Salem Human Rights Coalition

03/24/2026

The Salem Human Rights Coalition is proud to be one of Salem Film Fest's many sponsors. This year, we're highlighting "A Place of Absence", a film about a group of Central American women who travel the migrant route in search of their children who vanished trying to reach the U.S.

Join us this Sunday @ 2:45pm at the Peabody Ess*x Museum! Get tickets here: https://www.salemfilmfest.com/films

https://vimeo.com/1166539419/483eeaa570?fl=pl&fe=vl

This is "A PLACE OF ABSENCE - Trailer" by Salem Film Fest on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them.

07/01/2025

Reminder that this event is coming up next week.
If you live, work, or just spend significant time in Salem, and have concerns about food access and security; this conversation will be of interest to you. This event is free, and you can register at the link below, or use the QR code.
Refreshments will be provided, as well as some activities for kids.

06/01/2025

At the next Salem Food Policy Council meeting on Monday, June 2nd at 6pm we will have Jennifer Kressler from the MA Department of Transitional Assistance to talk about the Healthy Incentives Program. Join us in person at City Hall Annex (1st flr medium conference room @ 98 Washington St) or by Zoom at

Zoom is the leader in modern enterprise cloud communications.

05/27/2025

We will not be holding a June meeting. See you all in July.

05/09/2025

If your first response to this is "Oh, it's only for 'illegals', they'd never do that to *real* citizens."
You,
A: Never read the poem
and
B: Are part of the problem.

Unless you believe rights are for everyone, they apply to no one. Believing rights only apply to some, is called "Privilege".

White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller said Friday that President Trump and his team are “actively looking at” suspending habeas corpus as part of the administration’s immigration crackdo…

05/05/2025

Salem Human Rights Coalition
Tuesday, May 6th, 2025 5:30pm
Online Meeting via Zoom

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83466103199

Notice is hereby given that a Human Rights Coalition meeting will be held on Tuesday, May 6th, 2025, at 5:30 p.m., via remote participation in accordance with Chapter 2 of the Acts of 2023. Pursuant to Section 30A of chapter 20 of the acts of 2021, as amended by 2 section 40 of chapter 2 of the acts of 2023, and further amended by Section 1 of Chapter 2 of the Acts of 2025, the City is authorized to conduct remote meetings of its public bodies through June 30, 2027. Every effort will be made to ensure that the public can adequately access the proceedings in real time, via technological means.
Salem Human Rights Coalition Values
• We value and respect members of all communities.
• We welcome people of every age, ancestry, color, disability, ethnicity, family status, gender identity or expression, immigration status, marital status, military status, national origin, race, religion, s*x or s*xual orientation.
• We will create a brave space for all participants at SHRC meetings, whether in-person or online.
• We will challenge the use of microaggressions*, and we will not tolerate abusive or bullying behavior.
* Microaggressions are casual remarks, questions, or actions that are painful because they have to do with a person's membership in a group discriminated against or subject to stereotypes.
We expect ALL participants to abide by SHRC values while attending the meeting, or risk expulsion.
Meeting Agenda
I. Welcome
II. Introduction of guests and Public Comment
III. Reports from the Coalition
i) Chair
ii) Clerk (Minutes from Past Meetings)
iii) Treasurer (Financials)
iv) Liaisons and Coalition members

IV. Old Business:
i) Membership; New Member slots. Youth Voices
(a) Youth Commission Liaison
(b) Holding Space for young voices; how many youth positions on Coalition
(c) Essays writ large. Partnering with other orgs to sponsor and promote writing contests, similar to SSU’s MLK event.
(d) Information; getting the correct information out to the people. Possible revival of newsletter.
V. Upcoming Events
VI. Next Meeting: June 3rd, 2025
VII. Adjournment

04/29/2025

Link to list of harms in the comments.

The Trump administration’s first 100 days in office have been a relentless barrage of actions that violate, threaten, or undermine the human rights of people in the United States and abroad.

04/18/2025

Another move by this administration to curtail rights. Once they ignore abuses abroad, they will be better positioned to commit them domestically.

