June 12, 2023
Marking a win on voting rights, taking action against air pollution, helping Ukraine fight back, and more!
Contact all members of Congress:
By phone: (202) 224-3121
By email: democracy.io
By US mail: Representatives / Senators
By fax: Representatives / Senators
By Resistbot: Resist.bot
Contact White House or other federal agencies:
RENEWED OPPORTUNITIES FOR VOTING RIGHTS
Last week, voting rights lawyers earned a rare and surprising win before John Roberts’ ultraconservative Supreme Court in Allen v. Milligan, with the justices voting 5-4 to uphold a ruling that Alabama’s congressional map was an illegal gerrymander to dilute the power of black voters under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. This ruling will require Alabama and almost certainly Louisiana to redraw their maps to create a second ability-to-elect district for black voters, and the impacts won’t stop there. It should impact ongoing redistricting lawsuits across 10 states right from the start, and immediately sparked Cook Political Report to shift the ratings of five congressional districts towards Democrats. This could be a huge boost both to Democrats’ chances of holding the House in 2024 and to voting rights generally. Now that we have a chance to pick up seats in Alabama, let’s consider a donation to New Southern Majority to support efforts to elect progressive public servants. We can also financially support the NAACP Legal Defense Fund if we are able so they can push for more victories like this one and make sure we take full advantage of this ruling. Finally, let’s also remember that this was a defensive victory and that much remains to be done to restore the strength of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and contact our members of Congress to urge them to keep up the fight to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.SUBMIT A COMMENT FOR NEW AIR POLLUTION REGULATIONS
The EPA is proposing new rules to raise pollution standards from coal and natural gas fired power plants. These standards, if enacted, are projected to save $85 billion in climate and health care benefits. Since the fossil fuel industry is likely to fight this rule as much as possible, we can counteract the pressure by submitting a public comment and urging that the rule take effect as quickly as possible. Let’s submit our comment here. We can find a sample comment here and talking points here.
SLAVA UKRAINI
As we pass the 72nd anniversary of D-Day, there are strong indications that that the long-awaited Ukrainian counteroffensive has begun. This comes alongside a probable Russian attack on the Kakhovka reservoir dam, which was likely destroyed by an internal blast on Tuesday and is one of multiple dams breached in Russian-occupied territory in recent days. If confirmed, this breach would be an unprecedented act of ecocide that put thousands of Ukrainian lives at risk, destroyed countless homes, farms and businesses, damages the environment and poses short and long-term threats to local agriculture and water supplies. This terrorism is a stark reminder of the horrendous costs of Russia’s war. We need to continue to stand with our allies. Let’s call our members of Congress to tell them that we are still paying attention to this war and still want them to fund what Ukraine needs to liberate their territory from Russia, and reach out to the White House to share our support of bipartisan calls to send Ukraine the ATACMS missile system. We can also contribute directly to the war effort with the Ukrainian non-profit Come Back Alive here if we are able, or Vostok SOS and Razom, which are doing crucial relief work on the ground in Kherson after the dam explosion even while Russia fires on their rescue efforts.
WRITE TO OHIO VOTERS TO UPHOLD DEMOCRACY, ABORTION RIGHTS
Ohio voters may have a chance to enshrine abortion rights in the state’s constitution this November. In response, state Republicans have put forward a ballot initiative to raise the threshold for amending the Ohio constitution from a majority vote—which has been in effect since 1912—to a 60% supermajority. The election on the democracy initiative will take place August 8, just weeks away, and a massive get-out-the-vote effort is needed. Wherever we are, we can help by writing letters to targeted Ohio voters with Vote Forward. Vote Forward’s campaign starts this week. Let’s get ready by signing up, and collecting our blue pens, computer printer paper, stamps, and envelopes so we’re all set to go! We can also write postcards to defeat this initiative and receive information on the vote by texting JOIN to 484-275-2229.
NEXT STEPS TO #STOPCOPCITY
The overwhelmingly Democratic Atlanta City Council, despite the doubling of the estimated costs, 14 hours of public comment overwhelmingly opposed to the new police facility and deeply questionable arrests of activists running a local bail fund, voted 11-4 to approve funding for Cop City. But the activists have demonstrated how much the community is against this project, and they intend to put this support to good use, announcing Wednesday that they will seek to put a referendum on Cop City on the ballot this November. They now have 60 days to get 70,000 signatures. Let’s sign up to volunteer with their efforts and stay updated on ways we can help here. We can also use one of these toolkits to continue to make calls to the institutions supporting Cop City asking them to pull out, and we can join Rising Majority to write the district attorney’s office to protest the charges against the Atlanta Solidarity Fund and other activists here.
STATE-SPECIFIC ACTIONS
CA – TELL GOVERNOR NEWSOM WE SUPPORT RESTRICTIONS ON SOLITARY CONFINEMENT
Activists inside and outside of prison walls and their allies in the state legislature in California have been pushing to curtail use of solitary confinement in the carceral system in the state with the Mandela Act, which would limit solitary to 15 consecutive days and 45 days maximum in a 180-day period. This would codify the United Nations’ Mandela Rules, which define solitary confinement beyond 15 consecutive days as torture. Last September, Governor Newsom vetoed a version of the Mandela Act in the name of safety risks within carceral facilities, but Assemblyman Chris Holden (D-Pasadena) has reintroduced it as Assembly Bill 280 for this session. Let’s let Governor Newsom know we agree solitary is torture and ask him to sign limits on its use into law.
AND FINALLY, SOME GOOD NEWS
LAST WEEK’S WINS
at , including big victories for President Biden’s work on renewable energy and electric vehicles, pushback against homophobia and transphobia in red states, and unionizing workers getting support from the National Labor Relations Board.
The battle for progress is long and wearing, making it all the more important to acknowledge and celebrate the wins when they happen. Here’s a summary of some of the best news from the last week from our friend
I’m not sure why we should be so against “cop city,” especially in a social justice sense. It seems that a facility to train police better would serve us all.