Prescott Indivisible is a non-partisan community which seeks to promote a progressive and inclusive agenda in support of human rights and the environment.
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Prescott Indivisible Newsletter:
September 7, 2020
VOTE EARLY!
Voting begins Oct 7 & ends at 7 pm on Nov 3
Protect yourself and our poll workers by voting early rather than crowding the polling places on Election Day. Official Ballot Drop Box locations will be published closer to the ballot “drop”. Don’t risk muddy roads, bad weather, or COVID exposure on November 3 — vote when your ballot comes in the mail.
REGISTER TO VOTE HERE
VERIFY YOUR REGISTRATION, REQUEST A BALLOT BY MAIL, VERIFY YOUR BALLOT BY MAIL STATUS HERE
Virtual Economy and Business Town Hall
Thursday, September 8th at 5:00 pm
Join the Judy Stahl for AZ State House campaign, partnered with local business owners and associations
We want to hear from YOU. Submit your questions for Judy to respond to during this event– SUBMIT QUESTIONS HERE
Your voice matters!
Sincerely,
Team Stahl for All
Save The Dells
CALL TO ACTION: WRITE P&Z TODAY! Sept 10th DEADLINE
For details CLICK HERE
Let them know you are watching and concerned with how this annexation is progressing. Here are some suggestions for comments that you can submit in advance of the next meeting, September 10th.
2020 Yavapai Democratic Candidate Virtual Rally!
Thursday, Sept 10, 6:30-8 pm
Join us in welcoming Yavapai county Democratic candidates
Speakers include:
Delina DiSanto, Felicia French, Judy Stahl
John Lutes and Donna Michaels.
with a video presentation by Coral Evans
Register to attend here: YavapaiCandidateRally.
This event is en lieu of our annual Truman-Clinton Dinner & Fundraiser.
Please consider a generous donation to support the work we do to ensure you are informed and ready to vote!
Contribute Today!
Black Lives Matter Rally on Fri, Sept 4
From Mavis Brauer, Chair PI Prescott
chair@prescottindivisible.org
At Thursday night’s GM meeting, we decided to endorse and support the BLM rally on Friday afternoon that was organized by Nyah Jones, a black Yavapai College student and Prescott resident. That afternoon, I spoke with John Heiney, the Prescott Community Outreach Director. He assured me that the police would provide protection for the protesters.
When people started calling me on Friday afternoon and telling me about the armed militia that was forming on the square I had a lot of fear come up. For whatever reason, I felt clear that I needed to stand behind the student organizers. I’m not a particularly courageous person, and I have to tell you that I had to muster up a lot of courage to overcome the fear before I got in my car to drive to the square. But there was something else. As the PI Chair, I felt a lot more responsibility than I had ever thought about before because this was a decision point of whether I should keep going (which I did) or just call off our endorsement (which would have felt cowardly).
I went to the BLM rally and you could tell who was who. The right-wingers didn’t have masks on, had their guns, and were trying to start an altercation. The BLM protesters wore masks, didn’t have guns, and mostly ignored the right-wingers. The police were there and stifled disruptions as they arose. If you look at the videos (see link below), it’s clear that Prescott has a problem with armed right-wingers and the ideal image of “Everybody’s Hometown” was shattered.
I don’t know if it was a good decision to endorse and promote the BLM rally but it feels like it was to me. Was it dangerous? Probably. But it feels like a win. Especially today since nobody got shot. I feel like I got my edges pushed out because I had to ask myself how far was I willing to go to stand up for my beliefs. Maybe that’s something everybody has to answer for themselves.
The PI Steering Committee will be meeting this week in closed session. We are going to talk about what happened, what we did right, what we did wrong, and what are our future options. This is a closed session. The “special call” mailed earlier was in error. Please disregard.
For those of you who came to the BLM rally, thank you for showing up. As uncomfortable as this was, it feels like a character builder to me.
PI General Meeting, September 3:
Thanks to Bill Court, you can view the PI GM on YouTube at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOYKE6ihM0g&feature=youtu.be
Our next GM is on October 1 and we will focus on the propositions and hear from our candidates.
Racial Equity Education:
This weeks’ recommendations have come from a variety of sources.
