Dear friends,
Sometimes, it feels that we are just inching along. I’ve had a few conversations with people close to me about the faith or vision (or whatever you call it) to persist even when you can’t always see the results of your effort.
There are many constituencies working to pass the Invest in Our New York Act, including the coalition that makes up Housing Justice for All, which “represents tenants, homeless New Yorkers, and public housing residents from Brooklyn to Buffalo.”
Use this form to write your elected officials. Ask them to tax the rich and use the funds to forgive unpaid rent, to protect tenants from unfair rent hikes and dangerous evictions, and to house people without homes.
The good people at NY Caring Majority are the kind of unstoppable force that inspires me to be patient and determined. Their #JustPay4HomeCare campaign is a massive effort for economic justice for essential care workers. The make-up of the NYS legislature makes this our moment to remain dogged.
Sign up here to work with the NY Caring Majority to build power for Just Pay!
And, speaking of care: This week, The Frontline will be discussing the President’s Covid relief package — and the care and relief communities actually need — along with celebrating Black History Month.
Sign up for The Frontline’s organizing call this Thursday at 8.
Black History Month began this week. “In the tradition of the Black Freedom Schools of the 1960s,” the Coalition for Educational Justice has created Liberation School,
a free, virtual online school that will offer academic support courses, social-emotional support, healing centered practices, and political education courses to NYC public school families throughout the 2020-2021 school year.
Check out the offerings from Liberation School.
This week is a national week of action in schools around the nation, including here in NYC:
There are four demands: to reduce suspensions and expulsions in schools in favor of conflict resolution and restorative justice, hire more Black teachers, mandate Black history or ethnic studies in kindergarten through 12th grade, and hire more counselors instead of school security guards and police.
Don’t doubt the necessity of this work for even a moment. Last night, I attended a book launch of Bree Picower’s book, Reading, Writing and Racism and she showed this:
The example is not in her book. A colleague of the author sent Dr. Picower this disturbing example of a school assignment, given to sixth graders on the first day of Black History Month in 2021.
Let’s end on a note of persistence in the face of some strong headwinds of white supremacy. Persistence and vision are some of the many gifts that Black Americans possess in outsize proportion to their numbers.
Watch this short film from M4BL. Support the Movement 4 Black Lives.
with love,
L