2020: We Hear Freedom Calling
Sunday, January 12th, 1:30-3:30pm
1:30pm: March from City Hall | 2:00pm: Rally at Colonial Theatre
Pittsfield, Massachusetts
On Sunday, January 12th, join the Four Freedoms Coalition’s 2020 gathering as we inspire each other to rise up and protect the Four Freedoms proclaimed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt: freedom from want and fear, and freedom of religion and speech, and to stand united against bigotry and prejudice.
Free and open to all. At 1:30pm we will gather at Pittsfield’s City Hall, and then march to the Colonial Theatre.
At 2pm the program begins at the Colonial Theatre, featuring inspiring speakers, including:
- Keynote speaker Senator Edward J. Markey
- Imam Dr. Bilal Ansari of Williams College on Freedom of Religion
- Jenn Smith of the Berkshire Eagle on Freedom of Speech
- Hawk Newsome of Black Lives Matter of Greater New York on Freedom from Fear
- Logan Malik of Berkshire Environmental Action Team on Freedom from Want
And music and dance performers:
- Kids 4 Harmony Elayne P. Bernstein Octet
- Berkshire Hills Chorus
- Sankofa
- Paul Green & Benny Kohn
- Jason Ennis & Natalia Bernal
- Wes Buckley & Marisa Massery
Our Master of Ceremonies will be Berkshire Theatre Group artistic director Kate Maguire, and Pittsfield Mayor Linda M. Tyer will welcome us.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Celebrating Freedom: Democracy in Action
Sunday, January 27th, 2019, 1-3pm
Berkshire Community College
Pittsfield, Massachusetts
Join us to hear words and music of courage and resilience to empower us to continue to stand up against bigotry and prejudice. We’ll take action and take part in creating a powerful message through art.
Schedule (subject to change)
1pm-1:30pm: Action Time!
- Visit action tables (list of participating organizations below) and take part in a collaborative art project about what freedom means to you!
1:30-2:30pm: Program
- Invocation: Rabbi David Weiner
- Congressman Richard Neal (D-MA1)
- WAM Theatre spoken word performance
- District Attorney Andrea Harrington on #21stcenturyjustice
- Maya Bahl poem
- MacArthur ‘genius’ Awardee Deborah Meier on education reform
- Crowdsourced folk song with Wes Buckley
- Benediction: Pastor Sheila Sholes-Ross and Reverend Mark Longhurst
- Drumming with Otha Day
Until 3pm: More Action Time!
Action tables include:
- Berkshire County Branch of the NAACP
- Berkshire Democratic Brigades
- Berkshires Democratic Socialists of America
- Berkshire Environmental Action Team (BEAT)
- Cafe Palestina of the Southern Berkshires
- Campaign to Change the Massachusetts State Flag and Seal
- Citizens Climate Lobby
- Food Pantry at South Congregational Church
- Jacob’s Pillow
- Living the Change Berkshires
- Manos Unidas
- MassCare: Medicare for All
- MASSPIRG Student Chapters
- Pittsfield Emergency Recovery Committee @ The Christian Center
- Progressive Democrats of America
- Rainbow Seniors of Berkshire County
- Voter Choice Massachusetts
Directions & Map:
The Four Freedoms event will be held inside the Koussevitsky Arts Center on the Berkshire Community College campus, which is located at 1350 West Street in Pittsfield. The campus is accessible and parking is free and plentiful. Click here for directions, and here for a campus map (the Arts Center is marked K.)
Families Belong Together & Free Protest
Saturday, June 30th, 2018, 12:00pm
Park Square, Pittsfield, Massachusetts
The executive order that Donald Trump signed last Wednesday is not a solution to the crisis created by his administration; it keeps kids imprisoned indefinitely, and doesn’t reunite thousands of separated families. But it does show the administration is reacting to public pressure, so we will continue to increase our pressure for justice at hundreds of events on Saturday, June 30th, to say that families belong together—and free. Let us stand together to protest the inhumane and un-American treatment of children and families at our borders.
Co-sponsors include Four Freedoms Coalition, NAACP-Berkshire County Branch, Action Together Massachusetts, Bard College at Simon’s Rock, Berkshire Immigrant Center, Indivisible Pittsfield, and more. Please contact us if your organization would like to be a co-sponsor: 4freedomscoalition@gmail.com.
What’s Next? Get Involved & Make a Difference
Saturday, November 18th, 2017, 9:00am-4:00pm
Monument Mountain High School, Great Barrington, Massachusetts
Act Now! Civic Participation Workshops for Everyone
Saturday, April 1st, 2017, 9:00am-4:15pm
Berkshire Community College, Pittsfield, Massachusetts
ACTION ALERT: JOIN US FOR A STAND OUT IN SUPPORT OF IMMIGRANTS
Saturday, January 28th, 2017, 1pm-2pm
Park Square, downtown Pittsfield, Massachusetts
Join the Four Freedoms Coalition for a peaceful demonstration this Saturday in support of immigrants and against the dangerous and inhumane policies promulgated by the current administration.
All are welcome. Signs are encouraged, but please no sign posts.
Past Events
Join us Saturday, January 7th, in downtown Pittsfield to recommit to upholding the true American values embodied in the Four Freedoms and to oppose bigotry and prejudice.
We will gather at 12:30pm in front of St. Joseph’s Church at 414 North Street. Click HERE for parking information. (Free parking on weekends.)
Note that the northbound lanes of North Street will be closed beginning at approximately 12:30pm to accommodate the march, so plan accordingly.
The march steps off at 1pm heading south. Dress warmly! Attendees are encouraged to bring signs, or create them on the spot (paper and pens will be provided) but are asked to keep them non-partisan in nature. Also, Pittsfield law forbids sticks on signs, so plan on either holding them in your hand or you may bring string and wear them around your neck.
The march concludes at First Church of Christ at Park Square, located at 27 East Street. The speaking program will be held there indoors beginning at approximately 1:40pm. Each speaker is scheduled to speak for 3 minutes. If you are unable to or do not wish to march, you may go directly to the church for the rally program.
RALLY PROGRAM
- Reverend James Lumsden | Welcome
- Reverend Sheila Sholes-Ross | Mistress of Ceremonies
- Mayor Linda Tyer | Welcome from the City of Pittsfield
- U.S. Senator Ed Markey
- Ethan Zuckerman | Director of the MIT Center on Civic Media
- Ayla Wallace & Asiana Cothran | Miss Hall’s School students
- Attorney Tahirah Amatul-Wadud | Board member, Massachusetts chapter of the
Council on American Islamic Relations - Attorney James Roosevelt | Grandson of Franklin Delano Roosevelt
- Crescendo Chorus and Berkshire Children’s Chorus ensemble selection
- Eleanore Velez | Berkshire Community College Multicultural Center Director
- Peter Marchetti | Pittsfield City Council President
- Elizabeth Recko Morrison | 2015 Berkshire Labor Person of the Year
- Dennis Powell | President, Berkshire County Branch of the NAACP
Afterwards, from 2:30pm-3:30pm: it’s action time! Join us in the community room where over 30 Four Freedoms Coalition partners will have action tables where you can sign up to volunteer with the issue you re most passionate about. We ask that each attendee commit to one concrete action in our community after the rally.