Dear friends,
Eid al-Fitr is a time of homecoming and gathering, when warm wishes for peace are shared. There is much to mourn and, in the way of a complex world, there are still things to celebrate and plenty of motivation to keep up our good work.
Here in New York and the US, the calls to end US military aid to Israel are getting louder. Last week’s Democratic primary in New York turned out a significant 12 percent of blank ballots. Fifteen percent of voters in New York City submitted blank ballots; in Brooklyn, the protest vote was about 1 in 4 votes.
We are not potential Trump voters. We are people of conscience who are going to keep reminding President Biden that there is a moral imperative to stop the destruction of the Palestinian people.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi added her name to a letter urging the president
to stop transfer of American weapons to the Israeli regime in light of the latter’s crimes in the Gaza Strip.
There are still hundreds of members of Congress who need to be reminded that they are accountable to us and to the law.
Get the message to Congress that they can and should block President Biden’s weapons deal with Israel! This quick action is from Win Without War.
The Environmental Protection Agency has set the first new regulatory limits on drinking water contaminants in 27 years, aiming to limit the ‘forever chemicals’ — PFAS compounds — that contribute to “cancer, liver problems, thyroid issues, birth defects, kidney disease, decreased immunity and other serious health problems.”
A Massachusetts court ruled that migrants who were sent to Martha’s Vineyard on a charter flight, organized by Florida governor Ron DeSantis and paid for by the state’s Department of Transportation, can sue the company that flew them there. A spokesperson for Lawyers for Civil Rights noted that
“The favorable ruling is a major victory in the Martha’s Vineyard case, and it sends a crucial message: private companies can — and will — be held accountable for helping rogue state actors violate the rights of vulnerable immigrants through illegal and fraudulent schemes.”
The court did not have jurisdiction over the question of whether DeSantis and other state authorities can be sued.
Today, six Mississippi men — all white, all former law enforcement officers — were sentenced for the gruesome assault and torture of two Black men, Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker in January 2023. Sentences ranged from 15 to 45 years.
Most of the group, which called themselves the Goon Squad, were linked to at least four other violent, racist attacks. It is important that they were convicted in a state court in Mississippi, even though their sentences will run concurrently with their federal sentences.
There is a 60-day window for railroad companies to comply with the crew size rule, which was a demand of the railway unions even before the derailment in East Palestine, Ohio last year.
“I think this was a seismic decision, and maybe not in the way Republicans thought it was going to be for Arizona politics and the election in November," said Attorney General Kris Mayes, a Democrat who has pledged never to prosecute abortion cases. "I think this changes everything. I think it supercharges the ballot initiative and it supercharges the elections of all pro-choice candidates.”
The groups collecting signatures for the ballot initiative passed the required threshold well ahead of the July deadline.
Although constitutional amendments require the support of 60 percent of voters in Florida, there is a broad-based coalition working to secure passage of Amendment 4.
A new state Equal Rights Amendment is on the ballot in New York. The language of the amendment would expand the anti-discrimination protections in the New York Human Rights Law, the New York Reproductive Health Act of 2019 and the Marriage Equality Act of 2011. Specifically, it
would prohibit discrimination based on a person’s ethnicity, national origin, age, disability and sex, including their sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy and pregnancy outcomes. It would also protect against any government actions that would curtail a person’s reproductive autonomy or access to reproductive health care.
The amendment explicitly states that it does not “invalidate or prevent the adoption of any law, regulation, program, or practice that is designed to prevent or dismantle discrimination.”
Read the full text of the Equal Rights Amendment and start talking to friends and neighbors about it now.
I learned only recently that the ERA would be on the NYS ballot, so it was a pleasant surprise that a high school student brought it up in a workshop I facilitated last weekend.
The workshop was for a cohort of YVoters, youth leaders of a movement to
equip young people to channel their passions into positive action—at and beyond the ballot box.
Here are just a handful of the issues that YVoters are passionate about:
New York State’s budget is late and part of the hold-up is the wrangling over a housing package.
Real estate interests are calling for a reversal of rent law reforms, which would allow them to sharply increase rents on rent stabilized tenants by raising the cap on “individual apartment improvement” increases.
Make a call to your state representatives using the Housing Justice for All script to demand more protections for renters, not fewer!
Access to green space is a mental health resource. It is possible to cultivate your own green space in the city during the tree giveaway season, which begins this weekend.
Check out the resources and locations for the New York Restoration Project’s Tree Giveaways.
Much-needed repairs for parks and schools dominate the districts’ ballots. Across just five of the participating ballots, 37 out of 44 projects are dedicated to schools and parks.
Twenty-four of the city’s 51 council districts are participating. Note that you can vote in one district (where you live or where you work or attend school).
Cast your vote! You may vote on PB projects if you are 11 or older!
I hope you are enjoying this extraordinary spring day.
with love,
L