Donate to the verified GoFundMe for the family of Daunte Wright. You can support his son and girlfriend with diapers and other in-kind supplies on this list.
Donate either in-kind or financial support to the Brooklyn Center community, which expects major businesses to be boarded up in advance of protests in the coming days.
Despite the gains made under the Affordable Care Act, nearly 3 million Californians have no health insurance, and millions more have insurance that they can’t afford to use because their copays and deductibles are too high. Meanwhile, for-profit insurance companies are reporting record-breaking profits, even while the Covid-19 pandemic continues to ravage California and medical bankruptcies are at an all time high. In fact, these corporations benefitted from the pandemic, because we couldn’t access healthcare our premiums paid for safely. Despite this, premiums will be increasing in 2021, because that’s what profit-driven corporations do. It’s past time for a change to a patient-centric healthcare model. In the era of COVID-19, single-payer has taken on a new urgency.
Action #1: Join the Saturday OXNARD COLLEGE – “Oxnard CalCare SpeakOut Car Rally” (10:00 am PT)
Facebook link here. (https://www.facebook.com/events/126610529432646) Join this CalCare SpeakOut as part of a statewide day of action on Saturday, April 17th in support of AB 1400, the California Guaranteed Health Care for All Act. We will be doing a SpeakOut and Car Caravan route in Oxnard. If you have a healthcare horror story you’d like to share at the event, please reach out to a host. This event is co-hosted by community advocates and DSA-Ventura County’s Healthcare Justice working group.
This event is a Covid-safe car rally focused on hearing and sharing personal health care stories about our broken health care system. All attendees are encouraged to stay in their cars and use a phone conference line for audio. The conference line number will be shared by email closer to the day of action.
Action #1: SB-467 FAILED in committee! Seriously! With a Democratic majority! But we may still get the 2500′ setback if we call!
3 Democratic state senators (Eggman, Hueso, and Hertzberg) killed SB 467 – the Dangerous Drilling Bill in the Natural Resources Committee. This critical legislation, authored by our own senator Monique Limón, would have protected the millions of Californians who live in close proximity to oil and gas operations, banned dangerous drilling practices, and begun a just transition for oil and gas workers as the state meets its climate goals and steadily moves away from fossil fuels. (Oil industry donor spreadsheet here.)
(From VISION) “THE FIGHT’S NOT OVER YET!SB 467, is not dead yet – we still have a chance to protect more than 2M Californians, mostly in low-income and Black, Latinx, and Indigenous communities, but only if we show our target Senators we won’t accept their silence and lack of support. We can no longer sacrifice our health and the health of our children, neighbors, and friends to the oil and gas industry, and our lawmakers have the chance to do something about it. (Plus our state’s economy loses about $28 billion annually due to premature deaths and illnesses linked to ozone and particulates.)
SB 467 will be amended to a “SETBACKS-ONLY” bill.We’ve got just 7 business daysto make sure that we can get one more vote in the Natural Resources Committee from our targets below. Please share the attachments and the email below with your friends and community members to make calls! ASAP to keep up the momentum of the fight for setbacks! – and our work is fruitless if it doesn’t escape the inboxes of the people getting this email right now. You do not have to be a constituent to make these calls.“
Then, take a moment to thank our senator for her efforts! She’s one of only 9 CA legislators judged as climate and environmental champions!
The House Oversight Committee just passed the D.C. statehood bill today — bringing it one step closer to the House floor for a vote later this month, and D.C.’s 700,000 residents one step closer to true representation in government. Activists and Indivisibles all across the country will be mobilizing today to let their members of Congress (MoCs) know that the 50 states support the addition of the 51st state. This isn’t some radical idea: calling for D.C. statehood is the same basic principle of representation that our country is founded on.
4/16 is the 159th anniversary of Emancipation Day in DC. Let’s get this done!
If you already have called on this, call again. If you have friends or family that are unsure or confused about the issue of D.C. statehood, share any one (or more!) of these resources with them and then ask them to make a call:
Minimal script: I’m calling from [zip code] to [thank Rep./Sen. [___] for being/ask Rep./Sen. [___] to become] a cosponsor of [Rep. – HR.51/ Sen. – S.51] – Washington, D.C. Admission Act and ending this example of racial injustice in the very heart of our nation.
Additional script for Senators: I’m also requesting that Sen. [___] drop the filibuster for this bill, as there is no legitimate reason to deny full citizenship to 700,000 Americans citizens other than racism and partisanship, which we the people will no longer stand for.
Action #1: Representatives – “YES” on “H.R.1347– Eric Garner Excessive Use of Force Act and H.R. 1336 – National Statistics on Deadly Force Transparency Act”
Fellow police officers and medical experts were appalled by Derek Chauvin’s brutality in the murder of George Floyd. But if a bystander hadn’t recorded those horrific ±9 minutes, there probably wouldn’t have been a courtroom trial, so let’s not waste this “opportunity” that Floyd and others paid for with their lives.
Minimal script for Representatives: I’m calling from [zip code] and I want Rep. [___] to cosponsor and support the passage of H.R.1347 – the Eric Garner Excessive Use of Force Act and H.R.1336– the National Statistics on Deadly Force Transparency Act. I’m following the Chauvin trial and I’m both outraged and heartsick. Please ask Rep. [___] to do whatever [he/she] can to make sure that Mr. Floyd is the last American to suffer this way.
