Dear friends,
There is a lot going on right now and I’m finding the various pieces of news a bit overwhelming. I’m also not sure when today’s post will go out, as Substack seems to be verifying my distribution list to ensure that I am not spamming people. Just a loving reminder that you can unsubscribe from this list any time. The too-muchness is real and your first job is to take care of yourself (as when putting your own oxygen mask on before assisting others).
If you do not read Heather Cox Richardson’s Letters from an American, today might be the day to begin. I know I just acknowledged being overwhelmed AND I appreciate HCR’s cogent account of the most recent developments in Crazytown (DC); they are a bit head-spinning, which is an impressive standard in a year like this one. In her words:
It is impossible to overstate just how momentous are both an attempted coup and an attempt to force the U.S. to default on its debts.
All week, the US has been racking up 2000+ daily COVID deaths. Fortunately, in a ruling yesterday, a judge allowed the mayoral mandate for all school staff to be vaccinated to stand. One of my dearest teacher friends was again — for the second time this month — exposed to someone at school who tested positive.
The NYC Situation Room, which handles contact tracing and decisions about school and classroom closures, has reduced hours, closing down by 3:30 PM on weekdays instead of at 7:30 PM, as it did last year. This has to change immediately.
The Situation Room is supposed to be a rapid response team. But just over a week into the school year, some school leaders and union officials said there have been problems reaching the office by phone to report cases or they have faced delays getting official orders to quarantine classrooms, forcing principals to scramble.
“They’re overwhelmed,” said Mark Cannizzaro, head of the union that represents school administrators.
Although overall school attendance is above 85 percent, there are a few hundred schools with absentee rates over 25 percent. We need to keep schools open and safe and we need to know if these absences are actually unofficial quarantines.
Contact the mayor to urge him to extend hours for the Situation Room.
As a teacher, I was often urged to participate in celebratory events to mark Constitution Day, which invariably involved essay contests. I enjoy writing far more than the average person, and still I hate essay contests.
See Heidi Schreck’s What the Constitution Means to Me if you get the chance.
Constitution Day was almost a week ago — on September 17, the anniversary of the day in 1797 when the majority of delegates voted to approve our founding document. We know the document is marred by some very bad ideas. But, if we are going to honor the idea of democracy, the proper celebration should be the passage of the Freedom to Vote Act.
If you’re not sure a bill that Joe Manchin helped to draft is worth bothering about, consider the protections that the Freedom to Vote Act will provide to Indigenous voters. Laura Roundine, a Montana resident was living on a reservation with no home mail delivery during the 2020 presidential election. She had just had heart surgery and would not have been able to vote without
Renee LaPlante, a Blackfeet community organizer, [who drove Roundine’s] ballot to a distant election office as part of her job.
In 2021, Montana Republicans’ new voter-suppression law forbids such delivery of ballots.
The Freedom to Vote Act authorizes Congress to override restrictive measures in federal elections. Restrictive measures include the bullshit about not giving water or food to people on line at polling places. The bill also guarantees 15 days of early voting in every state for a federal election and sets up automatic voter registration when a licensed driver turns 18.
Almost three in four Americans support the reforms in the Freedom to Vote Act. We just need Congress to pass it. This is a moment for collective relentlessness.
Sign the petition to end the filibuster and pass the Freedom to Vote Act!
It’s been a while since I’ve offered an end-of-week treat; I am feeling like a busy teacher who forgot that her students are always hoping for brownies. Tomorrow’s treat is a symposium hosted by the Birnbaum Women’s Leadership Network at NYU. It’s called The Marshall Plan for Moms: What Would It Mean for America to Put Care First? I’ve been going on about the burning need for a caregiving infrastructure and here’s your chance to be part of a rich discussion with the folks who have been working on this issue for a long time.
Check out the panel topics and individual speakers and register for the Marshall Plan for Moms here.
Here’s today’s unfinished business:
First up is the extension of the Child Tax Credit. I try not to be a knee-jerk progressive, because I know that the specifics of legislation matter and that badly written laws yield unintended consequences. So, I rely on people with PhDs and other credentials to sort through the details of sensible-seeming policies. Here’s what Paul Krugman wrote about the Child Tax Credit:
[T]he returns to aiding children are so high that the cost would probably be minimal even in narrowly fiscal terms — because helping children grow up into more productive, healthier adults would eventually mean higher tax receipts and lower medical outlays. Unlike tax cuts for the rich, aid to poor children would largely pay for itself.
Let your Congressional delegation know that you support a permanent extension of the Child Tax Credit. This is a ready-made action!
The House Oversight Committee recently requested
documents on the reported role of the fossil fuel industry in a long-running, industry-wide campaign to spread disinformation about the role of fossil fuels in causing global warming.
If fossil fuel executives are subpoenaed to testify, this will be an opportunity to get them on the record, an important step in making them pay for the damage they have done to land, water, air, and peoples’ lives.
Sign this petition to demand that fossil fuel executives testify before Congress.
Two people have died in custody in NYC lock-ups this week, bringing the 2021 total to twelve. With thousands of people dying each day of COVID in the US, you may have experienced some numbness.
I briefly worked for the Department of Juvenile Justice in the 1980s, and that work taught me that those who work in locked facilities have a dual duty of custody and care. Right now, the city cannot safeguard the lives of people on Rikers or in the floating jail barge where Stephan Khadu died yesterday; there are rising numbers of assaults against corrections staff, and officers are failing to show up to work in huge numbers.
This is an untenable humanitarian crisis. There was a large protest at City Hall to call out the mayor on his failure to act. He continues to treat the staffing issues as a disciplinary matter. This shows his larger failure to understand the dehumanizing effects of incarceration on both the jailers and those who are jailed.
Call on Mayor De Blasio to grant immediate release to everyone being held on bail. Here’s a ready-made message.
Thousands of people seeking asylum in the US have been threatened by Border Patrol officers as well as horrid conditions in extreme heat in Del Rio, Texas. There is a lot more to say about this humanitarian crisis and policy failure. For today, however, let’s just focus on the most immediate needs.
Support World Central Kitchen’s work in Del Rio, Texas.
Are you still working from home? I’ve gone back to in-person work, which I’m pretty happy about! In any case, you can work from home for justice AND show up in person! Fridays for Future NYC has invited us to march from City Hall Park to Battery Park tomorrow, where there will be speakers and performers.
Join this week’s Fridays for the Future Climate Strike.
The day is poised to improve. The governor announced increases to overtime pay for nurses and other medical staff and the city council is voting today on a slate of bills to protect Los Deliveristas.
with love,
L