1. This short video, “Not In Our Town“ come from our AREA-P (PI Anti-Racist team) and could provide the vision of how we move forward.
https://www.niot.org/niot-video/not-our-town-billings-montana-0
2. “Attack by FAIR isn’t about ‘cancel culture’ but injecting hate into the mainstream” was recommended by Lula Cooper. FAIR, Federation for American Immigration Reform, is a hate group masquerading as a public policy think tank. Here’s an article about them from the Southern Poverty Law Center.
https://www.splcenter.org/news/2020/09/03/attack-fair-isnt-about-cancel-culture-injecting-hate-mainstream
3. The BLM Rally on Friday afternoon brought out the right wing hate groups and their armed militias onto the Prescott Courthouse Square. This article and video shows the heckling by the right wingers.
https://www.tmz.com/2020/09/06/arizona-trump-supporters-heckled-black-lives-matter/
Letter to the Yavapai County Sherrif’s Office
From Linda Lutes
I attended the Black Lives Matter protest on Friday at the Square. I appreciate that, in our great country, we have the right to peaceful protest. I was frightened and appalled by the demonstration of force, intimidation, hatred and potential violence displayed by the counter protestors. I am a 73-year-old citizen who has lived in Prescott since 1973, raised my family here and my daughter is raising her family here as well. I worked as an RN at the VA Medical Center for 35 years. I loved my work and love and support all Veterans who have sacrificed and died for our freedom to protest.
Thank you all for your professionalism, dedication and support in keeping all of us safe. I was impressed by your interventions, show of respect and kindness. When I was threatened by a gentleman angrily shouting and attempting to knock a camera out of a friend’s hand, you intervened in a professional and effective manner diffusing the situation. I joked with some officers, shared my thanks and felt protected. This was a great demonstration of why officers of this caliber are needed and appreciated. Prescott’s finest surely are and I am thankful. What could have devolved into a serious situation was diffused by your wonderful officers.
Sadly, the show of guns, intimidating, shouting, shoving and yelling is not befitting of everyone’s home town. It gives Prescott a black eye and saddens me. Never in my 45 years of living here have I witnessed such a sad spectacle. I hope never to see this again but Thank You, Thank You for your courage and support.
Sincerely,
Linda Lutes
Prescott, AZ
What are your thoughts? Write the Sheriff a letter:
Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office
255 E. Gurley Street, Prescott, Arizona 86301
(928) 771-3260
web.sheriff@yavapai.us
RECLAIMING EVERYBODY’S HOMETOWN
From Rosemary Dixon
Chair AREA-P Team (Anti-Racist Education and Action)We are distressed at the increase in hatred and bigotry over the last four years. This was evidenced by the disgraceful display of fully armed militia attending the Black Lives Matter protest on Friday September 4. These groups purposefully intimidated and tried to provoke confrontation. This protest was organized by a recent Yavapai College graduate as a peaceful and non-violent expression. We see symbols of hate– confederate flags, swastikas, and nooses– in and outside of Prescott. This is unacceptable. In response, we plan to take out a full page ad in the Daily Courier to remind our community of the moral imperative common to all faiths and cultures, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” We want to send the message that we care about all of our neighbors: Black, Brown, Indigenous, LGBTQ. The full page ad will cost $1100 dollars and we are seeking donations to meet this cost.
Contact: PIAR072020@gmail.com
TEXT VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!!
Many of us are disturbed by the threatening anti-BLM protesters at the courthouse square on Friday. We cannot change their minds. We CAN reach out to Independents and try to communicate with them.
We could use more texters! Please join the Voter Values Project texting group. Contact Louise Clara at lclara5250@msn.com.
Voter Values Project Statement:
Health Care Reform Part 1
We are living in a time when advances in medicine are making headlines almost daily. In spite of the fact that we live in one of the wealthiest countries in the world, our access to good, timely medical treatment is thwarted by a provider system that is broken. The United States spends more on health care (16.9% of GDP, >$10,000 per capita) and has the highest average out of pocket costs of all first world countries surveyed except Switzerland. The U.S. also has the highest rate of suicide and the lowest life expectancy READ THE FULL STORY HERE.
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civil rights and progressive politics across Arizona.
PRESCOTT INDIVISIBLE
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CONTACT
NATIONAL, STATE, AND LOCAL REPRESENTATIVES
National
SENATOR KYRSTEN SINEMA
825 B&C Hart Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510
(202) 224-4521
contact@sinema.senate.gov
SENATOR MARTHA MCSALLY
B40D Dirksen Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510
202-224-2235
contact@mcsally.senate.gov
REPRESENTATIVE PAUL GOSAR
2057 Rayburn HOB, Washington, DC 20515 202-225-2315
6499 S. Kings Ranch Rd. #4, Gold Canyon, AZ 85118 480-882-2697
220 N. 4th St., Kingman, AZ (by appt. only)
122 N. Cortez St., Suite 104, Prescott, AZ 86301 928-445-1683
http://paulgosar.house.gov/contact/
Arizona
GOVERNOR DOUG DUCEY
State Capitol, 1700 West Washington Street, Phoenix, AZ 85007 602.542.4331
http://azgovernor.gov/governor/form/contact-governor-ducey
Legislature http://www.azleg.gov/
Senator Karen Fann kfann@azleg.gov 602-926-5874
Rep. Noel Campbell ncampbell@azleg.gov 602-926-3124
Rep. Steve Pierce spierce@azleg.gov 602-926-5584
Prescott
MAYOR GREG MENGARELLI
201 S. Cortez St. Prescott 928.777.1248