Action #1:Economic justice file: “Bridging the digital divide” –Help the Westside Community Council get a grant for Chromebooks for Ventura Westside Library. Comments due today by 4pm.
Example script (personalize this with your own experiences/writing voice):
“Legislative/Hearing Body”: City Council
“Select a Topic”:Agenda Item Number/Topic
“Agenda Item Number/Topic”:Item 12A, a-e.
“Recommendation”:Support Recommendation.
To Peter Gilli, Community Develoment Director, and City Council Members,
I am writing in support of the Westside Community Council’s “Bridging the Digital Divide” project, which would acquire computers that could be checked out by seniors and low income patrons of the Westside/ Avenue Library with the use of Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) funding. This resource will remove barriers to civic engagement for constituents who do not have the economic wherewithal to own computers or other devices, by allowing access to online services and meetings, such as city council meetings, medical care, and online jobs, when the library’s computer lab is closed at night. Laptop lending programs are already common in universities and colleges to help students who can’t afford their own.
As the purpose of CDBG funding is to help in the development of viable communities, decent housing, and expanded economic opportunities for low- to moderate-income persons, utilizing it to supply laptop computers, tools necessary to navigate in our modern society, this is an appropriate use of this funding.
History was made today, and I’m glad to be a part of it. I represented @AMarch4OurLives & MFOL Howard U at the White House where @POTUS and his Administration announced their groundbreaking executive actions on working towards ending gun violence. @lucymcbath#BuildBackBetterpic.twitter.com/G2cWeNbaAX
The Justice Department, within 30 days, will issue a proposed rule to help stop the proliferation of “ghost guns”;
The Justice Department, within 60 days, will issue a proposed rule to make clear when a device marketed as a stabilizing brace effectively turns a pistol into a short-barreled rifle subject to the requirements of the National Firearms Act;
The Justice Department, within 60 days, will publish model “red flag” legislation for states;
The administration is investing in evidence-based community violence interventions;
The Justice Department will issue an annual report on firearms trafficking; and
The president will nominate David Chipman to serve as Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms.
ContactJoehere and tell him what this means to you, your friends and your family.
Activists, and even Sen. Manchin (!!!) have stated that Biden’s plan falls short of the revolutionary change that needs to take place to “build back better.” While the Washington Postreported that Biden proposed spending $2.25 trillion on the first part of his jobs and infrastructure plan—with the two-part package possibly topping $4 trillion—the THRIVE Act announced Monday by Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and other progressives would invest $10 trillion over a decade. Ben Beachy, director of the Sierra Club’s Living Economy Program stated “To match the scale of the crises we face, piecemeal solutions won’t suffice. By investing $1 trillion per year, we can end the unemployment crisis by putting over 15 million people to work in projects that deliver cleaner air, healthier homes, and a down payment on racial, economic, and climate justice.“
No more excuses. No more obstruction. No more insider corruption.
The video below is from 2015 when Jerry Brown was governor, and it’s infuriating, that even with a Democratic majority for decades and a supermajority in the CA state legislature since 2018, we’re still asking for the same things in 2021. Maybe we need to look more closely at our “Democrats.” (See article on AB-345)
Action #1: Volunteer in your community in honor of “Cesar Chavez Day.”
What is Cesar Chavez Day? Cesar Chavez was a prominent leader for civil rights, farmworkers, community organizing, and more. Born in 1927 as a first-generation American, Chavez began working in the fields full time to help support his family after completing the eighth grade. Being exposed to the injustices of farm worker life, he would later go on to found the National Farm Workers Movement Association in 1962. Today, this is known as the United Farm Workers of America, which has made long strides for farm workers.
How is his work still relevant? While Chavez brought great awareness and made progress for farmworkers, farmworkers continue to face hardships and injustices in their work and conditions. The California Streetsblog posted a great article this time last year as the pandemic was just beginning, highlighting the thankless work that farmworkers do every day – providing us with food to eat.
Although the latest version of “Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act” (VAWA) just passed the House, 172 GOP legislators voted against it because it expanding firearm restrictions against abusers or stalkers, and added protections for gay, bisexual and transgender individuals. Now, it’s off to the Senate and a fight to get to 60 votes. Call your senators and be sure your friends and family in RED places call theirs.
Minimal Script for DEM senators: I’m calling from [zip code] to ask Sen. [___] to strongly support the H.R. 1620 – The “Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act.”
Minimal Script for GOP senators: I’m calling from [zip code] to ask Sen. [___] to support the H.R. 1620 – The “Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act.” I understand that 172 GOP representatives voted “NO” on this important bill in the House, and I want the Senator to know that their reasoning wasn’t acceptable to me. As [a woman] and/or [the wife/husband, son/daughter, sister/brother, child/father/mother] of a woman],
I expect Sen. [___] to vote “YES” to close the “boyfriend loophole” that denies some victims equal access to the protections of the federal law against domestic violence.
I expect Sen. [___] to vote “YES” to show that [he/she] values women’s lives over guns when judges issue emergency ex parte domestic violence protective orders.
I expect the Sen. [___] to vote “YES” to prohibiting guns to those convicted of stalking, whether charged as a misdemeanor or felony, due the crime’s strong relationship to future gun violence.
As a taxpayer, I expect Sen. [___] to vote “YES” to taxpayer-funded shelters being required to provide safe harbor to all those in need, no matter what gender identity, along with the basic minimum privacy requirements necessary to provide comfort and dignity for every resident.
