March 28, 2023
Another school shooting, living wages for teachers, housing discrimination, , 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:
- YET ANOTHER SCHOOL SHOOTINGYet another mass shooting has occurred. This time at a Tennessee Christian elementary school. Seven are reported dead, including three children. As Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) wrote, “Families in Tennessee are living a nightmare that so many Americans have suffered through. I’m disgusted by the amount of blood on the hands of the gun lobby—and on every politician beholden to them. We shouldn’t have to live like this, and kids shouldn’t have to die like this.” Let’s contact our state and federal officials about this epidemic that is killing us. Newton Action Alliance has provided us with this toolkit full of information and action items to help us address this.
- SUPPORT ISRAELI CITIZEN EFFORTS TO MAINTAIN DEMOCRACYIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s efforts to allow parliament to override decisions made by the more liberal Israeli judiciary have been met with widespread protests and oppositionfrom many high level people in the Israeli government, including President Israel Herzog and Defense Yoav Minister Gallant, whom Netanyahu just fired.. Members of our Congress have begun to speak in opposition, but have only done so tepidly, since they are afraid of being perceived as anti-Israel. Even though Netanyahu has chosen to delay this change due to the protests, let’s tell our MoCs that we want their opposition to Netanyahu’s anti-democratic agenda to be articulated loudly and clearly. In this country and in Israel, no one should be above the law. Let’s also check out Unexeptable.org, a citizen movement in Israel that has been at the forefront of trying to save Israeli democracy.
- STAND UP AGAINST HOUSING DISCRIMINATION
The Biden Housing and Urban Development Department has proposed a new rule that will finally put some teeth in the Fair Housing Act, requiring communities to actively craft and follow through on strategies to stop housing discrimination or risk losing federal funds. HUD is seeking public comment on the rule before April 10th. Let’s submit comments and show our support, and sign this petition from the Alliance for Housing Justice encouraging HUD to ensure strong protections for renters in this rule. We can find a guide to creating a good comment here.
- LIVING WAGES FOR TEACHERSLow pay, high stress, long hours, second jobs: these and more are causing people to leave the teaching profession, or not even enter it at all. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has introduced the Pay Teachers Act. If passed, the bill will ensure a minimum public school teacher’s salary of $60,000 a year plus increases our the course of a career. Let’s tell our Senators to co-sponsor S.766.
- FUN MERCH FOR GOOD CAUSESCraftivist Julie Ross, seen in this article with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis holding her hand-cut “fascist” snowflake, has inspired a line of T-shirts using her snowflake designs. The T-shirts—one reads “Beware of Fascist Snowflakes” and another reads “Sharp Scissors Make Nasty Snowflakes”—can be purchased from the online store Raygun, which donates a portion of their revenues to the NAACP, Planned Parenthood, the ACLU, and more. Next time we need a gift for ourselves or others, let’s consider buying this fun merch for good causes.