What is the Green New Deal, anyway? Join us this Thursday at our chapter meeting to find out what it is now and what it might become. We will hear from our friends at the Sunrise Movement, who are valiantly mobilizing to pressure congress to support the resolution put forward in the house. We will also get a recap of California DSA’s convention that took place in LA earlier this month, and talk together about actionable ideas coming out of it. As always, we will lay out the work being done by our working groups (healthcare, housing, and climate) and discuss opportunities to get involved. Lastly, we will go over the Bernie Sanders presidential endorsement process which will happen soon both nationally and for our chapter. Hope to see you all soon for a meeting jam packed with hope, good times, each other (the best part) and snacks.

““This is not a book about the politics of immigration. This book––at its core––is not about immigration at all. This book is about homelessness, not in a traditional sense, but in the unsettled, unmoored psychological state that undocumented immigrants like myself find ourselves in. This book is about lying and being forced to lie to get by; about passing as an American and as a contributing citizen; about families, keeping them together, and having to make new ones when you can’t. This book is about constantly hiding from the government and, in the process, hiding from ourselves. This book is about what it means to not have a home.

After 25 years of living illegally in a country that does not consider me one of its own, this book is the closest thing I have to freedom.”

—Jose Antonio Vargas, from Dear America

Looking to deepen your own race and racism education? The SURJ Book Club reads books on racial justice and encourages a selection of novels, other fiction, historical non-fiction, short stories, graphic novels, poetry, etc. Even if you don’t get through the entire read, please come and be part of our discussions.

**In addition to this month’s meeting, we also encourage people to attend Jose Antonio Vargas speak at UCSB on Feb 12th (see https://events.ucsb.edu/event/life-in-america-as-an-undocumented-immigrant/).”

Engaging Communities with Resilient Love
Healing Through Restorative Justice
Fania Davis
Tues, Feb 26th, 6 PM
Lecture/MCC Theater

A quickly emerging field which invites a fundamental shift in the way we think about and do justice, restorative justice is based on a desired set of principles and practices to mediate conflict, strengthen community, and repair harm. This talk will speak to the importance of restorative justice and how it can contribute to processes of individual and community healing. Fania Davis is co-founder and Director of Restorative Justice for Oakland Youth (RJOY) and a civil rights attorney with a Ph.D. in indigenous knowledge. A national thought leader in the field, Fania Davis is a long-time social justice activist, restorative justice practitioner, and professor.

The following Friday, Mar. 1 we will watch Building the Solidarity Economy. This is from a webinar with David Cobb about Cooperative Humboldt, an initiative to “identify, support and nurture local cooperative economic efforts that help people meet their needs without exploiting or oppressing anyone, without being exploited or oppressed by anyone, and commit to do so in an ecologically sustainable manner.” 

At 3D Fridays we start at 6 pm with a potluck dinner for those who can make it. We will start the film at 7pm and then circle up for dialogue afterward. The location is at Santa Barbara Together, 123 W. Padre St., Suite E, SB. Please RSVP because space is limited in our video meeting room.