Tonight I went to my first Montgomery County Civil Rights Coalition (MCCRC) meeting -- their August meeting; they meet monthly, trying to move around the County each time, and they co-sponsor events. I wanted to see #MCCRC for myself, and represent the MoCo Pride Center, where I’m a Visionary (founding leader). It was also a good way to see the Islamic Center of Maryland for the first time. MCCRC is a citizen body, not a County one -- “We are individuals and organizations organizing to protect our civil liberties and civil rights everywhere by protecting them where we live — in Montgomery County, Maryland.”
Senator William C. Smith, Jr. presented and took questions, and then we broke into committees -- I attended #PoliceAccountability, where we focused on “student resource officers” (SROs, police officers in / on call for schools). Then we regrouped for committee reports -- the others were #AntiIslamophobia, #Sanctuary / #Immigration, #Surveillance and #BystanderIntervention training. We were joined by some County and state candidates, and invited to #IslamicCenterofMaryland’s prayer service which began during the meeting.
MCCRC is also working on forming an LGBTQ committee, and is part of the upcoming event Resisting Surveillance of MoCo Youth, which is also at and with the ICM. Special thanks to MCCRC member Lee Blinder for helping me get connected.
More about the meeting is here in MCCRC's e-mail, and on Facebook as an event and as a post.
#MoCoCivilRights #MontgomeryCounty #MoCoMD #MoCoMaryland #MoCo #civilrights #resist #MoCoPrideCenter #IslamicCenterMaryland #IslamicCenterMD
