Please attend the town hall meeting nearest you, and tell DSHS officials that seniors, people with disabilities and the people who care for them can’t take any more cuts – more real lives are at stake. DSHS Town Hall Meetings will be held at:

YAKIMA
Thursday, September 29, 1:30 – 3:30 p.m.
1002 N. 16th Avenue - 2nd Floor - Conference Room 5
Yakima, WA 98902

EVERETT
Thursday, October 6, 2:30 – 4:00 p.m.
840 North Broadway - Room 103
Everett, WA 98201

VANCOUVER
Monday, October 17, 12:30 – 2:30 p.m.
Public Service Center - Elections Room - 2nd Floor - Room 226
1408 Franklin Street
Vancouver, WA 98666

SPOKANE
Wednesday, October 19, 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.
8517 E. Trent Avenue, Rockford Room - Main Floor - Suite 101
Spokane, WA 99213

SEATTLE
Wednesday, October 26, 2:30 – 4:00 p.m.
3600 South Graham Street - Graham Room
Seattle, WA 98188

International Housing Rights/Zero Eviction Days in October!

Organize an action in your community for International Housing Rights/Zero Eviction Days in October!

Housing rights networks in the US and Canada are fighting back. The USA-Canada Alliance of Inhabitants has launched a campaign to fight the criminalization of the homeless and affirm the right to housing for all. The National Alliance of HUD Tenants has mobilized to fight budget cuts, rent increases and time limits on housing aid that threaten millions with displacement. Take Back the Land and others are taking direct action to block foreclosures and evictions and to house the homeless in cities across the US.

And all are joining the World Habitat Days launched by Habitat International Coalition (HIC) and International Alliance of Inhabitants (IAI)...

As threats to our homes have multiplied, housing rights networks in the US and Canada are fighting back. The USA-Canada Alliance of Inhabitants has launched a campaign to fight the criminalization of the homeless and affirm the right to housing for all. The National Alliance of HUD Tenants has mobilized to fight budget cuts, rent increases and time limits on housing aid that threaten millions with displacement. Take Back the Land and others are taking direct action to block foreclosures and evictions and to house the homeless in cities across the US.

The Habitat International Coalition (HIC) and International Alliance of Inhabitants (IAI) have issued a joint global Call to Action urging local housing organizations to sponsor a public action or protest in their communities starting mid September through early November, with a focus around the UN’s World Habitat Day on Monday, October 3, to raise the profile of the struggle for housing rights in opposition to neoliberal policies of massive forced evictions and foreclosures, budget cuts, criminalization of the homeless, and speculation in land and housing.

National and local organizations are called to link their currently or new planned actions related to the right to housing from mid-September through early November--demonstrations, marches, cultural events, take-overs, take-backs, truth commissions, public hearings and the like --to the global and national campaign.

This fall, Housing Rights/Zero Eviction Days will be marked in several cities by the release of More than a Roof, a grassroots documentary film chronicling the first official tour of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing to the United States. To screen, contact mtar@nesri.org.

The US has yet to act on the UN Report, which spotlighted the many failures of the wealthiest country on the planet to secure adequate housing for its people.

Since 2003, the National Alliance of HUD Tenants (NAHT) has coordinated HIC’s Housing and Land Rights Days of Action in the US each October. As threats to our homes have multiplied, NAHT has joined with the newly formed USA-Canada Alliance of Inhabitants (USACAI), an IAI affiliate, to issue this Joint Call to Action.

To participate, simply forward a brief description of your action for posting to the IAI website at www.habitants.org , the HIC website at www.hic-net.org , and the NAHT website www.saveourhomes.org . We also ask local groups to post video or news clips about their actions on the campaign websites.

* Homes, Not Jails, for the Homeless!

* No Budget Cuts to Housing! Tax the Rich Instead!

* Stop Bank Foreclosures Now!

* Stop the Privatization of Public Housing!

* Implement the UN Report on the Right to Housing!

CONTACT any of the following for more information:

International Alliance of Inhabitants: Info@habitants.org USACAI: mbricker@temple.edu

HIC’s US Board contact: Michael Kane, NAHT@saveourhomes.org

Challenging Corporate Rule (Book Review)

Challenging Corporate Rule

The Petition to Revoke Unocal's Charter as a Guide to Citizen Action

By Robert Benson

The complete text of the historic complaint by a coalition of some 25 local, state and national women's environmental and other civil society organizations to the California Attorney General to revoke the corporate charter of Union Oil Company of California (UNOCAL). The foreword by Ronnie Dugger, Chair of the Alliance for Democracy, and introduction by author Robert W. Benson, Professor of Law at the Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, seek to place charter revocation in the broader context of the struggle for democratic control of giant corporations. The introduction also provides concrete suggestions on challenging corporate rule in other states. A practical guide to citizen action against corporations, and must reading for all who cherish the democratic ideals on which this country was founded and who are prepared to join the struggle for their realization.

