Wed 3/3: Wanted: Postcard writers! D.C. statehood and stopping deportation flights.

Action #1: Washington D.C. is a living, breathing, racial and civil rights injustice and we need to fix it!

A member is printing up several thousand postcards!!! JOIN IN! If you’re unfamiliar with the hundreds of years that DC residents have been denied statehood, along with the rights we take for granted, like representation along with taxation, the ability to make laws without federal interference, and being able to call up the National Guard when they need it, here’s our post with lots of information and great videos. (Also 51 for 51 and DCstatehoodcoalition.org ) Both the House and Senate have reintroduced bills to fix this, H.R.51 & S.51– “Washington, D.C. Admission Act. Another important bill – H.R.1 – “For the People Act, declares, amongst many important voting reforms, “…that DC residents deserve full Congressional voting rights and self-government, which only statehood can provide.” (full text) (endorsements).

We need to get all Democratic representatives and senators onboard both bills as cosponsors quickly as possible! And the filibuster should be eliminated, at least for bills like this. There’s no reason the basic rights of the citizens of Washington DC should be held hostage to whether or not 60 Democrats are elected to the Senate.

DIRECTIONS:

• Send me your postcards. They are preprinted. Just fill in the legislator name & sign.
  • Email indivisibleventura@gmail.com with “51 POSTCARDS” in the subject line for postcards to be sent to you along with an legislator address list. We need your mailing address and whether you want just the DEM package (10 senators, 27 representatives, 3 “thank you” cards), the GOP package (50 cards, of course) or both. We are asking participants to provide their own postage.
• “I want to make my own”
  • You are welcome to copy/paste the graphics from here and make your own postcards! The scripts we’re using on the pre-printed cards are here. Copy or use your your own words.
    • To Democrats: Here’s the table of Democrat House and Senate members that have NOT signed on to one or both bills yet and to whom you should direct polite postcards asking them to do so. (Nancy, we know you’ve been busy…)
    • For Republicans: Wouldn’t it be amazing if they actually believed some of the 1776 principles that Trump’s cosplayers were yelling about at the insurrection, and did something to alleviate taxation without representation for over 700k American citizens? LIKE MAKE THEM A STATE!? It doesn’t hurt to ask! Since there are exactly ZERO Republican senators on the list of current cosponsors, we’re just going to send postcards to them all.
  • Mailing Addresses:
    • Representatives here. (Clicking on their name will give you their DC and state addresses.) If your own legislators have already cosponsored the bill, you can use your postcard to thank them.
    • Senators here. 

Action #2: WHAT’S NEXT?’s Postcard Campaign #6 – Stop Deportation Flights 

Mailing date: March 9-12:  Join WHAT’S NEXT’s sixth postcard campaign, this time addressed to President Biden, Vice President Harris, Alejandro Mayorkas (Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security) and Xavier Becerra (Secretary of Health and Human Services).

DIRECTIONS:

1. Download Postcard #6 (Photos of ICE airplanes)
2. Print your postcards: Four postcards per sheet, double sided on card stock. You can purchase card stock and cut apart or Avery has postcard stock available that is perforated for separation (4 1/4″ x 5 1/2″, 4 per sheet). If you can’t print double sided, you can print single side. 
3. Write your postcards. The theme for this card is Stop Deportation Flights. Talking points are suggested here:
   • End Title 42 – the CDC order that ‘prevents’ entry based on health safety. Groups like Physicians for Human Rights say it’s unnecessary.
   • Since Title 42 has been in place 100 million people have entered the country without health checks, but 440 thousand immigrants have been expelled.
   • Stop ‘exporting’ COVID to vulnerable countries. Deportation flights are cruel during a pandemic
   • Stop deporting people to places like Mauritania, where slavery still exists. And to Haiti and Cameroon, where violence and corruption are rampant
   • Stop using inhumane treatments like ‘the Wrap’ to punish people during the deportation process.
   • #WelcomeWithDignity#HaltAllDeportations#EndTitle42#BlackImmigrantLivesMatter
4. Address the cards to:
   • The President – The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D.C. 20500
   • Vice President Harris – The White House, Office of the Vice President, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, DC 20500
   • The Honorable Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of Homeland Security, 2707 Martin Luther King, Jr. SE,  Washington, DC 20528
   • The Honorable Xavier Becerra Health and Human Services,200 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 202015.
5. Apply a 36 cent postcard stamp to each card 
6. Drop your cards in the mail between March 9-12. 
7. EXTRA CREDIT Several What’s Next? participants have asked for additional people to send postcards to. If you would like to run an extra sheet, others you can write to are listed below.
   • The Honorable Antony Blinken Secretary of State US Department of State 2201 C St., NW Washington, DC 20520 
   • Representative Paul Ruiz 2342 Rayburn HOB Washington, DC 20515Speaker Nancy Pelosi 235 Cannon HOB Washington, DC 20515 (Ruiz is the Chair of the Congressional Caucus. )
   • Your members of Congress (Rep addresses here, senator addresses here. (choose your state at the top))