Actions for Everyone
Good people of the Activism Newsletter, I’m glad to be on the other side of that election. However pretty soon there will be, you guessed it, more elections – including this runoff election in Georgia. I hope you all enjoyed a few post-election moments of relief, because we now gotta bounce back and stronger.
Postcards to Swing States: I was a recipient of one of these postcards, as a resident of Wisconsin, and I must say, it was my favorite attempt to get me to vote. I do respect and admire everyone who phone and textbanked, door knocked, and canvassed on the streets. There is no doubt that helped inform and inspire people to vote, but postcards are my personal favorite.
With Georgia’s runoff election set for January 5th, now is the perfect time to write postcards to eligible Georgia voters urging them to vote safely on January 5th. Postcards to Swing States is a project of Progressive Turnout Project, aiming to get Democrats out to the polls.
Check out Postcards to Swing States and purchase postcards for $0.35 – they come in packages starting at 50 for $9 and then Postcards to Swing States will email you addresses of eligible voters you can write to, as well as instructions. Then you have until December 26-28th to mail them! Please do this!
Celebrate Transgender Awareness Week: Transgender Awareness Week, Nov 13- Nov 19, is a week when transgender people and their allies take action to bring attention to the community by educating the public about who transgender people are, sharing stories and experiences, and advancing advocacy around the issues of prejudice, discrimination, and violence that affect the transgender community. GLAAD has a wonderful website with resources for allies, transgender resources, and a form for reporting defamation in the media.
Transgender Day of Rememberance is November 20th. GLAAD is hosting an online memorial with the names of those who have died because of anti-transgender violence.
Take Good Care of Yourself: It seems now more than ever, it’s important to keep your immune system boosted. Up here in the Northern US, we also have to be aware of seasonal depression. Vitamin C, B6, and E are all well known for keeping your immune system strong. Vitamin D is important this time of year when the sunlight hours are few.
We can get most vitamins, minerals and nutrients from healthy foods, but I find in the late fall, winter, election season and during a pandemic, I need a little extra help so I take supplements. Stay healthy out there everyone!
End Qualified Immunity: I just had to email the Milwaukee Common Council and request that they reject $9.7 million dollars of what they consider “free Federal money” to hire more police officers, on the grounds that taking money to hire more cops isn’t free money, it’s millions of dollars of future lawsuits. This got me thinking about qualified immunity.
In the United States, qualified immunity is a legal principle that grants government officials performing discretionary functions immunity from civil suits unless the plaintiff shows that the official violated “clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known.”
Those civil suits fall on taxpayers. In fact, most cities have a line item in their budget for lawsuit payouts. What happens if police officers carry their own liability insurance? Well, lawsuits wouldn’t fall on taxpayers, and would instead fall on the violent actors themselves, and would perhaps minimize the excessive force used by police officers. If you live in a small town, your sheriff, alders, your DA, your Mayor are all very accessible – talk to them about ending qualified immunity. In bigger cities, find organizations calling for changes, and find out how you can support them. |