When N.L. Dennis was singing in a recording studio with Toots and the Maytals, Bob Marley stopped by to listen. Marley praised Dennis's delivery. Today, Dennis lives in his native Jamaica and joins hundreds of Jamaicans who come to Vermont every summer in search of better paying work. Most of them work on vegetable farms and at apple orchards. Dennis works as a reggae musician.
On June 5 at 6 p.m., Dennis and the Thunderballs will play outside the Hooker Dunham theater in Brattleboro.
A bus will leave from Deerfield, Massachusetts, near Greenfield, to go to an ICE protest in Burlington, Vermont. The bus will leave on May 27 at 8:30 a.m. It will arrive back in Deerfield by 3:30 p.m. Tickets cost $46 round-trip and are available via https://fccpr.us.
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In Northampton, eight peace protesters were arrested on April 29 for non-violent civil disobedience. They blocked the entrance to the L3Harris military supply factory. The protesters have a web page at:
www.instagram.com/DemilitarizeWesternMass
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In Brattleboro on April 24, two people were arrested for non-violent civil disobedience. The Valley Post was there. The protesters blocked the entrance to Citizen's Bank, which is “helping for-profit prison companies get the cash they need to lock more people away in ICE detention.” That quote is from:
On April 28, Brattleboro resident Ellen Schwartz asked the Valley Post to publish this announcement: Friday, 5/1, May Day: International Workers’ Day! The Vermont Workers' Center will be supporting Migrant Justice by joining their picket line outside of the Williston, Vermont Hannaford supermarket from 3 p.m. until 5 p.m. as part of their campaign to get Hannaford to join Milk with Dignity. From 5 p.m. until 7 p.m., there will be a rally and march to the ICE facility in Williston. Please use:
In Holyoke on May 1 there will be a march to demand that politicians tax the rich and help the poor. Other goals include abolishing ICE and war. The march is being organized by the Western Mass Area Labor Federation and other groups. It will start at 4:30 p.m. at the corner of Dwight and Heritage streets.
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The town of Jamaica, Vermont is in the same county as Brattleboro. On April 19 in Jamaica, an on-duty state police officer severely injured Reika Fisher, age 18, and Kaori Shiya age 50.
The nurses at the hospital in Greenfield on April 14 voted to authorize a strike. “We are united in standing up for our patients and our community,” said Suzanne Love. She is a nurse at the hospital. “Nurses are committed to securing a contract that ensures patient safety and keeps care local.”
The nurses have a web site at www.MassNurses.org.
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To protest Trump, on March 28 in Northampton about 7,000 people were at a rally. In Greenfield, 3,500 people marched. In Brattleboro, 3,000 people marched. In Amherst, 1,000 people were at a rally. Another 1,000 people were at the Keene rally. “Masked secret police terrorizing our communities. An illegal, catastrophic war putting us in danger and driving up our costs. Attacks on our freedom of speech, our civil rights, our freedom to vote. Costs pushing families to the brink. Trump wants to rule over us as a tyrant.
In Brattleboro, 160 nurses voted to authorize a strike, one of the nurses, Tracy Ouellette, told the Valley Post on March 23. She is the president of the Brattleboro Federation of Nurses. The date to start the strike has not yet been set. The nurses work at Brattleboro Memorial Hospital. The hospital's contract proposals “would hurt patient care and drive staff away. Proposals include no wage increases for three years,” the union said in a press release. The nurses have a web site at:
https://aftvermont.org/about-us
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Ladysmith Black Mambazo will perform in Keene on April 2 at 7 p.m. The concert will be at the Colonial theater. A video of the band performing is at:
On March 16 in the Pioneer Valley town of Westhampton, about 200 students walked out of the public high school to protest proposed budget cuts. Two of the organizers were students Lucy McVey and Augustus Niswonger. On March 17, they emailed the Valley Post, “We planned to make the walkout both a call to action and a way to spread more facts and information to students.