TODAY: Wed, July 16, at 5 PM, celebrate the legacy of the late Rep. John Lewis with a community film showing at the SF Main Library! Get your tickets here.
SUNDAY: July 20, at 2 PM, it’s our next General Meeting! At the new beautiful CANA Performing Space at 683 Florida Street. Space is limited, so grab a free ticket on Eventbrite.
MONDAY, July 21, at 5:30 PM: Lament Walk and Teach-In: Join our new action from the Judiciary group. Info here.
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In this issue:
- Want to help us do this work?
- Upcoming events
- Lament Walk and Teach-In
- Stop Trump from cutting PBS, NPR and USAID
- Update on ICE and new actions
- Countering disinformation
- It’s time for media to make good trouble
- Support a wealth tax in San Francisco
- Direct Action Event Monitoring: we need your help!
Town Square for Democracy and Indivisible SF will sponsor two events to kick off a series of community meetings and actions over the coming months which will alert the public to the critical role of the Rule of Law and a "Judiciary with Spine".
A Lament Walk for Lost Justice will take place 5:30-6:30pm along 24th street from Diamond Street to the Noe Valley Ministry where the Teach-In begins.
A Teach-In for Justice will feature a panel of judges and lawyers from 6:30 to 8:30 pm at the Noe Valley Ministry Presbyterian Church. The panel includes speakers: Civil rights Attorney Mauni Jalali, and other attorneys and judges. The presentation will focus on current threats to Constitutional rights and to judges, lawyers and their families as well as actions that residents and guests can take to restore and safeguard democracy.
Info here.
Stop Trump from grabbing the funds that were allocated to PBS, NPR, and USAID
The Trump regime is pushing a bill through Congress that will rescind previously-appropriated funding from a number of important services, including public broadcasting (NPR and PBS) and foreign aid. These services have already received steep cuts in the recently-passed MAGA Murder Budget for next fiscal year; the rescission bill will take away funding they’ve already received.
Taking this funding away from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (NPR & PBS) will force many rural stations to shut down, while the defunding of foreign aid will cause—is already causing—thousands of deaths through starvation and HIV.
We need our Democratic Members of Congress to do what they can to protect not-for-profit media and aid to those who need it, foreign and domestic.
Tell your Members of Congress: stop the Rescission Bill.
Update on ICE: what is happening and what you can do
In his most recent newsletter, Indivisible leader Ezra Levin notes that the most immediate effect of "Trump’s Big Bullshit Bill (BBB)" is the real-time creation and funding of an American police-state political gestapo:
"I do not think the media, political commentators, or the public at-large understand just how enormous and society-changing this part of the bill is. ... The American Gestapo is funded now -- right now. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) annual budget balloons to $37.5 billion. This makes ICE the largest federal law enforcement agency in the history of the republic. To put this in perspective, here are the sizes of other federal law enforcement agencies, many of which have entire TV dramas devoted to them:
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI): $10.1 billion
IRS-criminal & civil tax Enforcement: $3.7 billion
U.S Secret Service: $2.9 billion
Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA): $2.7 billion,
Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC): $2.1 billion
Alcohol Tobacco Firearms & Explosives (ATF): $1.6 billion
[TOTAL $23.1 billion.
ICE = $37.5 billion]
Why do they need all this funding? Simple. They want to take the terror and militarization that they brought to Los Angeles and do the same thing in communities around the country. They’ve wanted to do this for a long time, but they haven’t had the money. Now, they’ve got the money."
We can’t lie - this is really scary. But we can still continue to fight ICE. Here are some things that we’ve been doing and can continue to do.
How you can help counter disinformation online
Get ready now to become a Disinformation Disrupter. Disinformation is rampant on the internet and in social media, and especially on far-right platforms. Some examples you might have heard about: Obama’s birth certificate, Russian bots attempting to influence elections, non-citizens voting in US elections, vaccinations causing autism, January 6 being a false-flag operation – the list could be endless. With the 2026 mid-term and 2028 general elections presenting the best opportunities for reversing the slide into authoritarianism, the possibility that disinformation could disrupt those processes is especially concerning.
What can you do?
You can join Indivisible National’s Truth Brigade. This is a one-stop shop to support efforts to counter disinformation. It provides a social-science based messaging format, pre-designed and pre-scripted posts for different platforms delivered by email or available on-line, monthly on-line status status updates and training, and periodic campaign launches and explainers. They’ve made it easy. All you have to do is click on a message and post it to your chosen social media platform. You can also repost others’ TB posts to amplify them. But first, join the Truth Brigade.
Social media not for you?
If social media isn’t your thing, Truth Brigade also supports letters to editors and other long-form formats with scripts and a copy-editing service. And, if you want to try crafting your own messaging, the TB Slack provides a message workshopping channel among other resources.
Details are in our blog post.
Time for today’s media to make GOOD TROUBLE!
It is through John Lewis’ exemplary courage as he stood in front of a wall of adversaries, on that 1965 Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama, where he and those gathered with him held up a light against the darkness. It was a light America could not miss, America could not deny. Through the mainstream media, Americans and the world were compelled to bear witness to the atrocities directed towards Negroes in the South. Their response: shock and outrage, to such a degree it contributed to the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
On Thursday, July 17, 2025, grab a candle. Light it. Do it in honor of the legacy of John Lewis. Do it in honor of those who never wavered, who were knocked down, but got back up, time and time again, despite beatings, injuries and insults.
Read more about the legacy of Rep. John Lewis and how you can keep his work alive today in this blog post.
