Vulnerability of the Displaced: Refugees and Trafficking

A 2nd Cup 1111 E 11th St, Houston

In observation of World Refugee Day, join us for a panel discussion on the vulnerability of refugees and other displaced persons to human trafficking, both domestically and internationally.  The panel will include, Christa Mayfield, Assistant Executive Director, Unbound Houston; Danielle Bolks, MSW, Senior Program Director, YMCA International Services; and Anne Chandler, Executive Director, Houston Office Tahirih Justice Center.  The event is sponsored by A 2nd Cup, FAWCO Alumnae USA (FAUSA) Houston and the Zonta Club of Houston.   Cookies and coffee will be provided.

Free

Got Privilege? Reflects Of the 19th Annual White Privilege Conference

Center for the Healing of Racism 3412 Crawford Street, Houston, TX, United States

Cherry Steinwender, Executive Director of the Center for the Healing of Racism, and Laura Gallier will reflect on their experience at the 19th Annual White Privilege Conference.

Free

Assistance for Refugees: Where We Are, Where We’re Going, and How You Can Help

U.S. Southern District Federal Courthouse 515 Rusk St., Third Floor, Houston

Please join the Honorable Keith Ellison, the Anti-Defamation League, and American Constitution Society for a conversation with Rebecca Heller, director and co-founder of the International Refugee Assistance Program.

Rebecca will be discussing the legal framework for refugee and asylum applicants, the current policies and laws surrounding this issue, and ways the legal community and others can help.

Dialogue on: “Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong”

Center for the Healing of Racism 3412 Crawford Street, Houston, TX, United States

School textbooks have played a key role in reinforcing and maintaining white supremacy and racism in the United States. James W. Loewen’s bestselling book Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook got Wrong, explores how historical myths continue to be perpetuated about everything from Columbus’s historic voyages to an honest evaluation of U.S. foreign policy. Please join us for one or both of two dialogues to discuss the issues presented in Loewen’s book: Tuesday, July 17, 2018 — Noon to 2:00 PM and/or Wednesday, July 18, 2018 — 6:30 to 8:30 PM.

Free. Donations encouraged. RSVP required.

Book Review: The War on Science

Christ the King Evangelical Lutheran Church 2353 Rice Blvd., Houston

You are invited to attend a talk reviewing the book, The War on Science:  Who's Waging It, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do About It.

Free

Youth Justice Visioning Session

United Way-Greater Houston 50 Waugh Dr., Houston, United States

The Houston community is greatly impacted by youth incarceration, as Harris County commits the highest number of youth to Texas' state secure youth lockups. Additionally, local Harris County officials plan to build a new juvenile detention center at an estimated cost of $65-70 million. Kids do not belong in prisons, and the voices of Houston residents- particularly those most affected by youth incarceration- must be heard if a youth justice transformation is to take hold and be successful in Texas. Join us for a visioning session to answer this question: What do young people need to avoid justice involvement and lead successful lives?

Free

Houston’s Green Building Resource Center

online not applicable, not applicable, United States

Christ the King Evangelical Lutheran Church invites you to a monthly environmental education web meeting series whose theme in 2018 is Stewardship. On Sunday, July 29 at 6 p.m., we welcome Steve Stelzer, Program Director for Houston’s Green Building Resource Center. Steve is an architect with 30 years’ experience who is focused on making Houston a greener place to live and work. He will discuss the center’s work to educate the public on healthy and energy/water/material-conserving design & construction. This mission is accomplished in a number of ways: a showroom highlighting building components, water conservation, site, and energy efficiency, monthly educational seminars on a wide variety of topics, and plan review services to suggest strategies to conserve energy and water, save money, & create a healthier building environment.

Free

Please join Amnesty International and guest speaker!

upstairs Central Market Community Room 3815 Westheimer, Houston

Free and open to the public; Amnesty International Houston, local 23 welcomes guest speaker; Melike Er.

Speaking on the issue of Human Rights in Turkey.

Free

Get to Know the System that Oppresses Us – Capitalism

Houston Communist Party Headquarters 3100 McKinney Street, Houston, TX, United States

There is much current attention to social and economic inequality. The Occupy movement did much to highlight the inequality and framed the issues as the 1% versus the 99%. Unfortunately, the root cause of inequality is kept a deep secret - theft of surplus value created by workers.

Sustainability at Rice University

online not applicable, not applicable, United States

Christ the King Evangelical Lutheran Church invites you to a monthly environmental education web meeting series whose theme in 2018 is Stewardship.

Free

Vote Smart: 2018 Facts Matter Tour

First Congregational Church of Houston 10840 Beinhorn Road, Houston, TX, United States

The Vote Smart: 2018 Facts Matter Tour will be hosted on September 9th at First Congregational Church in Houston.  This is the only Houston presentation on the national tour of this voter education program.