What People are Saying...

PRIVATIZATION – A MOVE BACKWARDS

By Marti Hiken and Luke Hiken

Republicans, neo-conservatives and tea party fanatics are all clamoring for “privatization,” characterizing it as the panacea for America’s economic woes. And, as privatization moves forward rapidly in the United States, there has been no overall collective discussion among the citizens of this country as to whether we want it or not.

The corporate oligarchs, who have stolen the wealth of the entire country (and are hoarding it for their own benefit) love privatization, because, for them, it translates into the demise of governmental control and regulations affecting their businesses. They can act without any need for accountability or adherence to the responsibilities that come from government oversight.

With privatization, the billionaires can ignore the environmental impact of their actions, as well as the social implications of creating non-union, unregulated working conditions. For them, it’s similar to re-instituting slave labor, with the minimal wages and benefits needed to placate an unorganized workforce.

The goal is simple. As Naomi Klein describes this “rapid-fire privatization”:

Interesting question from Colorado Move to Amend

Michael Mello from Colorado poses interesting points RE: meaning of corporate "personhood":

I have had exactly the same discussion with 3 lawyers here in Colorado; all of them opposed to the distinction that I have been making: namely, that corporations are property, not persons; and persons alone have constitutional rights. All the lawyers, incidentally, were on board with MtA’s call for the abolition of corporate personhood.

I argued that we should never use the word ‘corporation’ and ‘person’ together, as is currently used in the statutory law that corporations are ‘artificial persons’. My rational is quite simple: persons alone inherit ‘rights’, and rights confer political power; if corporations are property, then there is NO chance they could be entitled to ‘rights’.

But if after we successfully amend the constitution, abolishing corporate personhood, then what sense could it possibly mean that “corporations are ‘artificial persons’”. The argument against my position is that, under existing statutory law, corporations can sue or be sued, become party to contracts, etc., many things that humans can do, hence the concept of ‘artificial person’.

But in my view, this is a flawed argument, firstly because the entire notion of ‘artificial person’ is a vestige from colonial America and Britain. It was never expunged from the body of law in post-revolution America, and it persists even to this very day. Secondly, because a well-founded argument should begin on certain undeniable facts, namely, that persons alone are endowed with unalienable rights, and in a constitutional government, rights confer political power. So personhood and rights are inextricably interconnected. So, if corporations are acknowledged as ‘persons’, even ‘artificial persons’, then corporate rights seems to be the result. It is advisable to describe them as ‘legal fictions’, and not ‘artificial persons’.

If you are tired of having your state tax dollars go to large megabanks, attend this event!

Learn how having a state-owned public bank in WA will help create thousands of jobs, support education and fund infrastructure (green, sustainable) projects.  Ellen Brown is a dynamic speaker, author of the Web of Debt, and an expert in banking.  She will give a talk, and answer many questions.  Tickets are $5 at the door, and at Brown Paper Tickets, will go on sale September 29th.  Students are free, with ID.  No one will be turned away. See www.brownpapertickets.com, or call 800-838-3006, Sept 29th thru Oct 24.  Doors open at 6:30 pm.

For rich background information, go to wapublicbankproject.org (great Power Point) and to publicbankinginstitute.org.  Sponsors include both organizations, and locally, MovetoAmendOlympia and BRICK at www.spsccbrick.org/.

This presentation will be followed by another lively evening with Rep. Bob Hasegawa, November 2, when he will speak on the Washington Investment Trust.  Bob is the Chair of the House Infrastructure Financing Task Force.  Both are excellent speakers, and answer questions well.

Letter from Senator Cantwell re: Citizen's United

Following the usual salutation, the content of this letter is inspiring some action, so please stay tuned! If you are interested in helping organize a large turnout to discuss this issue with the Senator further, contact M2AOly@gmail.com.

In 2007, Citizens United, a non-profit advocacy group, sued the Federal Election Commission to prevent it from enforcing certain provisions of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA). Among other things, the BCRA prevents corporations and labor unions from directly funding communications expressly advocating election or defeat of a federal candidate. In addition, corporations and unions are prohibited from funding "electioneering communications" 30 days before a primary and 60 days before a general election.

On January 21, 2010, the Supreme Court announced its ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. In a 5-4 decision, the Court held that these restrictions constitute a "ban on speech" in violation of the First Amendment. In effect, the ruling invalidates these provisions of the BCRA and overturns over 100 years of Supreme Court case law limiting the ability of corporations and unions to influence federal elections.

