Hello Friend,

It’s Rashida’s Communications Director, Denz. Last week I sent you an update on what Rashida’s been up to in Congress in the past few months—but we’ve also been busy supporting people on the ground in Michigan’s 13th district. One of my favorite things about Rashida is she stays connected to her grassroots and is truly rooted in community.

Here’s more about what we’ve been up to lately:

Connecting people with resources during COVID

When we show up for each other, we save lives. Our team is giving out needed supplies like masks and hand sanitizer as we knock on doors, serving packaged food to those in need at regular drop-in events, and connecting those in need to resources.

We’re individually following up with people based on what they need, like this resident noted:

If you live in Michigan’s 13th district and need help (or know someone who does), please reach out to us at [email protected].

Raising money for and working with community groups

Supporters like you have helped us raise over $100,000 during the pandemic for groups in the district, supporting people in need and defending Black lives.

Local groups we raised money for online during the pandemic include:

• The Michigan Black Mamas Bailout Coalition (you can see a video from Rashida about it and a blog post with more information and an option to donate)
• The Trans Sistas of Color Project (more information here)
• Detroit Justice Center, Detroit BYP100 Mutual Aid Fund, and The Bail Project - Detroit (more information in this blog post)
• Michigan Restaurant Worker Disaster Relief Fund
• Focus: HOPE

Our campaign has also directly donated to other local community-based organizations to purchase food, diapers for our young mothers, masks, and more.

We agree with Michigan activists who are demanding that the state recognize racism as a public health crisis, because systemic racism (and the chronic stress associated with it) has made our Black community more vulnerable to getting and dying from COVID.

Making up 14% of Michigan’s population, Black people represent about 30% of our state’s confirmed coronavirus cases and more than 40% of deaths.

Earlier in the pandemic, I moderated a webinar with incredible Black leaders who joined Rashida to talk about how COVID-19 disproportionately affects Black people.

And since then, we’ve found that the pandemic’s economic effects also disproportionately harm Black communities and other communities of color. In Detroit, half of Black residents and a third of Latinx residents have lost their jobs, compared to 22% of white Detroiters. Our district’s residents, so many of whom were already below the poverty level before the pandemic hit, are living precariously, which is why we’re helping invest in our community.

Bringing much-needed resources to our district

Rashida has supported residents’ immediate needs throughout her first term in office, including helping residents get back nearly $1 million through four neighborhood service centers.

And during the pandemic, Rashida has also secured hundreds of billions of dollars for our hard-hit district through legislation, including:

• $1.5 billion for water reconnections and a water shutoff prohibition
• $10 billion for Wayne County communities to help first responders and prevent our local governments from going bankrupt
• $200 billion for hazard pay for frontline workers️
• $300 million to local hospitals located in the district to fight the COVID-19 pandemic
• $75 billion to expand mobile testing (and she’s pushed U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar on expanding testing)

Valuing Black lives and working to end police violence

Brave protesters have marched every single day in our district since George Floyd’s murder, sparked by years of racist police murders and an unjust criminal legal system that terrorizes Black and brown communities.

Rashida and our team have joined many of these protests, where we’ve come together to reimagine what it would feel like to be safe in our country. We’ve met with local activists, listening to people’s pain, anger, hopes, and demands—including demands that we invest in communities rather than criminalization. It’s been an honor to elevate their voices. Rashida recently said she’s “in awe of our community’s powerful expressions of solidarity and resistance in the face of oppression.” I agree!

Unfortunately, Detroit police and police in other nearby cities have reacted to protests with violence, including plowing through a crowd in a car and hospitalizing people (clearly seen on video), knocking protesters to the ground and putting them in chokeholds, and aggressively arresting hundreds of protesters exercising their right to free speech—putting them in unsafe crowded conditions in a region already hard-hit by COVID-19.

Local activists’ demands to ban racist facial recognition surveillance have grown and Detroit police recently wrongfully arrested a Black man based on inaccurate facial recognition technology. Michigan lawmakers are now considering banning facial recognition statewide (and Rashida’s leading legislation on it in the House).

Because Rashida keeps speaking up for protesters and holding Detroit police accountable, Detroit police leadership went on Fox News to attack her. Meanwhile, her primary opponent has taken anti-protester stances (even calling protesters “entitled”) and sided with police despite abuses.

I’ve worked with Rashida for years, and I know she’s not going to back down until we get justice for everyone.

That’s why we need to make sure she wins re-election in our upcoming August 4th primary. If you’re able to, please consider chipping in financially or volunteering (through phonebanking or door knocking). Thank you! Please stay safe.

Denzel McCampbell
Communications Director, Rashida Tlaib for Congress

P.S. Hope this was helpful to get a sense of what we’ve been up to! If you’d like to stay updated in between our email newsletters, you can follow our campaign on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.