I visited Gaza as a new reconciliation deal raised hopes for Palestinians who live there. Here’s what I saw and heard. 

Editor’s note: Earlier this month, Jennifer Bing and other AFSC staff from the U.S. traveled to the occupied Palestinian territory to meet with other staff in the region. We’ll be publishing their reflections on AFSC’s Acting in Faith blog in the coming weeks.

This week, Foreign Policy published an FBI memo from early August that claims there is an increased threat of violence from “Black Identity Extremists,” a term recently invented by law enforcement. Activists and defenders of civil liberties across the country were quick to point out that this both had no basis in fact, and could easily be used to justify surveillance and disruption of Black activists. Here’s what we’re reading to learn more.   

Chris Crass is a longtime organizer, educator, and writer working to build powerful working class-based, feminist, multiracial movements for collective liberation.  He is one of the leading voices in the country calling for and supporting white people to work for racial justice.

Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico on Sept. 21, knocking out the island’s electrical grid, destroying homes, and leaving at least 34 people dead. A slow response from the Trump administration, and years of austerity measures targeting the U.S. colony, have only made the situation worse. But Puerto Ricans on the island and in the diaspora are working together to rebuild, and to demand change. Here’s what we’re reading to learn more.

Chris Crass is a longtime organizer, educator, and writer working to build powerful working class-based, feminist, multiracial movements for collective liberation.  He is a one of the leading voices in the country calling for and supporting white people to work for racial justice.

For several years, AFSC has been deeply involved in opposing the police militarization program known as Urban Shield in the Bay Area. Urban Shield is a global weapons expo and SWAT training exercise that brings together law enforcement agencies and first responders from the U.S. and around the world—including those forces known for severe human rights abuses, including Mexico and the apartheid state of Israel—to collaborate on new forms of surveillance, state repression, and state violence..  

Community members continue efforts to keep Juana in the U.S. with her family where she belongs. 

It was an odd scene for the Fourth of July in High Point, North Carolina—40 people milling around an office park, all with cellphones stuck to their ears, the afternoon sun beating down on platters of food and tubs of ice cream on folding tables set up in the parking lot. A large emblem posted on the front of the building gave more away: “U.S. Senator, Thom Tillis.” The festive phone-callers were all leaving voicemails on his answering machine in Washington, D.C.