Support a Wealth Tax in San Francisco
As of 2024 San Francisco was home to 50 billionaires, the highest per-capita level of any city in the world. A wealth tax affecting only these top earners would create lasting revenue and prevent the kinds of cuts that are about to impact our City—but local income taxes are not allowed in California.
To this end, Supervisors Connie Chan, Chyanne Chen, Jackie Fielder, and Shamann Walton have co-sponsored a resolution calling for our state representatives Matt Haney, Catherine Stefani, and Scott Wiener to introduce legislation that would allow cities and counties in California to have local income taxes. Sixteen states allow local income taxes, but California is not among them.
The Resolution received unanimous support among the Board Supervisors. Let’s thank them for bringing progressive solutions to the table, and urge our state representatives to do what our Supervisors are asking them to do.
Tell your state representatives: Support a wealth tax in San Francisco.
Direct Action Event Monitoring: We need your help!
At every protest, we always want as many safety monitors as we can get to help keep our actions peaceful. And that’s never been more true and more important than at last month’s No Kings march, where roughly 100,000 people filled the streets.
We’ll have more protests in the future. Please volunteer to be a safety monitor for our next action. We can train you—it takes about 90 minutes. It's a simple, usually fairly chill, and essential job that helps keep our actions safe for all participants.
As pro-democracy, anti-authoritarian movements depend on nonviolence for success and as the US movement grows and potentially provokes authoritarian backlash, we encourage you to join in this vital work at our future actions. Read more on our blog.
When you see a call for volunteers for our events, please sign up as an event monitor. And, join #direct_action if you’re on our Slack.
Want to help us do this work?
We will plug you in where your skills can do the most good to resist this administration.
If you would like to join and do important work with us, we welcome you! Currently we are in need of volunteers to help with the following:
- Editing submissions to our newsletter (Mondays and Tuesdays).
- Publishing our newsletter with MailChimp and helping update our website on Newsletter Night (Tuesdays at 5 PM).
- Making short-form videos to help educate people on our topics in an accessible way.
- Tracking federal, state, and local legislation and working with our state and local legislatures and Mayor Lurie.
- Organizing our protests and other in-person actions and scheduling our in-person meetings.
No experience is needed; we will train you and provide everything you need. If you would like to help us, please contact us at [email protected].
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TODAY: Film screening for Good Trouble day at SF Main Library, Wednesday, July 16, 5-8 PM. Join Indivisible SF for the powerful community film screening that honors the late Rep. John Lewis in the Koret Auditorium. Get your tickets here.
Indivisible SF General Meeting: Sunday, July 20, 2 PM at 683 Florida St. The meeting is open to anyone interested in resisting Trump's radical agenda of hate, division, and greed. 683 Florida St. is the Cultura y Arte Nativa de las Americas (CANA) performance space. It's between 18th & 19th St. in the Mission. Busses run along nearby Bryant, Folsom, and 16th streets. Event space is limited so grab a free ticket on EventBrite.
Phone Bank with Common Cause: Thursday, July 17, 2:30-4:30 PM, and Tuesday, July 22, 3-5 PM. Join Common Cause for an important phone bank as we mobilize voters to take action against dangerous legislation in state houses around the country. RSVP on Mobilize.
All Out Against ICE in Dublin: Saturday, July 19, 11 AM at Dublin Blvd & Columbus St. Tsuru for Solidarity, in partnership with the ICE out of Dublin Coalition and Bay Area Japanese American organizations, calls on our communities to say NO to new detention centers in Northern California and across the US. This family-friendly action will feature powerful speakers, arts and crafts for kids, and opportunities to plug in and take action together. RSVP on Action Network.
Justice Under Attack: Reports from the Front Line & How We Can Help: Monday, July 21, 5:30 PM, Diamond and 24th St. Join Town Square for Democracy and Indivisible SF to participate in a Lament Walk to the subsequent teach-in in Noe Valley. More info here.
Teach-in for Justice: Monday, July 21, 6:30-8:30 PM, Noe Valley Ministry, 1021 Sanchez Street, San Francisco. Town Square for Democracy and Indivisible SF are hosting a series of community meetings and actions over the coming months which will alert the public to the critical role of the Rule of Law and a "Judiciary with Spine". This Teach-In for Justice will feature a panel of judges and lawyers including Civil Rights Attorney Mauni Jalali. The presentation will focus on current threats to Constitutional rights and to judges, lawyers and their families as well as actions that residents and guests can take to restore and safeguard democracy. Join on Zoom here.
Local Political Pressure, Online Workshop: Tuesday, July 22, 10-11:30 AM. Join Team Arena for a practical workshop on how to apply political pressure to local and state elected officials. You’ll leave with a clearer understanding of how local decisions get made, who holds influence, and how you can strategically organize to push for change in your own community. RSVP on Mobilize.
Informational Picket: ICE Out of Federal Workplaces: Wednesday, July 23, 5 PM at the UN Plaza, 50 United Nations Plaza. Federal unionists in the Bay Area invite the public to join them and demand public oversight of ICE, an end to ICE raids in all workplaces and dignity for all in federal buildings. RSVP on Action Network.
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This Week's Social Media Graphics
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If you’ve seen our newsletter posts on social media, you might have noticed that we include a photo or graphic with each issue.
Today’s graphics are promoting our upcoming mobilizations and calls to action. You can freely use and share these graphics. Tag us on your social media website of choice!
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Keep Fighting,
The Indivisible SF Team
If you'd like to support our all-volunteer team:
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