The following article was submitted by Indivisible Progressive Watertown:
On Saturday, June 13, Indivisible Progressive Watertown hosted its third stand out this year in front of the East Watertown Citizens Bank branch at 630 Mt. Auburn St. Twenty-five people gathered to protest Citizens Bank’s connections to ICE prisons.
In addition to holding signs and passing out flyers to passersby and customers, attendees also “chalked the walk” with related messages. The stand out was part of a National Week of action organized by the De-ICE Citizens Bank coalition https://www.de-icecitizensbank.org/ to call attention to the role Citizens Bank plays in financing CoreCivic and the GeoGroup, two private prison companies running ICE Detention Centers. The GeoGroup is the owner of Delaney Hall in Newark, New Jersey, where inmates are participating in hunger and labor strikes. https://www.aclu.org/news/immigrants-rights/hundreds-at-delaney-hall-join-detained-people-across-country-in-hunger-strike-against-inhumane-conditions.
As a result of the abuse at Delaney Hall, Jersey City has withdrawn $265 million from Citizens Bank https://jcitytimes.com/jersey-city-to-pull-millions-from-bank-over-ice-detention-financing/. If you have an account with Citizens Bank and aren’t ready to close your account, you can sign the De-ICE Citizens Bank Not with our Money Pledge: https://www.de-icecitizensbank.org/take-action.
De-ICE Citizens Bank is excited to announce that we’re partnering with the two Jersey City Council members who led the effort to offer a webinar for local officials and activists on Monday, June 29th from 7-8 p.m. ET. (More info and registration.)
To learn more about Indivisible Progressive Watertown and upcoming actions, contact: indivisibleprogresswatertown@gmail.com. IPW is a chapter of Progressive Mass https://www.progressivemass.com/ and a member of the Indivisible Mass Coalition. https://indivisible-ma.org/. All are welcome.