Tuesday was the one-year anniversary of the murder of George Floyd, in which former officer Chauvin’s brazen behavior demonstrated the importance of ending qualified immunity. The murder of Ronald Greene, covered up for two years, is another stark example of how brutal police can be when they are protected from personal financial liability.
The legal doctrine of qualified immunity means that victims of police brutality and malfeasance cannot sue police officers for damages in civil court. The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act passed in the House on March 3 with zero Republican votes. One of its crucial components is ending qualified immunity for law enforcement officers. We have seen, through bystander videos and bodycam footage, just how brutal police can be when qualified immunity protects them from personal liability.
Contact your senators and tell them: Don’t compromise on ending qualified immunity just to get a few Republican votes that won’t be enough to pass the bill against a filibuster. (If the filibuster were abolished, no Republican votes would be needed.)
We have said that "Black Lives Matter"; police departments have held hours of training on racial bias; and cities have spent more than $3 billion over the past ten years on police misconduct settlements—and yet unarmed Black people continue to be murdered with impunity. Ending qualified immunity so that officers are subjected to personal liability for their brutality would make a dramatic difference in their impulsive use of fatal force.
Stop the Mail Slowdown!
After a year when unprecedented mail delays outraged the country, Trump-appointed Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is now trying to permanently slow down the delivery of our mail. The USPS has announced slowdowns to their “service standards,” which are the on-time delivery targets for different kinds of mail.
Today, First Class Mail is supposed to be delivered within one to three days, depending on the delivery distance. Under the new proposed rules, this delivery time could be as long as five days for both first class and periodicals delivery.
Before these changes become permanent, the USPS must first engage in two public reviews: a Federal Register rule-making process and an advisory opinion by the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC). Public comments will be emailed directly to the Federal Register, and if submitted by May 28, they will also be included in the PRC submissions.
Submit a public comment directly on the Federal Register or use our webpage for talking points to help you craft your statement.
Your submission will have more impact if you briefly tell your story of why prompt delivery by the Postal Service is important to you and your community.
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All are welcome to join our events!
ISF General Meeting: Wednesday, May 26, 6:30–8:00 PM. Register here for our general meeting, which sets priorities, reports back on our past actions, and works to promote progressive political goals and repair the damage done to our institutions and communities by the previous administration. General meetings are open to all and provide an overview of our working groups and other activities.
ISF Federal Working Group meeting: Thursday, May 27, 7:30–9 PM. Register here to help us develop strategies to influence our Members of Congress and the Biden administration to enact a progressive agenda.
ISF State and Local Working Group meeting: Friday, June 4, 7:30–8:30 PM. Register here to help us plan to propose legislation to our state legislators and support progressive initiatives on the state and local level.
Indivisible Marin & Common Cause For the People Phone Bank for HR1/S1: Saturday, June 5, 10 AM–12 PM. Phone bank with Indivisible Marin every Saturday to support the For the People Act and oppose the filibuster! Sign up for a shift here.
About this week’s photo
If you’ve seen our newsletter posts on Twitter and Facebook, you might have noticed that we include a photo or graphic with each issue. This week’s photo is of demonstrators protesting the murder of George Floyd in Washington, D.C., on Friday, May 29, 2020, taken by Evan Vucci for AP Photo.
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Keep Fighting,
The Indivisible SF Team
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