03/31/2025

Salem Human Rights Coalition
Tuesday, April 1st, 2025 5:30pm
Online Meeting via Zoom
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/tZcpce-prjgrE91k3fbfjzJ3scXRBarJ1BYU/ics?icsToken=98tyKuGrqj0sG9SWsRCORpwqBo_oM-vziHZcj_oMl0zjASZZeCmlJeF6AJB-AvKB

Notice is hereby given that a Human Rights Coalition meeting will be held on Tuesday, April 1st, 2025, at 5:30 p.m., via remote participation in accordance with Chapter 2 of the Acts of 2023. Every effort will be made to ensure that the public can adequately access the proceedings in real time, via technological means.
Salem Human Rights Coalition Values
• We value and respect members of all communities.
• We welcome people of every age, ancestry, color, disability, ethnicity, family status, gender identity or expression, immigration status, marital status, military status, national origin, race, religion, s*x or s*xual orientation.
• We will create a brave space for all participants at SHRC meetings, whether in-person or online.
• We will challenge the use of microaggressions*, and we will not tolerate abusive or bullying behavior.
* Microaggressions are casual remarks, questions, or actions that are painful because they have to do with a person's membership in a group discriminated against or subject to stereotypes.
We expect ALL participants to abide by SHRC values while attending the meeting, or risk expulsion.
Meeting Agenda
I. Welcome
II. Introduction of guests and Public Comment
III. Reports from the Coalition
i) Chair
ii) Clerk (Minutes from Past Meetings)
iii) Treasurer (Financials)
iv) Liaisons and Coalition members

IV. Old Business:
i) Membership; New Member slots. Youth Voices
(a) Youth Commission Liaison
(b) Holding Space for young voices; how many youth positions on Coalition
(c) Essays writ large. Partnering with other orgs to sponsor and promote writing contests, similar to SSU’s MLK event.
(d) Information; getting the correct information out to the people. Possible revival of newsletter.
V. Upcoming Events
VI. Next Meeting: May 6th, 2025
VII. Adjournment

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03/31/2025

Happy International Transgender Day of Visibility.
To all our Trans, and Gender Non-Conforming siblings;
We see you!
We love you!

03/26/2025

Issued March 26, 2025

Statement by SEIU President April Verrett on Tufts Graduate Student Detained by ICE
April Verrett, president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), issued the following statement after a graduate student at Tufts University was detained by federal immigration authorities Tuesday evening:

WASHINGTON, DC – “Rumeysa Ozturk, graduate student at Tufts University and an SEIU Local 509 member, was snatched by masked federal immigration authorities on Tuesday night on her way to Ramadan services. Her arrest, with no charges filed, is yet another chilling example of this administration’s efforts to use immigration actions to target and silence people merely for criticizing U.S. policy in the Middle East. Ozturk, from Turkey, had a valid student visa, and her lawyer has no idea where she has been taken or why, though she had recently co-authored an op-ed in the student newspaper in support of the people of Palestine.

This is about the freedom we all have to speak our minds without fear of government attacks. The First Amendment is being burned before our very eyes by an administration that has shown that it is willing to do whatever it takes to carry out its extremist agenda. In recent weeks, the administration has threatened university funding and arrested foreign graduate students with little or no explanation. We will not forget Mahmoud Khalil, a graduate student activist from Columbia University, Badar Khan Suri, a professor and postdoctoral scholar on religion and peace studies from Georgetown University, Rasha Alawieh, an assistant professor of medicine and kidney transplant specialist from Brown University, and others whose names we don’t yet know.

America’s role as a beacon of freedom and human rights is being extinguished, and our leading universities are rapidly becoming graveyards for free speech rights, with students and faculty living in fear. As a union representing workers across higher education, including faculty, graduate workers and administrative staff, we call upon university officials, elected leaders and the courts to stand together to defend the rights of students and faculty. We demand that this administration respect due process, transparency, free speech, and basic decency when it wields its vast immigration powers.”