Dear friends,
The work to build a world in which we don’t simply mourn our losses is, well, a LOT of work. And it’s always encouraging to see people step into leadership roles. Pearl Ohm — teacher, justice activist, beautiful soul — is moderating a discussion this afternoon about Resistance to Anti-Asian Racism.
At 4:30 PM, listen to the panel and join the discussion of how we’ve arrived at this moment and where we go from here. On Zoom: ID 817 2083 0635 password: solidarity
Andrew Brown was killed last week by police, who shot him five times while his hands were in plain view on the steering wheel of his car. The fifth shot went through the back of his head. We don’t need an international commission to tell us that police killings of Black Americans amount to crimes against humanity.
Read the letter from M4BL about the shortcomings of the Justice in Policing Act.
Tell your Congressional Representative to support the BREATHE Act.
The folks at VOCAL-NY are ready for NYC’s budget negotiations with their vision — a Caring and Compassionate New Deal for New Yorkers — and specific budgetary needs to provide housing, mental health care, jobs, and a broad array of social services, including substance abuse treatment.
Contact your City Council member to let them know that you support VOCAL-NY’s budget demands to defund $4 Billion from Police, Courts, and Jails and Invest $4 Billion in Housing, Social Services, and Care.
New York State is ready for comprehensive, single-payer health care. We need one more Senator to vote for the bill.
New York Health covers ALL medically necessary care, including medical, prescription, vision, dental, hearing, long-term care and support services, mental health and substance abuse treatment; and reproductive care. One comprehensive plan, freedom of provider choice, no more networks.
We need to fight for a care agenda at every level of government. Imagine if every New Yorker had mental health care and substance abuse treatment if they needed it.
Sign up to phone bank tonight to pass the NY Health Act.
Here is a piece of good news, tucked into the madness: NYC is expanding mental health screening to every school beginning this summer.
Over 600 social workers, psychologists, and family support workers will be hired totaling over 6,000 mental health workers in our schools across the city.
This evening, The People’s Plan NYC and New Yorkers for Racially Just Public Schools (RJPS) are launching the Education Platform:
We’ll break down the 12 movement-centered policy goals for the next Mayor and City Council to ensure every NYC student has a quality public education, and discuss strategy to ensure those goals are centered in the incoming administration. This event will feature a panel of The People’s Plan NYC contributors, and a Q&A discussion on the plan and strategy.
The Education Platform is part of “a comprehensive, multi-issue roadmap” to set a progressive agenda for the city.
Join activists, advocates, and policy nerds at 7 PM to talk Education.
I’ve offered up three activities for this evening! You can probably do two, if you’re ambitious. Although I am a Morales supporter, I must commend Kathryn Garcia on her unofficial slogan: Get shit done. An inspiration to us all.
There are a few reasons why we keep coming back to state and local initiatives. One is that we need to move the levers of power at every level to turn this ship around. Another is the stark reality that voter suppression, corporate power, and the structural inequities built into our federal system make it very difficult to operate on the national level.
Please sign this petition to demand that Coca-Cola and Big Food defund voter suppression, and get out of politics.
This morning, I read Biden’s speech. I could not help thinking about Gorbachev, who tried to open and restructure Soviet communism, and instead engineered the demise of the system. I’m going to think more about that, as the President works hard to address an astonishing array of structural problems.
Have a good day!
with love,
L