Dear friends,
I remember thinking that 2021 had to be better than 2020. It seemed a low bar. I won’t bother with this rigid binary, since each year had its own distinctive highs and lows. I thought it might be satisfying, however, to identify some roses, thorns, and buds of 2021.
In this case, roses are the flowering of justice struggles into tangible victories.
Workers have stood up again and again to demand — and win — the right to unionize, to earn decent wages, to work in safe conditions.
According to unionelections.org, 890 union elections in the private sector were held in the US in 2021 as of 11 December, with 573 resulting in a new union certification.
The successful unionization of a Starbucks store in Buffalo this month is but one of the beautiful roses in this bunch.
The convictions of the killers of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Daunte Wright are significant. Black Lives Matter and the millions of people who took to the streets have ended the certainty that those who kill Black people will walk free.
Greenpeace has assembled a list of this year’s important international climate victories. We were involved in successful campaigns to shut down the Keystone pipeline, and to cancel the Astoria peaker plant.
NYS repealed the ban on walking while trans in February. The anti-loitering ban was often deployed against trans people who were doing nothing illegal. This was a hard-won battle.
The thorns are many and painful, but the biggest thorn is the ongoing assault on democracy. We are coming up on the anniversary of the January 6 insurrection. The Big Lie persists, and the work ahead includes the struggle to pass voting rights legislation: the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement and For the People Acts.
Start the year by phone banking with Common Cause to reach voters in Arizona and West Virginia.
The assault on reproductive health care and abortion and the people who need these services has been another giant thorn. As I often remind you (and myself), we have not lost if we do not quit.
Support SisterSong, a reproductive justice collective formed by 16 organizations of women of color.
The buds are potentialities, and they hold the promise of a more just society for all of us. They have changed the language we use.
Mutual aid, debt cancellation, and eviction moratorium are three terms that roll off more tongues.
Do you remember that Stacey Abrams and Fair Fight Action contributed more than $1.3 million to provide medical debt relief for people in Georgia?
Support Fair Fight Action.
In the ongoing fight against the Line 3 tar sands pipeline, Indigenous activists have asserted the rights of nature. They are suing the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources for the damage done to wild rice wetlands.
Wild rice, or Manoomin, was named a plaintiff in the suit, making this case part of an international movement to grant legal rights to nature. In response, the DNR sued in federal court, challenging the tribal court jurisdiction.
New York amended its state constitution to include a human “right to clean air and water, and a healthful environment.”
Naomi Osaka and Simone Biles elevated the struggles of millions of people to place their mental health needs in front of work and social expectation.
We have a long way to go to destigmatize mental health and to make quality care available to everyone who needs it AND the conversation has changed.
The phrases care economy, care agenda, and care infrastructure are now familiar to many Americans.
Care in Action, a partner to the National Domestic Workers Alliance works to raise the status and visibility of caregivers in our society. The group was instrumental in canvassing on care issues that cross the boundaries of class and race and geography. They knocked on hundreds of thousands of doors in and around Atlanta in a campaign to turn out the vote for Warnock and Ossoff last January.
Support Care in Action.
We are on the verge of winning Fair Pay for Home Care here in NYS.
There are reasons to look forward.
I like to round this activity out with deadheading, the removal of dead blooms to make room for new growth.
Our toxic former governor was forced to reckon with his political death, caused by his own extraordinary arrogance and flagrant abuses of power. With a deep bow of gratitude to Tarana Burke, the mother of the MeToo movement, the people of our state can proceed with important business and the women Cuomo harassed and assaulted can experience a measure of justice.
The pandemic, the climate crisis, and the ongoing political rupture have all undermined my sense of time. Events feel both immediate and long ago.
I did not allow myself enough time for this activity, so I invite you to send roses, buds, and thorns for our justice collective.
I will see you next year (Monday!).
with love,
L
it has been a pleasure finishing this year with your newsletter. thank you.