The Facts Matter Tour will address Voter Self-Defense strategies that help us
·       Learn how to view entertaining but dangerous political commercials that manipulate us instead of informing us
·       Take actions to defend our right to the facts, the truth, and the reality that our democracy depends on

Free

An Evening with Doug Blackmon

Memorial Drive United Methodist Church 12955 Memorial Drive, Houston

Dinner and conversation with Douglas Blackmon, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of “Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II."

$15

Dialogue: Racism

Center for the Healing of Racism 3412 Crawford Street, Houston, TX, United States

The Center for the Healing of Racism will presentDialogue: Racism, a two-day intensive workshop that educates participants about racism and facilitates the process by which they can begin to counter the effects of racism on their lives, empowering them to interrupt the cycle of racist attitudes. The workshop provides a safe, respectful and loving atmosphere for a diverse group of people to learn new information, share experiences, dispel fears and guilt, and get to know each another.

Dialogue: Racismwill be on two consecutive Saturdays, September 22 & 29 from 9 AM to 4:30 PM at 3412 Crawford Street, Houston, TX 77004.

Free. Donations appreciated. RSVP required.

Arjun Singh Sethi – AMERICAN HATE: SURVIVORS SPEAK OUT

Brazos Bookstore 2421 Bissonnet Street, Houston, TX, United States

In American Hate: Survivors Speak Out, Arjun Singh Sethi, a community activist and civil rights lawyer, chronicles the stories of individuals affected by hate. In a series of powerful, unfiltered testimonials, survivors tell their stories in their own words and describe how the bigoted rhetoric and policies of the Trump administration have intensified bullying, discrimination, and even violence toward them and their communities.

Free

The Green Book: African-American Travel in the Jim Crow Era

The DeLuxe Theater 3303 Lyons Avenue, Houston

Under Jim Crow segregation laws, African-Americans were often met with discrimination and intimidation as they traveled across the United States. Victor Green, a black postal worker in New York, published the first Negro Motorist Green Book in 1936 as a guide to businesses that would serve African-American travelers; over the next 28 years, the annual publication helped scores of motorists find hotels, tourist homes, restaurants, barber shops, beauty parlors, service stations and taverns across the country.

Green wrote that the Green Book would not be necessary “when we as a race will have equal opportunities and privileges.” He died in 1960 and the last edition of the guide was published in 1966. By that time, the development of the national highway system had decreased the chances of discrimination against African-American motorists. The passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act made the Green Book and similar publications obsolete, just as Green had predicted.

Houstonians Toya and Reuben Levi organized the Green Book Project to document African-Americans’ experiences traveling across the U.S. under Jim Crow through photos, interviews and documentation of existing sites listed in the Green Book. The Levis will discuss the history and legacy of the Green Book, as well as some of the Houston locations listed in the guide through the years, in this illustrated lecture.

Free

Triumph of the Human Spirit: Works from Houston’s Refugee and Immigrant Artists

St. John's School Campus 2401 Claremont Lane, Houston

This event will feature artwork from local refugee and immigrant artists at the YMCA's third annual art show and auction.

Proceeds from the sale of all artwork will be shared equally between the artists and YMCA International Services, where the funds will be used to support programming.

$25

Migrant Children in Crisis – Dehumanization and Deprivation in Immigration Detention

Willow Meadows Baptist Church 4300 W Bellfort Blvd, Houston

This is an interactive community event that begins with a conversation between physicians and faith leaders. The conversation will focus on the dehumanization and deprivations of children in immigration detention, that compounds the trauma from the conditions from which they flee and the harrowing journey towards the specter of freedom that follows.

John Kerry

Congregation Emanu El 1500 Sunset Blvd, Houston

John Kerry will appear at The Progressive Forum September 29. All attendees will receive a free copy of his memoir, Every Day Is Extra. Kerry was a decorated Vietnam War veteran but returned disillusioned and became a leader of the anti-Vietnam War veterans movement which led him into public life. He is a former five-term U.S. Senator, Democratic presidential candidate, and the 68th Secretary of State.

$150

Scripture & Science: What’s the Connection?

Christ the King Evangelical Lutheran Church 2353 Rice Blvd., Houston

Christ the King Evangelical Lutheran Church invites you to attend an Adult Forum that addresses scripture and science.  Lisa Brenskelle & Elmer Ledesma, leaders of the Creation Care Team at Christ the King, will consider:  Is there conflict or connection between scripture & science?  If there is connection, what connection exists?  If a connection exists, then scientific understanding matters for people of faith -  but, how can they distinguish good science from “fake news”?  Join us for this insightful Adult Forum!  Christ the King is located at 2353 Rice Blvd. in Houston.  Metro buses 41 and 27 stop nearby. For more information, contact Lisa Brenskelle at [email protected].

Free