Today’s Local Actions (Thursday 6/25)
Resources
- Racial Justice resources here. Extensive BLM resources, including donation sites, onlines classes, Black-owned businesses, reading/watching lists and more.
- DACA: Go here for more information on latest ruling and what to do now. Free Citizenship fair on 6/28 in OXNARD.
- Community resources here. Volunteer opportunities, donations, food banks.
- County information here: Free antibody testing info., safety net resources, mortgage/rent assistance, etc..
- Emergency information: Emergency Preparedness Guide,
- Coronavirus : information, stats, tracker: here.
- Advisory: Masks are required in CA. Specific instructions here.
- Help us update info: Send “EVENT” in email header here.
Actions happening today!
- We’re putting up information on local protest sand actions by others we’re finding from informal sources. These listings are not endorsements nor guarantees as to time/place/type of protest or participant safety. Events can and have already been cancelled without notice.
- Protest safely in the time of pandemic and police overreaction: Go here for resources on camera apps, equipment, what to know.
WATCH
New Video from Black Lives Matter
“Our fight for liberty, justice, and freedom continues. Together, we can — and will — transform.” Text TRANSFORM to 24365
ONLINE ACTIONS
Thur 6/25: ONLINE, Moms Demand Action Virtual Pride (12 noon)
Facebook page here.
“This Thursday June 25 at 12 noon Pacific, join us for a virtual Pride event you can join from your computer or phone from your own home. The discussion will feature LGBTQ leaders in the gun violence prevention movement on the meaning of Pride in 2020, the disproportionate impact of gun violence on the LGBTQ community, and the intersectionality of gun violence, homophobia, transphobia, and systemic racism. From domestic violence, to hate crimes, to gun suicide, guns play a deadly role in LGBTQ victimization. When we recognize, through research and policy, that gun violence is an LGBTQ issue, we can prevent future tragedies and incidents of gun violence that happen each day, and—above all—save the lives of LGBTQ people in America.
We hope you can join us for this special presentation held via webinar. SIGN UP HERE”
Wed. 6/25: ONLINE – March for Our Lives – “The Power of Our Civic Engagement” (7pm EST)
Register here.
Legislative Actions
Send a letter to your Senators today demanding a nationwide moratorium on water shutoffs.
It’s easy, thanks to Food & Water Action. Click here.
“From the beginning of our national health crisis, Food & Water Action has been fighting water shutoffs. And with your help, we’ve stopped water service shutoffs across the country — in states like New York and Oregon — for 63% of the U.S. population, protecting about 206 million people.
But unfortunately, these actions are just temporary. At least three statewide and 41 local water moratoria have already expired. This means that more than 12 million people have lost the protections we helped win. Many more moratoria are slated to lapse in the next month.Water shutoffs aren’t only an issue of public health, they’re also an issue of racial and environmental justice. The highest shutoff rates occur in low-income communities and communities of color.
According to new research, water rates have increased by an average of 80% since 2010 with two-in-five households struggling to pay for water, leaving millions of Americans with unaffordable water bills. We’ve also found that Black communities face some of the most unaffordable water bills in the country. Households that had their water shut off during the pandemic were already struggling to make ends meet.
Longstanding racial inequities are allowing COVID-19 to sicken and kill Black and Indigenous people in wildly disproportionate numbers. The pandemic, together with the urgent demand for social, racial and environmental justice, has made it clear: Withholding water costs lives.
That’s why we need a nationwide moratorium on water shutoffs now. Public health depends on access to water, to keep ourselves and our communities safe. Congress needs to take action.”
Call your legislators to make one’s right to protest safe from chemical warfare.”YES” on H.R. 7221 – “To prohibit law enforcement officers from using chemical weapons in the course of policing activities, and for other purposes.“
As people across the U.S. protest systemic racism and police violence against Black people, police are using tear gas, a chemical weapon that is banned in warfare, as a means of crowd control. The aerosolized chemical is not only damaging to the human body in its own right, but even more so as we face a pandemic that is attacking people’s respiratory systems. The gas also seeps into nearby homes where it contaminates food, furniture, skin and surfaces, and can cause long-term lung damage. A 2012 Army study found that volunteers exposed to the gas had a substantially higher risk of contracting an acute respiratory illness days after the exposure compared to the same period before. The risk increased the more people were exposed and a Turkish study of the long-term effects of tear gas included chronic bronchitis. Our own CDC added long-term effects to eyes and asthma.
Add this into the existing respiratory issues minority population already suffer from environmental racism, fighting BLM protesters with a weapon that focuses on breathing itself is particularly heinous.
Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Mark Takano, Pramila Jayapal, and Chuy Garcia have introduced a bill (H.R. 7221) “To prohibit law enforcement officers from using chemical weapons in the course of policing activities.”
Minimal script: I’m calling from [zip code] and I want Rep/Sen. to cosponsor and actively support H.R. 7221 – “To prohibit law enforcement officers from using chemical weapons in the course of policing activities.”
More script if you want it: Many of your constituents are actively pursuing their first amendment rights to protest racial inequality at every level of government, and we expect that our legislators will take every possible action to protect them.
Rep- check here. (Neither Brownley nor Carbajal have cosponsored yet.)