On April 30, 2010, Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) introduced the DISCLOSE Act (S. 3295). If enacted, this legislation would make a number of changes to existing federal election laws. In particular, it would require any CEO, union leader, or any other organization head whose organization funds campaign-related advertisements to state in the ad that he or she "approves this message." This is the same type of attribution that is required of candidates. The top contributors to the organization creating the ad must also be listed onscreen. Corporations controlled by foreign entities would be prohibited from funding election activities in U.S. elections. Similarly, any government contractors with contracts above $50,000 and any corporation that received taxpayer dollars through the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) would also be prohibited from campaign spending. The DISCLOSE Act was not enacted during the 111th Congress and has not been reintroduced. Please be assured that I will keep your views in mind should I have the opportunity to consideration this legislation in the future.

Showdown At Suncadia

Washington activists protest chamber policy summit, say corporations and wealthy CEOs should pay their fair share to help fix the economy

Cle Elum--On Wednesday, while Wall Street bankers, corporate CEO’s and their lobbyists meet at the Association of Washington Business Policy Summit at the swanky Suncadia Resort outside Cle Elum, activists from across the state will stage protests calling on corporations to pay their fair share to help fix the economy. 

The AWB Summit Agenda includes a golf tournament, wine tasting, a keynote from Governor Gregoire, and a seminar led by the Chairman of the Pacific NW Region for Chase Bank, literally entitled "Where will the money come from?"

Hundreds of activists from across the state will converge on Suncadia, with an unavoidably visible presence, demanding that the answer to Chase Bank's question should be: “Make Wall Street Banks and wealthy CEOs pay their fair share.”  Washington Community Action Network is the primary organizer, with Washington Works, Move to Amend Olympia, Involved Democracy, MoveOn, PJALS, SEIU, and many more participating.

The “Showdown at Suncadia” takes place all day Wednesday at Suncadia Resort (I-90, exit 80), and will feature a series of disruptive actions in the morning, culminating in a march on the Governor at Noon.  In the afternoon, protesters will finish the day holding a “People’s Summit” at a nearby camp ground.  Activists will be attending from across the state, including Spokane, Vancouver, Olympia, Lynnwood, Bellevue, Tacoma, Seattle and Yakima.  

Simultaneous to the Suncadia protests, there will be protests at several Chase bank branches around the state on Wednesday (including Spokane, Olympia, Vancouver and Seattle) echoing the same message: "The middle class and poor have sacrificed enough.  It's time for Wall Street Banks and big corporations to pay their fair share to help fix the economy."

Showdown at Suncadia
For specific times/locations for the disruption actions at Suncadia, contact Rachael at 508-451-9455.

When: Wednesday, September 21st from 9:45am – 3:00pm

Where: Suncadia Resort, Cle Elum (I-90, exit 80)
    
Who: Hundreds of low and middle income Washington residents from around the state

Right, Center Think Tanks Still Most Quoted

Others interested in starting our own "think tank" with accurate factual data to counter the media version of what's taking place? Let us know, we are seriously discussing this.  PK, MG

Study of cites debunks “liberal media” claims
By Michael Dolny

A study of media citations of think tanks in 2004—the 10th year of collecting such data—finds that think tanks of the right and center still predominate, despite a slight increase in citations of left-leaning think tanks.

The study counts citations of the 25 most prominent think tanks of right, center and left, using the Nexis news media database. Citations are counted in what Nexis designates to be major newspapers, as well as in Nexis’ transcripts file, which includes the major broadcast and cable news outlets. Because stories included in the Nexis database change over time, figures for previous years are recalculated for comparison purposes rather than taken from previous editions of the study.

Conservative or right-leaning think tanks garnered 50 percent of citations among the 25 most-cited think tanks, the same percentage as last year, and near their 10-year average of 51 percent of citations. Centrist think tanks declined slightly this year, garnering 33 percent of the citations, compared to 37 percent last year and 36 percent as their 10-year average. Progressive or left-leaning think tanks had the greatest percentage increase this year, receiving 16 percent of citations, up from last year’s 13 percent and their 10-year average of 14 percent.

Showdown at Suncadia

Who should pay to fix our economy? The corporations that caused our country's economic collapse continue to see their profits skyrocket, while our communities and families are left to pick up the pieces. It’s time we confront corporate greed head-on!

The Association of Washington Business (the powerful statewide chamber of commerce) is hosting their annual policy summit at Suncadia, a secluded mountain resort outside of Cle Elum. Their plan?Set the corporate agenda for Olympia. Activities include golfing, wine tasting, and plotting to ensure that the burden of the budget cuts fall on the backs of our communities.

