Hi friends,
Two months after the Supreme Court’s disastrous 2013 decision in Shelby v. Holder, which eviscerated the Voting Rights Act, Obama made a speech to honor Martin Luther King, Jr., in which he remarked:
The arc of the universe may bend toward justice, but it doesn’t bend on its own.
Obama celebrated the people working for justice AND the broader message of the speech is problematic in the way that Ibram X. Kendi has described; it’s a celebration of racial progress that feeds the myth of that things are getting better all the time.
This week, it is pretty clear that they are not.
Here’s one of several reasons that the week has seemed irredeemably bad: there’s not enough paper for folks to register to vote in Texas and in 2022, during a pandemic, it is illegal there to register to vote online. The registration deadline for the March 1 primary is January 31.
The website for the secretary of state's office includes instructions for filling out a form online that can then be printed out and mailed in, and for requesting an application form by mail.
If you don’t have a printer, you are disenfranchised. And even if you manage to print your form,
Hundreds of mail-in ballot applications have been rejected in some of Texas' largest counties because of the new law, according to multiple election officials.
We knew yesterday would be a crap day in the US Senate, but it was galling that Senator Tim Scott had the audacity to push the progress narrative by pointing out that two of the chamber’s three Black Senators come from the South, the states
“that people say are the places where African American votes are being suppressed.”
Senator Corey Booker was furious, and presented the facts. Then, he told Scott:
“Don’t lecture me about Jim Crow,” Mr. Booker said. “I know this is not 1965. That’s what makes me so outraged. It’s 2022 and they’re blatantly removing more polling places from the counties where Blacks and Latinos are overrepresented.”
In the final chapter of The 1619 Project, Nikole Hannah-Jones restates the overarching message of the book, which bears the subtitle A New Origin Story:
[A] truer origin story requires us to place Black Americans prominently in the role of democracy’s defenders and perfecters.
I thought of this, when a smug Mitch McConnell ‘reassured’ members of the press that
“African American voters are voting in just as high a percentage as Americans.”
As if they are not, themselves, Americans. He can’t even pretend not to be racist.
My optimism has been flagging, which makes me feel that I am letting you down. And then I remember how obnoxious and inauthentic it is to be sunny and upbeat every #$@!% day of the year. [Fun fact: #$@!% is called a grawlix.]
I did happen across this beautiful photo essay, however, and I thought it might pick you up a bit, along with the history of the grawlix.
Check out Shuran Huang’s photoessay of 21 women voting rights activists.
Other things that may help pick you up:
Former Mayor Bill De Blasio is not running for governor.
The Supreme Court — including all of the former president’s appointees — refused to block the release of White House records related to the Jan. 6 insurrection. The lone dissenting vote belonged to Clarence Thomassssss. Yup. . . I’m hissing.
Okay, that’s it for pick-me-ups, for now.
Governor Hochul’s executive budget dropped this week. Although the state is apparently flush with money, there are important initiatives missing, two of which are high on the work-from-home agenda.
NY Caring Majority produced a public service announcement (PSA) to help people understand the urgency and importance of funding Fair Pay for Home Care, which was not included in Hochul’s budget. The budget isn’t final until it’s due at the end of March (and sometimes, it’s late), so now is the time for collective relentlessness, in a haranguing-sort-of-way.
Write to the Governor today to remind her of her promise to listen to the legislators who are in support of Fair Pay for Home Care. I’ve updated the message with some language from CDPAANYS.
Please use the social media toolkit from NY Caring Majority to share video clips from the PSA on Twitter and amplify the message.
We have also been working to get a commitment to invest in renewable energy, climate resiliency, and green jobs. Next week, there is a statewide Climate Mobilization to get the governor to move on these demands. We need to come out in force.
Register for the action on Tuesday, January 25th at Hochul’s Manhattan office OR in Yonkers or Albany OR to take action online.
In addition to our whack-a-mole strategy to stop fossil fuel projects, we continue our work to stop the money pipeline that pays for the projects.
Tell Citibank to stop funding fossil fuel expansion! This ready-made action comes from the Stop the Money Pipeline coalition.
One more thing to help you get through the week: it does appear that here in NYC, we are past the worst of omicron. Rates of infection remain high, however, so take a test if you have symptoms.
Order your free at-home COVID tests.
with love,
L