Contacts:
Rep. Julia Brownley: email, (CA-26): DC (202) 225-5811, Oxnard (805) 379-1779
or Rep. Salud Carbajal: email.(CA-24): DC (202) 225-3601, SB (805) 730-1710
Who is my representative/senator?: https://whoismyrepresentative.com
Call your legislators to enact the planks of the Poor People’s Campaign
While ±6,500 Trump supporters yelled and yawned in Tulsa, more that a million people tuned in to view the Poor People’s digital protest. “According to organizers, the three and a half hour event was “the largest digital and social media gathering of poor and low-wealth people, moral and religious leaders, advocates, and people of conscience in this nation’s history.” Read about it here. Watch the trailer below if you’re unfamiliar with this amazing movement. Then you can watch the whole presentation here.
Campaign co-chair Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II gave specific examples of needed resource shifts, drawing from a more detailed Moral Budget produced last year with the Institute for Policy Studies. Tell your legislators that this is what we want and need.
Minimal script: I’m calling from [zip code] and I want Rep/Sen. to shift resources to reprioritize national resources to elevate human needs over enriching the wealthy and expanding the military. Specifically:
- Free up resources for social and green energy investments by cutting $350 billion from the military budget and saving $179 billion by ending mass incarceration and another $24 billion by abandoning the border wall
- Restore the corporate tax rate to pre-2018 levels, generating enough to fund universal early learning and childcare support
- Introduce a tiny tax on Wall Street trades to cover the cost of free public college
- Impose a wealth tax and inheritance taxes to pay for public infrastructure repair and a “baby bonds” program to narrow the racial wealth gap
Contacts:
Rep. Julia Brownley: email, (CA-26): DC (202) 225-5811, Oxnard (805) 379-1779
or Rep. Salud Carbajal: email.(CA-24): DC (202) 225-3601, SB (805) 730-1710
Senator Feinstein: email, DC (202) 224-3841, LA (310) 914-7300, SF (415) 393-0707
Senator Harris: email, DC (202) 224-3553, LA (310) 231-4494
Who is my representative/senator?: https://whoismyrepresentative.com
DACA – What to do now/ Qué hacer ahora.
This isn’t happening TODAY, but everybody needs time to alert their eligible neighbors!
Make sure your DACA-eligible friends and neighbors know that they should contact an immigration-specialist lawyer or an accredited representative now that SCOTUS has handed down a decision. Have them go here for more information or have them join us this Sunday.
Swap Meet Justice/Justicia Tianguera is returning to Oxnard Communuity Marketplace this Sunday!
NEW DACA applicants! Since Trump put the program in jeopardy three years ago, no one has been able to sign up new applicants, only process renewals. However, our lawyers and accredited representatives will be conducting free screenings of NEW DACA APPLICANTS (!!!), along with our normal work of helping people apply for citizenship, renew green cards, and register to vote. Census information will also be available.
We need volunteers! Masks/face shields/gloves will be provided and all shoppers at the Marketplace must wear masks as well. Go here for more information.
A fair like this is more expensive to run in pandemic conditions. Donations to defray costs of PPE and other equipment gratefully accepted at the Migrant Advocacy Fund of Ventura County here.
New flyers here. pandemic fair poster General pandemic fair poster – full.
Featured Resources
COVID-19 Relief and Recovery Plan for Black America
“For too long, Black people have had to work twice as hard to barely get half as far in America. The rules of the economy, our democracy, and our society are rigged — and as a result, Black communities are falling farther behind.
COVID-19 has exposed the connection between rigged rules and their impacts on our families: Black people are infected at higher rates, and comprise the majority of deaths from the disease in many cities across America.We need a plan for Black communities that protects our families, provides access to the care we need, and that builds new infrastructure to address the crises facing us. It’s time to change the rules, and make new ones that protect and strengthen our communities. The Black Agenda 2020 is a roadmap for making Black people powerful in all aspects of our lives.To flatten the curve and level the playing field, Congress must adopt the following Black Agenda2020 priorities immediately.”
Justice in June
“Justice in June cultivates a community rooted in truth, inspires action and is committed to awareness.
This resource was compiled by Autumn Gupta with Bryanna Wallace’s oversight for the purpose of providing a starting place for individuals trying to become better allies.
Choose how much time you have each day to become more informed as step one to becoming an active ally to the black community. On this document are links to the learning resources and a schedule of what to do each day.”
SIGN UP YOUR FRIENDS TO VOTE – Color of Change
Thur 6/25: PHONEBANKING – People’s Action Campaign for Minneapolis
(People’s Action) “Our members in Minneapolis are fighting to defund the police department that killed George Floyd. We want to replace that department with a new system of public safety that protects Black lives instead of destroying them. To do that, we have to win a vote coming up at the Minneapolis City Council on Friday. It’s looking like the vote will be close, and we need your help.
Here’s the situation: The Minneapolis Charter requires that the city keep a minimum police force of at least 730 cops. We can’t defund the police unless we repeal this provision in the city charter. This Friday, the City Council is taking a major vote to put a charter amendment on the November ballot. If they vote yes, the people of Minneapolis will have the opportunity to vote on winding down the MPD and building a new system for public safety in the city. Here’s what we’re asking you to do:
Join our phone banks into Minneapolis tomorrow, Wednesday, June 24, from 10 a.m.–1 p.m. Central and Thursday, Thursday, June 25, 2–5 p.m. Central. Call folks who live in Minneapolis to put them in touch with their city council member and ask them to vote for the charter amendment ballot initiative on Friday, June 26.
The protests around the country have opened up incredible space for our movement to act to change systems. This is one very concrete system we can change through action this week to make Black Lives Matter. Please join our phone banks this week. We need you.
In solidarity,
Ryan Greenwood