Join us as we take our economy back from corporate interests and set the people's agenda!
Sign-up for the Showdown at Suncadia!
When: Wednesday, September 21st, 7AM – 5PM
Where: Suncadia Resort, Cle Elum, WA

Washington Investment Trust

Great news! Ellen Brown, foremost expert on Public banking, will speak on the deficit, and the significance of Bob Hasegawa's work to get a bill passed to support our State Bank, which she describes below. In fact, SB 750 in California is about to pass their State Bank, which is modeled after the language in our bill! If California can do it, we can. So, two dates to keep on your calendar: Ellen Brown will deliver a great talk and answer lots of questions at the Minneart Center at South Puget Sound Community College on Oct 25, Tues at 7 pm.

Join us! and keep Nov 2 open for a talk with Rep. Bob Hasegawa. He inspires us to contact legislators and build pressure to get the Investment Trust passed. Changing the name from State Bank to Investment Trust makes sense to me...banks don't have our trust. Read more, from Ellen Brown:

Bills were introduced on January 18 in both the House and Senate of the Washington State Legislature that add Washington to the growing number of states now actively moving to create public banking facilities.

The bills, House Bill 1320 and Senate Bill 5238, propose creation of a Washington Investment Trust (WIT) to "promote agriculture, education, community development, economic development, housing, and industry" by using "the resources of the people of Washington State within the state."

Currently, all the state's funds are deposited with Bank of America. HB 1320 proposes that in the future, "all state funds be deposited in the Washington Investment Trust and be guaranteed by the state and used to promote the common good and public benefit of all the people and their businesses within [the] state."

Poverty Soars in America

Joseph Kishore
14 September 2011

The poverty rate in the US soared to 15.1 percent in 2010, its highest level since 1993, according to a report released by the Census Bureau on Tuesday. Household incomes continued to fall sharply, amidst the worst jobs crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s, and the number of people without health insurance increased.

The bureau's report documents a shocking decline in the living standards of millions of people, a devastating indictment of the policies of the Obama administration and the entire political establishment. The new figures cover conditions one year after the supposed beginning of the recovery in June 2009.

The poverty rate increased nearly a full percentage point, from 14.3 percent in 2009. It was the third consecutive annual increase in the poverty rate and the fourth consecutive annual increase in the number of people living in poverty. Last year, there were 46.2 million people living in poverty, defined at the absurdly low level of about $22,000 a year for a family of four and $11,000 a year for an individual.

Palestinians Are Living the Native American Experience

Today I heard that Obama is still strongly supporting Israeli policies, shipment of US weapons and funds to Israel.  He will not support the UN efforts to create a two state resolution to end genocide in the largest open-air prison in the world. Genocide in Palestine, genocide north of Toronto with the Tar Sands--the pictures Indigenous people brought to DC show endless miles of barren landscape, not a weed, nothing living in what was forested beautiful land. I say rescind the corporate charters! and re-election means the end of living beings and the earth?  How do such actions re-elect a leader?? 

By Jimbo Simmons, Choctaw

Censored News
I am one of a group of Indians from several tribes that have been keeping a spiritual vigil with a sacred fire burning continuously for more than two months at a place called Segora Te, which has held the remains of our ancestors for more than three thousand years. The city of Vallejo, California calls it Glen Cove, after one of the 19th century colonizers, and it now wants to develop the land. A similar project is taking place in Jerusalem, where Israel is building a so-called “Museum of Tolerance” on an ancient Muslim graveyard confiscated from Palestinians.

This is hardly the only experience that we share with Palestinians. Most of both peoples have been expelled from their ancestral lands. Both are denied anything more than token sovereignty for their people. Both are kept in abject poverty, which, in the case of the Palestinians, has been called, “putting Palestinians on a diet” by Israeli policy makers.

This year, I accepted an invitation from the Free Palestine Movement, a U.S. nonprofit, to sail to Gaza with the Freedom Flotilla. I recognize that Israel will probably not let us in, and may even use brutal means to discourage us. However, the 1973 Indian defense of Wounded Knee from assault by U.S. forces is also part of our experience, and a reminder that the struggle for our rights often demands sacrifice, whether we are Indian or Palestinian.

Tacoma administrators resort to blame game

Teachers Fighting for Dignity, Respect in Tacoma

In Contract News on September 11, 2011 at 9:46 pm

Tacoma teachers remain focused on negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement that is focused on what’s best for students and their teachers. Read a letter from Tacoma teacher and bargainer John Solberg.

