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Art by @shopsundae
If you think protesting doesn’t work, think again. Last night’s primary proved that the conviction and energy of the Black Lives Matter movement has indeed translated to the polls.
While in 2018, voters showed an unprecedented desire to nominate women, in 2020, we're witnessing another sea change; this time towards Black progressives. Jamaal Bowman (NY), Mondaire Jones (NY), Cameron Webb (VA) (and hopefully Charles Booker (KY) all swept their races demonstrating that this is a movement not a moment.
The 2020 election is not separate from this current political moment. It is a reflection of it. If we can garner the the progressive policies that broke through in response to the pandemic and the radical solidarity that is emerging from the Black Lives Matter movement, we can win this election. And if we can translate this culture of community care into a politics of community care, we can change the course of our country for the long term.
We just need to believe we deserve it. And we do.
Kerri (she/her)
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“How can whites work against racism while also ensuring that we don’t re-center white supremacy in the process?” Important read. [Click to Tweet]
More than 100 days later, #BreonnaTaylor’s murderers have still not been arrested. When will Black women see justice? [Click to Tweet]
Don’t fuck with nurses. “NY nurses want to divert billions from the NYPD budget to fund public hospitals” [Click to Tweet]
Repeat after us: REOPENING IS NOT ENOUGH TO SAVE THE ECONOMY! Thanks to Planet Money for this explainer. [Click to Tweet]
“The space between the lines is still white.” Ryan LeMere on why editors *still* not centering Black lives and voices. [Click to Tweet]
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From mysteriously missing absentee ballots in Georgia earlier this month to mass poll closures in Kentucky yesterday, voter suppression is alive and well this primary season. As November gets closer, we need to fight back - hard - to make sure that the people’s voices are heard at the polls!
LEARN about voter suppression - why it exists, how it functions, and who it impacts the most (hint: BIPOC, poor folx, and incarcerated people).
DONATE to Fair Fight, Stacey Abrams’s organization that’s making elections fair for voters across the country…and, you know, saving our democracy.
VOLUNTEER to phonebank for a candidate you believe in (everyone on the Brand New Congress slate is a democracy warrior!). Got a law degree? You can also lend your legal expertise to protect the vote.
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Despite voter suppression, the outcomes of yesterday’s primary elections in Kentucky, New York, and Virginia said loud and clear that the people demand progressive change. Black progressives, in particular, are surging, like former middle school principal Jamaal Bowman, who won the primary to represent part of the Bronx in Congress. “The Democratic Party is starting to look more like Democratic voters,” -finally.
Meanwhile, Republicans backed by Trump didn’t fare so well in their primary races. Absentee ballots are still rolling in, so we’ll know results of other key races soon (like Kentucky’s Senate primary to see who will take on Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in the general election).
Regardless of this momentum for the people’s values at the polls, the race for the White House is far from guaranteed…no matter what pundits are saying. 🙄 Now’s the time to make sure all your friends are registered to vote, commit to voting as harm-reduction and as closely in line with your values as possible (even if you don’t like the top of the ticket), and get involved in down-ballot races as a volunteer, donor, and/or organizer. This is a marathon race to save our democracy, and now’s the time to keep pushing forward together. More to come…
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In the most recent episode of CTZN podcast, Michelle Cassandra Johnson schools us on Juneteenth and the real work of liberation. In the conversation, she talks about how we forget the most fundamental truth: that we belong to each other and our liberation is bound. She says:
“Remembering to remember is to remember the truth of how sacred we are as a collective. When we forget that we're a collective, we do things that cause harm and create more suffering and more death in the culture and to the planet as well”.
And check out The State of Union (Yoga) Address, a groundbreaking six-part series created by Black and Brown yoga teachers, as an act of conscious protest to uplift and amplify BIPOC and lead us towards collective action.
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