Dear friends,
When she arrived at Friday night's fundraiser, Cori Bush was wearing her 18,000 tee — the one she wore to the State of the Union — to remind President Biden that there’s a pile of 18,000 clemency petitions that he needs to attend to.
Urge President Biden to grant clemency as a show of commitment to end the moral failure and racial justice crisis of mass incarceration. This ready-made action is from the ACLU.
It was a powerful experience to be in a room with Congresswoman Cori Bush, unlike any contact I've had with an elected official. The healing power of love is at the core of her work; I find it hard to forget that she is a nurse.
Hers is the face you want to see when you are not well, when you are afraid, and when you need help. Her sense of mission about her work as a legislator is unlike anything we've ever seen in Congress.
My representative in Congress, Congresswoman Cori Bush
Mostly, I have given up supporting individual candidacies in favor of grassroots organizing. But Cori Bush is different.
Cori Bush, the best Bush ever, has used her instincts as an organizer to get something done in DC. In August, she slept on the steps of the capitol to protest the expiration of the federal moratorium on evictions.
She stayed put — in rain, cold and brutal summer heat — until President Biden, under growing pressure, abruptly relented and announced a 60-day federal eviction moratorium.
Cori talked about the expense of lawn signs — an important campaign tool in Missouri — and the challengers she is likely to face in the Democratic primary. She noted that people tell her that they love her, but they open their wallets wider for male candidates that they don't even like that much.
I was curious about that, since I'd read that female candidates outraised male candidates in 2020; I found that Bush was correct:
Black women, Latina women, Indigenous women, and Asian and Pacific Islander women face unique difficulties raising money compared to their white and male counterparts, according to previous research. This is notably apparent when looking at large donations, especially for Black women. Black women raised the least amount across all race and gender categories.
People are coming for Cori Bush, and I'm not just talking about primary opponents and corporate special interests. She talked about the effects on her staff of receiving threatening calls and emails. I watched her staff members who were in the room. They feel her love.
Congresswoman Cori Bush has to spend a fortune on private security. I urge you to watch an interview in which she was called on to explain her position on defunding the police and her use of private security, in its entirety. I usually just read interview transcripts, but this was entirely worth watching.
My security is not against community violence. My security is not to keep me safe from the people of St. Louis. My security is to keep me safe from those racist attempts made against my life. . . .
I didn't see any of those people that have come against me with this negativity, with these lies, with these smears stand up when they saw the N-word, when they saw me post stuff about. . . the threats on my life, hanging me and burning me, frying me and my family like bacon.
They didn't say anything about that. And that was just a piece of what I receive all the time. But you know what? I take that. And I walk with my head up and my shoulders back, because I know I'm doing the work for the people. I'm on the right side of history.You come and stand on these steps and fight for the people this way. You show up and fight for the people the way that I have. You put your body on the line, the way that I put my body on the line. And until you can do that, I suggest you take several seats.
Is anyone going to work harder or more effectively for us than Cori Bush will? The answer is clearly no.
Watch Congresswoman Cori Bush’s 2022 campaign video.
I considered putting off writing about Cori until Tuesday, because she is the good news.
Cori talked about the “fierce urgency of now” that shapes her work every day. She is the embodiment of “vigorous and positive action.” Cori ran on a platform that included “Education for all” and promised to
work with [her] colleagues in congress to eliminate all $1.6 trillion in college debt.
She has never let the issue drop. Student debt cancellation was her Christmas wish. She started last week by reminding the president of the student debt crisis.
Tell President Biden to cancel student debt. This action comes from Cori’s colleague, Ayanna Pressley.
All week long, Cori was amplifying the issues that matter.
She called Biden out for not mentioning Black lives in his State of the Union. She joined Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley for demanding an end to qualified immunity, which shields police from accountability. She thanked the president for his efforts to get Build Back Better passed. She knows that we haven’t lost until we give up.
And Cori again called on the president to back the Green New Deal. Regulating is faster than legislating, so while the legislative work continues, take some positive action:
Tell Secretary Buttigieg that we need to measure greenhouse gas emissions created by the National Highway System now. This ready-made action is from the National Campaign for Transit Justice.
Cori recounted her experience of her third day at work, January 6, 2021, and remarked that her staff didn't even have snacks as they were trapped in her office. At that point in the evening, I exchanged knowing looks with Leah Faria, a community organizer who was sharing a cushion near me with another activist, Roslyn Smith.
Cori was worried about her people.
It is our job to look after our own AND to widen the circle of who we see as our own.
Roslyn, the program manager of Beyond Incarceration, sent us an invitation to participate in Advocacy Day this week.
Sign up with RAPP (Release Aging People in Prison) to talk to NY legislators this Wednesday. It’s virtual and you can hear Angela Davis speak!
Contact your NYS lawmakers to let them know that you support Elder Parole and Fair & Timely Parole to address the prison crisis. This action is ready-made by FWD.us.
Cori Bush came to Congress having already faced bullets and tear gas in Ferguson. On January 6, she looked around her office, prepared to use what was at hand to defend her staff from the mob.
Let’s step up to defend our bravest legislator from the people who come at her with negativity and violence while she is doing the peoples’ work with courage, vision, and love.
Support Congresswoman Cori Bush.
with love,
L