Less than a day before Tacoma teachers take a strike vote, the Tacoma School Board and central administration are resorting to scare tactics and spin in an effort to intimidate teachers and turn parents against them. It’s a typical ploy when school district administrators refuse to negotiate in good faith. It won’t work in Tacoma.

Here is what Tacoma teachers and the community need to know:
There is no contract settlement with Tacoma teachers, who are working under a contract that expired Aug. 31. Teachers started school on Sept. 1 believing the school district administration was serious about reaching a fair contract settlement. Tacoma teachers believe the administration’s current proposals are not in the best interest of students and do not meet the goals and standards identified by Tacoma teachers over the last year.

Suncadia Community Meeting--don't miss this!

Mariah, from Washington Community Action Network is giving us an update on the event she describes as the the biggest direct action against the excesses of corporate power in this state since the WTO protests in Seattle. Every day new information and developments unfold that are setting up this "Showdown in Suncadia" to be a defining moment in our struggle for better tax equity and adequate funding for basic human services.

Save Sept 21 and 22nd (one of the two is fine). We are asking all our supporters and allies to meet us up at Camp Koinonia near Cle Elum. We may have a sponsored charter bus to drive to and from Olympia to transport our Thurston County supporters to the action. Transportation will be arranged--and we need you to attend this session to get all the details.

Clearly there are a lot of plans being made so that each organization can participate in ways that are most beneficial and consistent with their own purposes, while working in concert with all the other partners.

Move to Amend, Olympia is providing two Civil Rights quizzes, and our corporate robots for this stellar event. You may attend one, or both days. Camping is available for overnight guests. Come hear specific details!

RSVP / forward questions - M2AOly@gmail.com

                                                            

Urge the National Building Museum to Rescind the Award to Caterpillar Inc.

Last August 24, the Democracy Convention had listed in a program on corporate power abuses, Caterpillar, with a brief background on their human rights violations.
This call to action is from Cindy and Craig Corrie.  MG

Despite a long history of complicity in human rights abuses and violations of international law, Caterpillar Inc. has been selected to receive the National Building Museum's Henry C. Turner Prize for Innovation in Construction Technology. This prize, to be awarded in Washington DC on September 14th, is given annually to recognize "an invention, an innovative methodology, and/or exceptional leadership by an individual or team of individuals in construction technology." Sadly, in Palestine and around the world, Caterpillar and its bulldozers have become a symbol of the Israeli occupation and of destruction - rather than one of innovative building and construction appropriate to the National Building Museum and the Henry C. Turner prize.

Please act now! Sign our petition from individuals and organizations and tell the National Building Museum that it must reconsider its decision to reward Caterpillar Inc.'s complicity in human rights violations. 

For decades, Caterpillar Inc. has sold equipment, sometimes built to military specifications and weaponized in Israel, that is used by the Israeli government in illegal operations against the Palestinian people - to demolish Palestinian homes, to kill and injure unarmed Palestinian and international civilians, to destroy olive trees and farmland, and to facilitate expropriation of Palestinian territory through construction of Jewish-only settlements and an apartheid wall. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) recently reported that home demolitions in 2011 have already led to over 2,000 Palestinian civilians being displaced or affected.

Civil Rights in Northampton

Well done! Inspiring resolution passed by Northampton.  Next step, each city council member is signing the resolution, unanimously.  Local police are supportive, in fact, led the effort.

NORTHAMPTON - "Which immigration program aimed at identifying immigrants who are serious criminals stores biometric data, like fingerprints, on people who are arrested?"

On cue, Jeopardy music emanating from a small tape recorder filled the room. Jeff Napolitano, the man holding the tape recorder and the director of the American Friends Service Committee of Western Massachusetts, began to dance. The seven or so trivia teams gathered at the Yellow Sofa on Main Street began talking among themselves in hurried, hushed tones.

And then their time was up. The seven or so teams raised their sheets and displayed their answer to the judges. Many had the question right.

Their answer? The Secure Communities program. The tally man recorded 200 points, the question's worth, next to the names of the teams who had answered correctly.

But while Wednesday night's "Civil Rights Trivia" was aimed at being fun and educational, it also had a more serious purpose.

The Preserving our Civil Rights campaign, the organizers of the trivia event, announced that a resolution urging the city not to participate in the Secure Communities program would be put to a vote at the next City Council Meeting on Aug. 18. The measure has won the support of Council President David Narkewicz and Northampton Police Chief Russell Sienkiewicz, they said.

"Secure Communities is a program that breaks up communities. It does exactly the opposite of what it says," Napolitano said. "It makes people afraid to call the police and it increases surveillance over the population."