In Northampton, 200 people attended a rally against racism on February 24. The goal was to support the principal of JFK middle school, who is African American. Someone recently started a racist Facebook page attacking him. The rally was promoted by a group that has a web page at www.facebook.com/REALNoho

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On February 20 in Hadley, Massachusetts, 30 or so people attended a union rally. Hadley borders Northampton. The rally was outside Whole Foods, which is owned by Amazon. Six-thousand Amazon workers in Alabama are trying to form a union. Amazon is fighting the workers. “These workers, a majority of whom are black, could become the first workers in the U.S. to defeat Amazon and win better wages and working conditions,” Lydia Wood told the Valley Post. She is an organizer with the Western Massachusetts Area Labor Federation.

On the same day in Northampton there was a labor rally outside Walmart. About 15 people were there. Wood said the event was “in solidarity with IUE-CWA members working at GE-Savant Lighting in Bucyrus, Ohio who make LED light bulbs exclusively for Walmart. These workers are fighting for their jobs as Walmart plans to outsource the production overseas.... We flyered customers coming into the store … and dropped off flyers inside to be shared with management before the end of the action.”

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Activists say 615 acres of forestland in Brookline, Vermont and two neighboring towns will soon be permanently protected from development. Brookline is five miles from Brattleboro. The deal should be done by February 28, Libby Mills told the Valley Post in a voice phone interview on February 18. She is on the board of the Windmill Hill Pinnacle Association. “The primary reasons to protect this land are climate change and wildlife habitat,” Mills said. “The trees hold carbon, which helps with climate change.... There will be hiking trails. The land will be open for hunting and we will pay property taxes.”

More information is at www.WindmillHillPinnacle.org. The group needs donations and volunteers.

Politicians decide how much to tax billionaires, and how much money to give to groups like the one that saved this land. The USA is losing 6,000 acres of open space to development every day.

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On February 17, a land trust announced it had saved 67 acres of farmland and forestland in Shelburne, Massachusetts. Shelburne borders Greenfield. More information is at:

https://www.massaudubon.org/news-events/press-room/2021/mass-aububon-rea...