You may have heard about the inspiring JFK Middle School students that staged a ICE OUT walk-out last month. Now they have joined the campaign to De-ICE Citizens Bank! Join us on Friday, April 17th to march with student activists from JFK to Citizens Bank via the bike path. We'll start at 3:10 at the end of the path, march for an hour to Citizens Bank on King Street, then hold a rally from approximately 4:15 -5:15. The rally will be held on the public sidewalks on King Street Northampton, in front of Stop and Shop Plaza (Citizens Bank has a branch inside Stop and Shop). You can join the students for all or any part of this. March with them for a bit. Join them at 4:15 at the bank. Or do the whole thing! The students will make some brief remarks at the rally, and present the De-ICE Citizens Bank Coalition with something to bring to bank headquarters on 4/23 as we protest outside the annual shareholder meeting. Send Citizens Bank a clear message: financing private prison and immigration detention facility operators The GEO Group and CoreCivic is bad for business. Please only bring signs specific to this action: De-ICE Citizens Bank; Cages Aren't Communities; Citizens Bank - Stop Financing ICE Prisons; Citizens Bank + ICE = Human Rights Abuse; ICE Prisons Don't Strengthen Our Communities; Citizens Bank- Cut Ties With ICE Prisons; etc. We'll have some extras too. Notorious private prison companies The GEO Group and CoreCivic are being called on to be part of an unprecedented expansion in capacity as part of the Trump administration's mass detention, deportation, and surveillance policies. To accommodate the planned increase in detention capacity, GEO and CoreCivic must undertake expensive construction and renovation projects. Since 2019, though, most of their lenders have cut ties with the two companies, which have faced allegations from forced labor to securities fraud.​ ​Citizens Bank has instead deepened its relationship with the private prison industry, taking on new roles in financing both CoreCivic and GEO, all while continuing to tell their customers that they're focused on strengthening our communities. We won't quietly stand by as Citizens continues to finance the private prison & ICE detention companies that are harming our communities. The 2019 exodus of banks from the industry in response to activism should be a reminder to us that our voices matter. Now it's time to use them. Visit www.de-icecitizensbank.org for more information. A core principle behind all Indivisible events is a commitment to nonviolent action. We expect all participants to seek to de-escalate any potential confrontation with those who disagree with our values. We expect hosts to ensure all participants in your event uphold this commitment. We recommend all participants review our safety and security resource before your event: https://indivisi.org/safety.