Fwd: Important Westboro protest information for Thursday

[Peace over Prejudice]

- Peace over Prejudice (PoP) Campaign
at Michigan State University -

www.popmsu.com
pop...@gmail.com

*Join our Facebook group: We Promote Peace over Prejudice on Campus

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Justin Lippi <lipp...@msu.edu>
Date: Wed, Nov 17, 2010 at 4:32 PM
Subject: Important Westboro protest information for Thursday
To:

Good afternoon SPARTANS:

The message below has been jointly issued by MSU students and alumni who are coordinating a Spartan presence at tomorrow's events in response to the arrival of Westboro Baptist Church picketers.  These include current Alliance of Queer and Ally Students Chairperson Nick Pfost and former Alliance ASMSU Representative and MSU alumnus Justin Lippi.  Please help them out by passing this information along to your friends, family, coworkers, and allies.

For people who want to protest the Westboro Baptist Church, we are asking everyone to go to the parking lot of All Saints Episcopal Church on Abbot between 2:00pm and 4:00pm.  This site is safely removed from the Westboro demonstration site at East Lansing High School and will be a positive demonstration where we can send an affirming message about what East Lansing and MSU is about and that we are not for hate.  There will be a variety of activities at All Saints Episcopal and the Unitarian Universalist Church  helping people debrief, process emotions and come together as a community to make something positive from an otherwise unwelcome intrusion on our community.

A group of students and clergy will be walking over from the MSU Union lobby leaving at approximately 2:20 p.m.  If you would like a safe way to walk over to the protest, please join us.

This group thrives on goading people into confrontation and suing.  They are known for being able to make even the most level-headed people become physically violent. It is literally how they finance their way of life. Please do not support them by going near them and doing anything that could possibly open yourself or the city of East Lansing up to liability.  They will personally sue YOU. Watch this video for more: http://tinyurl.com/332bpf2

If you are interested in going to the Westboro site, we ask that you go with the group from All Saints for the symbolic cleansing ritual after the Westboro group leaves.  If you insist on going to the protest site while the WBC is there, please keep in mind that you are not only representing yourself, but MSU and East Lansing.  So keep it classy and keep the energy positive.  Michigan Peace Team will be on-hand to help, but If you feel yourself becoming too angry or negative, know that you can Leave and go to All Saints where people will be available to talk to instead of acting out violently.

If you can't make it to All Saints but still want to help turn this into a positive, a site to give donations has been set up online.  East Lansing High School students will be collecting funds which will be donated to a variety of organizations that are opposed by the WBC.  The donations are being accepted through the Peace Education Center, so make sure to write "Unity in our Community" in the "designation" box so that the money goes to the right place.  Donate here:  http://bit.ly/UnityInOurCommunity

To get to All Saints Episcopal, the address is 800 Abbot.  Take Abbot north from Grand River,  All Saints will be on your right-hand side, just north of the Hanna Center.  The Unitarian Universalist Church is farther north on Abbot, take a right before the Library and it will be just around the corner.

Map for Allsaints: http://tinyurl.com/allsaintsel

Map for UU Church: http://tinyurl.com/uuchurchel

Go Green!