Hi friends,
When Institutions and Systems are failing, I like to drop down into the lower case to find examples of community, democracy, justice, and love.
I came across a remarkable post by Zephyr Teachout, who wrote about the 50,000 people who made up Mamdani’s volunteer operation. She pointed out that
tens of thousands of mostly young people saw or heard something about Mamdani's politics that made them . . . sign up to walk through apartment buildings and meet strangers and talk to them. They knocked on more doors than there were primary votes.
Then she scrolled back through time to November 2021, to describe a 45-day hunger strike to protest the conditions of NYC taxi drivers, who were crushed by debt and staggering rates of depression and suicide.
Newly elected Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani, along with Assemblymember Yuh-Line Niou, moved to the protest site. They fasted for 15 days alongside the drivers, until they eventually won — also very much against the odds.
That’s who Mamdani is, and that’s what people can do together to address the problems we face.
The city’s largest labor union, NYC Central Labor Council, is endorsing Mamdani. Two unions that had supported Cuomo — the Hotel and Gaming Trades Council and 32BJ SEIU — have now endorsed Mamdani.
Mamdani’s spokesperson, Andrew Epstein, said this week:
“There has been outreach from leading industries and business leaders in New York City. Despite some of the comments made last week, there does seem to be good-faith interest and dialogue. Zohran will not compromise on his commitments to making this city affordable to working people and the agenda we laid out in this campaign.”
Epstein noted that Mamdani is open to conversations with all stakeholders in New York. As it should be.
Kolot Chayeinu, a progressive Brooklyn synagogue, has an active Immigrant and Refugee Working Group. A friend invited me to their most recent meeting, at which they discussed Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS).
For unaccompanied young people (under 21), SIJS shifts immigration procedures from federal immigration court into the family court system, greatly reducing the chance of ICE encounters. It also provides a track to a green card.
I wasn’t able to attend, but I got to read the minutes. The Working Group
[has] been connecting unaccompanied people under 21 with guardians to qualify for SIJS. So far we have connected 27 young people with guardians. Our community has become a place where both immigrants and volunteers come to be connected through guardianship.
In addition, the Working Group has started a social support group for guardians and SIJS applicants.
There are young people currently seeking guardians. If you would like more information, please contact me and I will also put you in touch with people who have become guardians.
Raíces con Voz: Latinos In Public Health, a student-led collective, pivoted from their usual programming of health education, wellness, and career support to collect and distribute groceries and other essentials as federal agents began raiding Home Depot stores, carwashes, and other workspaces across Los Angeles.
Environmental and Indigenous groups are mobilizing to stop Alligator Alcatraz — a state-run immigration detention center in Florida’s Everglades — because of the impact on the biodiverse wetlands and the destruction of Miccosukee and Seminole villages, as well as ceremonial and burial grounds and other gathering sites.
State and federal taxpayers have invested billions to protect the Everglades and there is a lawsuit to halt the rapid construction of the facility, which has proceeded without environmental review.
Hundreds participated in a protest on Saturday led by Indigenous groups. Miccosukee Chairman Talbert Cypress posted last week:
"Rather than Miccosukee homelands being an uninhabited wasteland for alligators and pythons, as some have suggested, the Big Cypress is the Tribe's traditional homelands. The landscape has protected the Miccosukee and Seminole people for generations.”
The site of the detention camp, which Trump visited today, is a remote, largely disused airfield, where crews have erected tents to house detainees, to be patrolled by the Florida National Guard. The expected capacity is 5,000.
Write FL Governor DeSantis and Attorney General Uthmeier to stop Alligator Alcatraz. This quick action is from Friends of the Everglades.
The chaos and cruelty continues in Congress, so we are keeping the pressure on!
The good news is that the Republicans are having trouble agreeing on how cruel to be and there are four in their number who may obstruct passage of the bill: Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski, Maine’s Susan Collins, North Carolina’s Thom Tillis, and Rand Paul of Kentucky.
Apologies for the unhelpful 5 calls link yesterday. For today, I created a call script for you with in-state and DC numbers. I’m sure none of you will give zip codes that are not your own ; )
Call some Senators today to stop this madness and protect health care, SNAP, and clean energy incentives!
Section H of the omnibus bill overhauls the State Commission of Correction (SCOC), the watchdog agency with investigative and oversight powers over every jail and prison in the state.
The bill calls for the State Commission to expand from three to nine commissioners. In addition,
[t]he appointment requirements would guarantee a diversity of backgrounds, including in public health, behavioral healthcare, prisoner’s rights litigation, and personal experiences of incarceration.
Tell Governor Hochul to sign the omnibus bill to reform the SCOC and improve conditions for people in detention. I made it easy!
We also want the Governor to sign the repeal of the 100-foot rule.
I have written about this legislation before, but the short description is that it eliminates gas subsidies to homeowners, encouraging them to consider clean energy alternatives that lower the long-term environmental and dollar costs of home heating.
Use this quick climate action from Renewable Heat Now to urge Governor Hochul to sign the repeal of the 100-foot rule.
As chaos continues in Congress, NYC’s City Council passed a budget that represents three years of work by advocates and activists. Organizing and pressure forced Mayor Adams to restore some of what he took from us in previous budgets.
The public education budget of $93.3 million restores most of the funding for programs like restorative justice, mental health, school support workers, college prep, arts and summer programming.
Funding for CUNY operating funds has been fully restored!
Allocations for childcare and early education are sufficient to fund 3K and special education preschool, among other programs..
Another big win was more than $78 million for
immigration legal services and rapid response funds to safeguard Immigrant New Yorkers from Trump’s mass deportation scheme.
The city’s public library funding will expand 7-day service to 10 more branches, spread among the three library systems and the five boroughs.
And if you have despaired about the unmet mental health needs of some of our neighbors, note that there is $34 million in funding
for the Council Progressive Caucus’ plan to expand peer-led crisis teams, fund mental health and substance use care, and support first responders.
Celebrate the reelection victory of Councilmember Shahana Hanif, an effective, progressive mensch who defeated a particularly unpleasant and divisive challenge from Maya Kornberg.
These two beautiful people conceived of and hosted a kinship ceremony on Saturday, inviting friends and neighbors to join them in their continued work of weaving together a broken world. It was a joyful, loving festivity to celebrate friendship and community.
Maris Harmon and my springling, Lena Greenberg, are the proud parents of Needs and Offerings. With open hearts, political will, and deep spiritual commitment, they are doing the work of building a better world.
with love,
L
Beautiful. ❤️