| Dear Friend, The narrative around Trump's Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is changing, and it's not good for our country's oldest service. Despite a dismal on-time mail rate and a thoroughly burned out workforce, media and government allies are trying to sell DeJoy as a shrewd businessman who is administering the U.S. Postal Service in the right direction.(1) We need to keep the spotlight on the damage that DeJoy is doing to our 200-year-old institution and the irreparable impact it’s having on our most vulnerable populations -- which is why we’ve joined forces with Cinema Libre Studios to sponsor a sneak peek and panel discussion of the documentary The Great Postal Heist, an exposé on how the USPS is being dismantled right before our eyes. We need your help to publicize this screening and discussion and also ramp up our campaign to pass the Postal Service Reform Act to fix the post office. Will you chip in $5 to Courage California and help save the post office? As the documentary shows, the undermining of the post office didn’t begin with DeJoy -- the Republican effort to turn the mail into a for-profit private business to line the pockets of corporations goes back decades. Under the leadership of President George W. Bush, Congress began to expect the USPS to be self-sufficient, but did not give the agency any control over prices. Then Congress passed onerous budget requirements that forced the agency into the red -- opening the door for privatizers to pounce.(2) Enter Louis DeJoy, a shipping magnate and investor in USPS competitors who grows ever richer over the downfall of the U.S. Postal Service. Since DeJoy took office, on-time mail delivery has fallen from 92% to 61%, making people wait for their Social Security checks, prescription medications, and other essential mail.(3) DeJoy has a ten-year plan to slow the mail even further and make it even more expensive, until eventually everyone turns to private services for the mail -- services that won’t have a government mandate to serve all areas affordably.(4) And more than 500,000 postal workers’ livelihoods are at risk.(5) This is a story that needs to be told, and The Great Postal Heist is just the vehicle to do it. Created by the son of a postal worker and featuring Ralph Nader, Rep. Stephen Lynch, and a multitude of USPS workers, the documentary is the perfect means of countering corporate media lies about the state of the post office.(6) Courage California is sponsoring a sneak peek of the film and panel discussion with the filmmaker, and then we’re leveraging grassroots energy to pass the Postal Service Reform Act in Congress. We need to advertise, reach out to as many viewers as possible, and lobby Congress, and we need your help to make it all happen. Will you donate to Courage California and help fund our work to save the post office? Yours in the fight for our mail, Irene, along with Amber, Angela, Annie, Caitlin, Isidra, Jay, Lindsay, LisaMarie, Raquel, and Scottie (the Courage team) PS: Courage California is fighting for equity and justice across the state and country. Will you become a monthly donor and help sustain our work? Donations go to support all of Courage California's work for a more progressive California and country. Follow us now on Facebook or Twitter! Footnotes:  |
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