Today’s Local Actions – Mon 7/13 – “What does eye-color have to do with anything? Edition
Many of us remember a video of this teacher’s blue-eye v. brown-eye introduction to racism. This video shows extended footage of that experiment, and the reactions of the now-adult students to those two tumultuous days in third grade.
Jane Elliott’s lesson plan is now being used in prisons, corporations, and even on an unsuspecting studio audience of the Oprah Winfrey show. (Separate video here.)
“Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; It must be demanded by the oppressed.” ~ MLK
We’re putting up information on local protests and actions by others we’re finding from informal sources. These listings are not endorsements nor guarantees as to time/place/type of protest or participant safety. Events can and have already been cancelled without notice.
Protest safely in the time of pandemic and police overreaction:Go herefor resources on camera apps, equipment, what to know if you’re stopped by police.
Write a comment against Trump’s proposed human rights violating asylum changes. Deadline 7/15 (Wednesday) 11:59 pm EST.
Over the last three years, the Trump administration has drastically altered the U.S. asylum system. From attempts to ban asylum seekers who entered the United States between Ports of Entry, to forcing more than 60,000 to wait in squalor in Mexico while their cases wind their way through backlogged immigration courts, gaining access to the U.S. asylum system has become fraught with challenges.
Now, our country is knowingly sending asylum seekers to dangerous countries where gang members and government authorities will prey on them. More than 138 innocent people have been murdered after being deported to El Salvador between 2014 and 2018. At least 70 other Salvadorans were reported sexual assault or suffered other types of violence – such as extortion, dismemberment or torture – when returned to El Salvador.
The Trump administration is doing everything it can to stop asylum seekers, short of murdering them directly – and it’s doing so right under our noses. Death by deportation is a crime of racism, white nationalism and willful negligence.
Now they’re proposing to make asylum even harder to get.WRITE BACK!
On June 15, the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security jointly released a series of proposed changes to the asylum system that, if implemented, would essentially make it impossible for almost anyone to find safety in the United States.
Between now and July 15 the public can comment here before the deadline- July 15, at 11:59pm EST, on these proposed changes, which include:
Completely barring granting of asylum on the basis of gender
Changing the very definition of “persecution”
Redefining some of the core grounds for asylum claims, including membership in a “particular social group,” which could have a dire impact on women and LGBTQ individuals.
Denying asylum to people who transited through other countries on their way to the United States
Denying asylum seekers basic due process and their day in court by allowing immigration judges to decide cases just based on asylum seekers’ written applications
Before the proposed changes can be finalized, the administration must review each and every unique comment that they receive; your comments are important!
Go to this link to read other comments for INSPIRATION ONLY!
Read this comment (open the PDF link) for an amazing lawyerly history and rebuttal FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. Do not copy!
Draft a comment using the sample language below. Make your comment unique (don’t just copy and paste) because the system will discard duplicate entries.
Sample Comment
Note: You can make as many comments as you want and they can range from a line or two to an attached letter. But seriously – Mix it up! Mix it up! Use a different starting sentence! – “I am/was very upset/angry/disappointed, etc…to read/hear/learn/…
I am writing to share my strong opposition to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and Department of Justice (DOJ) Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) Joint Notice of Proposed Rulemaking: Procedures for Asylum and Withholding of Removal; Credible Fear and Reasonable Fear Review; RIN 1615-AC42 / 1125-AA94 / EOIR Docket No. 18-0002/ A.G. Order No. 4714-2020.
I object to these proposed changes because they would effectively make it impossible for anyone to find safety in the United States through the U.S. asylum system. They would deny most asylum seekers their day in court, and they would completely bar the granting of asylum on the basis of gender. They would also change the very definition of what “persecution” means. In addition, they would make getting asylum because of one’s political opinion or membership in a particular social group exponentially more difficult, and quite absurdly, deny asylum to people who have two or more layovers while they travel to the United States.
If these proposed changes were to be implemented, they would roll back decades of established legal precedent, resulting in the disappearance of refugee protections that have long been accepted as a key part of who we are as a country. .
[Insert your own opinions about why you support a strong U.S. asylum system and why you oppose the proposed changes. For example, why does abolishing the U.S. asylum system violate your Jewish values? Does your family have a refugee story? Are you friends with someone who is an asylum seeker or was granted asylum? Do you work/volunteer with refugees? Have you seen firsthand how refugees contribute to your community?]
