Friend,

Right now, Senator Bernie Sanders and I are about to take the stage at a rally in Detroit. We’re joined by local leaders and activists fighting for economic, environmental, and racial justice.

Tune in to see the livestream of the rally on my Facebook page, happening now.

Here’s who you’ll see on the livestream:

• Ber-Henda Williams, a local poet and youth advocate, performing spoken word

• Jack White, renowned musician and co-founder of The White Stripes (playing at the high school he once attended in Detroit!)

• Danielle Atkinson, founder of local grassroots organization Mothering Justice

• Me & Bernie Sanders!

Earlier today, Sen. Sanders and I spent time meeting with and listening to local community leaders about core issues we’re facing here in Michigan’s #13DistrictStrong, including environmental racism, corporate tax giveaways that rob us of funds for public services and schools, and housing justice.

Check out the rally now to see us discuss today’s visit of Michigan’s 13th congressional district—and how what we saw exemplifies what unfettered corporate greed is doing to working people across the country.

Our district is the third poorest in the country, and one of the most polluted. Our community has been unheard for too long—which is why it’s essential that presidential candidates like Bernie Sanders come here to listen to the people on the ground.

This is why I ran for the U.S. House of Representatives: to lift up the voices of people from our community. The residents of my district have been crucial decision makers and partners in policymaking, including helping to craft the bills I’ve introduced. Staying rooted in community not only makes me stronger, but it also makes our broader movement stronger.

And today, Sen. Sanders committed to fighting for—and with—our district’s residents. I’m more fired up than ever to fight back against the corporate assault on working families, here and across America.

Tune in now to hear more about how we’re fighting for a better world, together.

(Don’t worry if you get this once the livestream is over—you can still watch it on my Facebook page.)

Here, the impacts of environmental and economic injustices are so clearly intertwined. For example, one place we visited today was the privately-owned Little Caesars Arena, built by a billionaire family who could have easily used their own money to build the sports arena from which they profit—but instead received $300 million in corporate tax breaks.

These corporate tax subsidies built an opulent arena, while robbing millions from the city’s school aid fund. So the nearby Cass Technical High School (where we’re currently having our rally) had to turn off its water because it was unsafe for students to drink. This is what happens when we invest in billionaires rather than schools.

While touring Michigan’s #13DistrictStrong, Sen. Sanders and I connected with local community groups and activists who are advocating for our schools, for investments in neighborhoods through community benefits processes, and for justice for all.

We met with my district’s Housing Working Group, where local housing justice advocates have been fighting for affordable housing. They shared stories with Sen. Sanders about Detroit’s housing struggles, and spoke about how Sanders’ transformative housing plan will address the housing crisis here and across the country.

We met with economic justice advocates in the Brightmoor neighborhood in Northwest Detroit, which has been hit hard by foreclosures, and with local labor and environmental activists in the heavily industrialized and polluted neighborhood where I’m from, in Southwest Detroit.

We spent time at the new Fort Street Bridge Park, created in part to honor the site’s role in the 1932 Ford Hunger March, one of our country’s biggest flashpoints in the history of organized labor. The people who fought and died that day helped usher in the unionization of the auto industry, so the park commemorates them and their efforts.

From the park, we could see the Marathon oil refinery, another site of important protests that have led to much-needed corporate accountability and regulation. But we still have more work to do: Marathon is still getting away with violating clean air standards, further polluting a community that is predominantly Black.

Growing up here, I thought that corporate pollution and greed was normal; I thought every neighborhood smelled like that. Only after time did I come to understand environmental racism, and I’ve fought for environmental justice ever since, including back when I served in the Michigan state legislature.

Now, our district is getting the attention it deserves, on a national stage. Tune into the livestream now to hear more.

Always serving you,

Rashida