A call to act: MJS 2006 As the coal hearted mining companies continue to colonize and ravage the beautiful and sacred mountains of central and Southern Appalachia we will step up our resistance yet again and fight to save the land that is the foundation of our culture and gives us life.

Charlottesville doesn't look like a town where 25 percent of the residents
live in poverty, but that's only because the poor people's housing is
cunningly hidden off the main roads, so the UVa alumni who pour in every
fall for Cavalier games don't have to see it. If you shop at the upscale
Barracks Road Shopping Center instead of Sam's Club, if you drive instead of
taking the buses, you could live here indefinitely thinking everything is
just fine, thank you, ma'am -- unaware of the desperation going on within a
two-mile radius.

But I know the true state of things in this lovely Blue Ridge mountain town,
because I've been hanging out with the Virginia Organizing Project folks
ever since I moved here in 2001 -- agitating for a living wage in the local
hotels as well as the university, which is the largest local employer.
Another one of my informants is a lady who works behind the deli counter at
Whole Foods, and the fact that she does so tells you a lot about wages at
UVa: She has another full-time job there as a housekeeper.

Read the words of Rashid Qawi Al-Amin. He is a Muslim, an African American, an ex-soldier, and a prisoner in the state of Virginia. Al-Amin
is a long-time prison justice activist and jail house lawyer. He writes us from Greenville Correction Center.

Information from United Students Against Sweatshops on last night's arrests of 17 students occupying University of Virginia President John Casteen's office, and telephone numbers to call and an automated e-mail to send in solidarity.

Members of the Living Wage Campaign at the University of Virginia have begun a sit-in in Madison Hall, where University President John T. Casteen III's office is located. Those students plan to sit in until the University accepts its moral responsibility and commits to paying a real living wage. President Casteen has the authority to ensure that all University employees, direct and contracted, are paid a living wage. Help the Living Wage Campaign and take a second to send a
letter to UVA's president by visiting: www.uvalivingwage.net

Sunday, April 9 -- Rally for Immigrant Rights -- around 2:30 in Monroe Park.

This will be Richmond's answer to the very repressive bills now being considered in Congress that would make it a felony just to be in this country illegally; make it a felony to HELP someone who is in this country, including giving food and water to people dying while trying to walk across the Arizona desert; and erect a 700-mile-long fence on the Mexico-U.S. border.

This rally is being put on by Mexicans Without Borders, the Virginia Organizing Project, the Defenders for Freedom Justice and Equality, and the Legal Aid Justice Center, and is being promoted by La Selecta Spanish-language radio station WVNZ 1320 AM. Please come out if you can or pass the word around.

for more information call cristina rebeil at (804) 643-1086, ext. 106 (for spanish); or cathy woodson at (804) 261-7497 (for english.) flyers in spanish and english are attached in a following post.

Resource Information Help for the Disadvantage, RIHD, Inc. a non profit organization will be hosting public safety awareness meeting throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia.
RIHD, Inc. mission is to assist, uplift and empowerer at-risk youth, inmates, ex-offenders, their families, love ones and communities in despair, with self help and rehabilitation. To increase education, awareness and decrease crime and the recidivism rate.
Join Us, Help Us, as We Go About Saving Children, Families and Communities.

--do a little and a little at a time eventually makes a big difference -- Barbara Cage

Virginia Prepares to Execute Dexter Lee Vinson

Iraq: Untold Stories Scheduled for Monday, March 27, Siegel Center, VCU, 7 p.m.

The Richmond Peace Education Center (RPEC) will sponsor a public forum on the impact of the U.S. war in Iraq on human rights and democracy on the evening of Monday, March 27 at 7 p.m.. “Iraq: Untold Stories,�? will be held in the Founders’ Room on the 2nd floor of the Siegel Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, 1200 W. Broad Street. The program is free and open to the public.

LISTEN UP! THE REVOLUTION WILL BE AIRED! Every Tuesday from 12:30PM - 1:00PM catch one of the most progressive half-hours on the radio, or check the online stream at WRIR.org. Richmond IndyMedia News airs the news and views you post at richmond.indymedia.org.

This Sunday, March 19th: Join Richmond's opposition to American military aggression.

The Richmond Peace Education Center (RPEC) will sponsor its second annual Youth Peace Summit on April 22, at Fifth Baptist Church, 1415 W. Cary Street.