It is for these reasons that I urge you to immediately rescind the Proposed Rule and instead dedicate your efforts to advancing policies that respect individuals’ legal right to seek asylum.
Today! Join together with everyone else who’s been holding their breath and CELEBRATE!
12:30 pm – Join the car rally: “Please join us today at 12:30pm for a celebratory rally. Park at La Gloria infront of metrolink station. We will highlight the intersection of the BLM movement and immigrant rights, as well as LGBTQ.”
2:45pm in Camarillo: a social distancing rally at the ICE office, 321 Cortez Circle (the same place we stood with the Oxnard Pastors)
Action: Call your CA state senator and say you want them to vote “YES” on ACA 5.
25 years ago, CA voters approved Prop 209, which prevented our state, one of only eight, from taking active measures to prevent discrimination and ensure equality of opportunity. A pandemic has inadvertently exposed one result of that long-ago vote to light…African-Americans in California are twice as likely to die from COVID-19 as whites.
Today is Loving Day – Celebrate by calling your senators to stop seating racist judges.
Justice and judges are not blind in America.Good judges remove barriers to equality. Bad ones make them. Good overview of history and laws leading up to Loving v. Virginia.
Action: Tell your senators that voting for Federalist Society judicial nominees is a racist action.
UPDATE 6/11: Justin Walker just got cloture. Up for vote Friday or Monday. We need 4 GOP senators to vote against him. Call your friends and family in RED states!
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, pronounced himself “appalled” by the killing of George Floyd. and intends to hold hearings on policing, racial discrimination by police and police/community relations.Frankly, we don’t want to hear him prattle on about the causes of police officers casually administering capital punishment in our streets. We know what causes it – racism – embedded in every layer of our public life. Organizations such as the Marshall Project, Campaign Zero,Movement for Black Lives and the Sentencing Project have been analyzing this issue for years and the House has already put together a bill. The almost all-white, GOP-controlled Senate is hoping we’ll get too distracted by something else to notice that they won’t pass it.
Action #2: The NAACP asks that you make that call on HR 6800 now!
Action #3: A lot of work on fair and just policing has already been done. It was reversed by Trump. Let’s put it back.
Action #4: Up the charge against Officer Chauvin and pull that case completely out of the Hennepin County.(DONE!)
Action #5: Demand the arrest of the 3 police “bystanders.” (DONE!)
Action #6: Join with the NAACP in calling for a law regulating police officer behavior.
Action #7: Ask your representative to co-sponsor the Omar-Pressley resolution AND HR 119 – National Statistics on Deadly Force Transparency Act of 2019.
Action #8: End “Qualified Immunity” for abusive police.
Action #9: Hello! Have we actually passed that antilynching bill?
Action #10: “Walk with us!” vs. “Light ’em up!”- Demilitarize our police.
Action #11: Defund the police (Black Lives Matter)
Action #12: Senator Tom Cotton wants to send in the 82nd Airborne, on the 99th anniversary of the Tulsa Massacre and the first air attack on American soil. Thanks, Tom, for putting the image of strafing American citizens in our heads!
Contact information for representatives and senators at the very bottom….
Action #1: The protests continue. Know your rights before you join in.
To the 100,000 victims of the pandemic – Our president gives you “thoughts and prayers.” We demand more.
The “White House Proclamation on Prayer for Peace, Memorial Day, 2020,” states “As we pay tribute to the lives and legacies of these patriots on Memorial Day, we also remember that they sacrificed to create a better, more peaceful future for our Nation and the world. We recommit to realizing that vision, honoring the service of so many who have placed love of country above all else.”
We’re confident Trump has never read this, as he spent last weekend driving his golf cart over the “better, more peaceful future” with racist and misogynistic tweets and refused to mention, much less “honor the service” of our nation’s latest sacrifices – the front line “warriors” drafted into an army of necessity and economic convenience. He only lowered the flag for them after being publicly shamed. On Sunday, a White House spokesman stated: “President Trump’s prayers for comfort and strength are with all of those grieving the loss of a loved one or friend as a result of this unprecedented plague, and his message to this great nation remains one of resilience, hope and optimism.”
