Week 67 Actions

[Actions for Americans]

Hi all!

It's exciting to see that more than a year into this administration, activism, engagement, and resistance are still going strong. If you had to take a pause because of life, that's ok! When you're ready, pick yourself up, brush yourself off, and start all over again. 

Useful resource for finding your elected officials (save the numbers in your phone!!): myreps.datamade.us

Tips on effective communication with elected officials, see Chapter 4 Opportunity 4: Indivisible Guide: Local Advocacy Tactics that Work

1. Call your Senators to vote NO to Dodd-Frank rollbacks

The Senate was scheduled to take a vote last week on Dodd-Frank rollbacks, but it got pushed to this week. Make sure your Senators know that their constituents oppose making it easier for discrimination in home lending to go unnoticed, ending key consumer protections for homebuyers, and putting us at risk for another financial crisis. With bank earnings at all time highs, how can anyone argue that regulations are hurting Wall Street? Tell your Senators to vote NO on S. 2155.

For more: Washington Post: Senate Advances Plan to Weaken Dodd-Frank Banking Rules

Say: 5calls.org: Stop Rollback of Dodd-Frank Protections
Read: Indivisible: Republicans are Planning to Unravel Wall Street Reform
Be social: Use #BankLobbyistAct to spread news of this bill and encourage your friends and family to call their Senators for a no vote

 

2. March for Our Lives on March 24

We're taking our MoCs' thoughts and prayers and turning them into action. It's long past time our lawmakers make students' lives and safety a priority and pass common-sense gun safety legislation. 

Find an event near you: March For Our Lives

Call your state legislators: NY Times: Florida Governor Signs Gun Limits into Law 

3. Support Teachers 

If relying on teachers to save students during school shootings wasn't outrageous enough, teacher salaries have been stagnant or on the decline in many states. This week we saw West Virginia teachers pressure lawmakers to raise their wages, and Oklahoma is likely next. Let's put pressure on our legislators, so teachers can focus on teaching and time in the classroom.

Read: Vox: View teacher salaries by state

Donate: donorschoose.org - donate to classroom projects

Call: Call your state legislators and local school board, and tell them we need to invest in public education for a strong future

For more: American Federation of Teachers - Take Action

4. Call your Senators to end US participation in the Yemen Civil War

The Senate is scheduled to vote this week on a that will end the unauthorized war in Yemen. The bill, S.J. Res. 54, would declare the war unauthorized and end it. 

For more: The Guardian: Yemen War - Senators push to end US support of Saudi Arabia

Say: Indivisible: End Our Unauthorized War in Yemen

For our Texans

Y'all, we almost doubled Democratic primary voting turnout from 2014 to 2018. That's incredible! And even if you're not a Democrat, that increase in voting will hold Republican elected officials accountable to really work for their constituents. In many races, we still have a lot of work to do to get the votes needed to get bigoted people out of office, so let's keep the momentum going.

1. Celebrate

Take a minute to stop and look back on all the hard work you did in the run-up to primaries. Not only did we have a huge increase in the number of progressive candidates running (THANK YOU candidates!), there was a major increase in voter turnout compared to 2014. Good job!

2. Listen

A big part of increasing voter turnout is listening. When people give us feedback that figuring out how/where to vote, who to vote for, what ID is required, etc is hard in Texas, listen to them. Don't tell them they’re wrong. If it was hard for them, they are not wrong! Ask them what types of road blocks they encountered, what might make things easier for them, and then try to help. When we help someone make sense of the system, they can in turn help the next person, and we build a huge avalanche of knowledge. Similarly, if someone tells you they couldn’t make time for early voting, instead of assuming they’re lazy or don’t prioritize their time, listen. Find out what their road blocks are and help them next time around. We’re in this together y’all!

3. Volunteer

Sign up to help out with a Texas legislature race near you. All of us have a State Representative race in 2018 and some of us have a State Senate race too. See who your current Rep and Senator are: http://www.fyi.legis.state.tx.us/Home.aspx. Pick one or both races, reach out to the campaign you support, and get to work!  Why should we focus on Texas lege races? Well, the lege is responsible for: 

• Crippling our education system by slashing funding and burdening students and teachers with excessive testing
• Forcing Texans to decide between bankruptcy and medical care as they continue to refuse to vote on medicaid expansion
• Killing Texas women by closing most of the reproductive health clinics across the state
• Putting Texas children’s lives in jeopardy by neglecting and underfunding our foster care system
• Forcing our police to racially profile Texans of hispanic decent 

We’ve come a long way in the last year Texas, and we have so much more growth and change ahead of us. If you have any questions, please ASK! No question is a dumb one. 

As Barack Obama said, “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” ¡Sí se puede!

Have a great week everyone!

Much love,

Marieke

@actionsUSA