WEST BRATTLEBORO — Something different is planned this month at the All Souls Church film series - a live event on Sunday, Oct. 28, instead of a film.
The church will host Mark Hughes, leader of “40 Days of Fire,” which he describes as “a statewide racial-justice, community-organizing campaign designed to educate and empower folks to participate in this important work in Vermont.”
The event will be the October offering in the church's ongoing program “Looking Inward at White Power and Privilege.” A free light lunch will be served at 11:30 a.m., and the free program will start at noon.
Hughes is the co-founder and executive director of Justice For All VT, which he describes as a grassroots organization that peruses racial justice within Vermont's criminal justice system through advocacy, education, and relationship building. JFA is a member of the Vermont Human Rights Council among other coalitions.
The organization's “40 Days of Fire” campaign is a joint effort with “Rights and Democracy,” a Vermont organization designed to build a popular movement to “to advance rights and build a real democracy,” according to its website.
In his information about the 40 Days campaign, Hughes said, “There has been an aggressive and persistent political assault across this nation (including Vermont), fueled with race baiting and based in white nationalism. At the same time Vermont, not unlike the rest of the nation, is undergirded in systemic racism and challenged with overt racism.
“40 Days of Fire is a statewide racial justice community organizing initiative designed for two purposes: to electorize the fight against the current use of racial dog whistles in discourse and debate by educating and empowering folks to break their silence; and to enlist Vermonters to learn more about and engage in our ongoing efforts in the fight against overt and systemic racism in Vermont.”
40 Days of Fire events are scheduled in several places across Vermont to enlist Vermonters to learn more about and to engage in efforts in the fight against overt and systemic racism in Vermont. Organizers will also mobilize voters to take a stand against racial pandering in politics.
The 40 Days of Fire initiative offers Vermonters in all communities an opportunity to host and participate in training and empowerment sessions, conduct workshops, register to vote, participate in voter engagement opportunities, and directly confront candidates and elected officials on the issues of racial justice and the rights of those in traditionally marginalized communities, Hughes said.