Silent Vigil Walk for Peace in Palestine and Israel on Sunday, October 6 at 6 p.m.

The Bloomington Multi-Faith Alliance invites community members to a silent vigil walk for
peace in Palestine and Israel on Sunday, October 6 at 6 p.m. As the anniversary of the
beginning of the current conflict nears, we will walk together with peace as our intention
and with hope for healing in our community and throughout the world. Those who wish to
keep watch with us are invited to bring your own candle or lantern, but, please, no slogans
or signs. We will walk in silence along the B-line trail, beginning at the Switchyard Park
Pavilion and walking north. As a community, we recognize the difficulty of producing a
unified statement that could begin to create the space for reconciliation, yet we wish to use
our action to articulate a desire to remain together as people of faith and a diverse
community committed to peace and conflict transformation.

Puerto Rican Bomba in Bloomington Indiana

Thursday, September 21, 2023

4:00 PM – 8:00 PMUniversity Collections at McCalla

4:00 PM at McCalla Collections
Screening and Talkback of Resistimos (2021), a film by Diana Quiñones Rivera. This documentary is about the current socio-economic and political issues in Puerto Rico, as seen through the lives of people practicing Bomba music. Bomba is an Afro Puerto Rican music and dance tradition that was born out of the struggle and survival of enslaved people all over the island. Resistimos documents the resurgence of this music as a tool to fight corruption, gender inequality and the austerity measures imposed in Puerto Rico by the US Fiscal Control Board in 2016.

6:00 PM at McCalla Collections

Bomba performance by Ivelisse Díaz and dance troup, Bomberxas De’Cora.

2023 La Fiesta del Otoño Celebrates Literature and Culture

Join neighbors and friends in celebrating the City of Bloomington Fiesta del Otoño at the Switchyard Park Pavilion on Saturday, September 16 from noon to 4 p.m. This event commemorates National Hispanic Heritage month, which is recognized each year from September 15 through October 15, and is a time to recognize and celebrate the many contributions, diverse cultures, and extensive histories of the American Latino community.

Ven y únete para celebrar la Fiesta del Otoño de la Ciudad de Bloomington en el Pavilion de Switchyard Park el sábado 16 de septiembre a partir del mediodía y hasta las 4 p.m. Este evento conmemora el Mes Nacional de la Herencia Hispana, que se reconoce cada año del 15 de septiembre al 15 de octubre, y es un momento para celebrar la diversidad de culturas latinas, sus historias y  contribuciones en Estados Unidos. 

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City of Bloomington and U.S. Department of Justice Host United Against Hate Forum

On Thursday, September 7th, from 6-9 p.m., the U.S. Department of Justice and City of Bloomington will host the United Against Hate Forum in the Council Chambers of City Hall, 401 N. Morton Street.

The goal of the forum is to address hate crime legislation, how hate crimes are prosecuted, and to provide resources for campus and community members. Since 1990, the Bloomington Human Rights Commission (now the Bloomington/Monroe County Human Rights Commission) has been collecting data and tracking hate incidents in our community. In 2022, the Human Rights Commission documented five hate incidents. Hate Incident Reports for the last ten years can be found on the Bloomington/Monroe County Human Rights Commission webpage: bloomington.in.gov/boards/human-rights. Please note that the annual reports contain descriptions of verbal harassment, threats of physical harm, actual physical harm and vandalism. The reports also address the apparent motivations behind each incident.  The Commission alerts prospective readers that the language contained in the reports has been preserved for accuracy, and is as such often offensive by definition.

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