In the afternoon of Saturday, January 14, local activist organizations Community Voices Heard and Nobody Leaves Mid-Hudson will hold an assembly at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church to form the “Hudson Valley Hate Free Zone,” described as “a network of people and institutions who have committed to standing up against hate, and for the protection of communities coming under attack.”
According to a release, the Hate Free Zone is being formed in response to an increasingly hostile climate for immigrants, people of color, Muslims, Jews, LGBTQ people, women and workers. The groups are inviting individuals, businesses and organizations of all kinds to pledge their support by visiting tiny.cc/hatefreepledge, which asks for support for the idea and whether the visitor is “interested in pledging and declaring your business, office, house of worship, or community organization a Hate Free Zone.”
A “hate free” Hudson Valley is defined as: “a Hudson Valley where an attack on one vulnerable community is an attack on all vulnerable communities; a Hudson Valley where sanctuary policies that protect immigrants from deportation, access to driver’s licenses for all immigrants, investment in public education instead of mass incarceration, and other measures that choose solidarity over hate are realized.”
The event runs from 1-3 p.m. St. Luke’s is located at 850 Wolcott Ave, Beacon.
Community Voices Heard, which has offices in New York City, Westchester and Newburg, describes itself as “a member-led multi-racial organization, principally women of color and low-income families in New York State that builds power to secure social, economic and racial justice for all.”
Nobody Leaves Mid-Hudson, based in Poughkeepsie, describes itself as a “grassroots community organization that brings the people most directly impacted by injustice together to fight around the issues that most deeply affect our community and challenge the systems of power that are at the root of these problems. Nobody Leaves Mid-Hudson is committed to building working class power in order to strengthen social movements, end oppression, and realize a world that puts people before profit.”
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