Dear John,

Thank you to the thousands of people who sent messages, made phone calls, and joined events urging public officials to free people in prisons, jails, and detention centers in this time of pandemic as part of our our National Days of Action to #FreeThemAll. 

Please join us tomorrow (Sept. 13) at 7:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. PT for an interfaith call for worship and reflection as we continue working to dismantle systems that perpetuate violence and racial injustice—and build alternatives rooted in community well-being. Register here.  
 

Tell Congress: Stop funding cruelty against immigrants!: Congress is working on a short-term spending bill to avoid a government shutdown—and the Trump administration wants more funding for Customs and Border Protection. Now is the time to urge your lawmakers to say NO to more funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and CBP!

Register: Training on voter participation and protection: Join the Poor People’s Campaign and partners, including AFSC, on Sept. 14 (7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT) for a unique online training of tens of thousands of poor and low-income people and allies to learn how we can all take action to ensure the right to vote in our communities. Sign up today.  

#FreeThemAll actions, like this one in San Diego, are making news and raising awareness about the need to free people in this pandemic: “Our call to free them all is centered on the principle that all people deserve a dignified life, where we nurture life instead of traumatizing it with incarceration,” says AFSC’s Pedro Rios. (Border Report)

Reckoning with the “war on terror,” building a more just and peaceful path forward: Nearly 20 years since 9/11, we must reverse course on the disastrous policies that have cost so many lives and restricted rights and civil liberties in the U.S. and around the world, writes AFSC’s Mike Merryman-Lotze.

Stories from elders in Gaza: As COVID cases rise in Gaza, hear from some of the seniors in Gaza who have received face masks and other essential virus protection items—part of our pandemic response in the region, made possible with your support.