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Your weekly Indivisible Newsletter

Indivisibles,

Last week, Meta announced that it was allowing Donald Trump back on Facebook. This followed Elon Musk granting Trump’s return to Twitter after Musk’s acquisition of the platform. 

The proliferation of Trump’s lies leads to violence.

Trump was banned following the January 6th attack on our Capitol with the understanding that his violent rhetoric incited the events of the day. After years of using social media platforms to sow dissension and vitriol, social media sites recognized they had a responsibility to prevent his lies from fanning the flames of violence. 

His reinstatement to Facebook comes in the same week as the court released video of the attack on Paul Pelosi by a man parroting MAGA conspiracy theories -- including lies about a stolen election. 

There is a clear connection between the way Trump has encouraged far-right extremists and the increasing number of attacks on our democracy and marginalized people across the country. 

During his suspension, Trump has continued to feed the flames of conflict on his own social media site, Truth Social. But his reinstatements on Facebook and Twitter matter because these platforms have hundreds of millions more users. On Truth Social, Trump has about 5 million followers. He’s got 18 times that following on Twitter. When you consider how much his campaign spends (and raises) from ads, these platforms allow him to grow his reach exponentially.  

Allowing him back on these platforms will amplify his voice dramatically. Following Trump’s reinstatement, Meta’s President of Global Affairs said they had determined that, regarding the risk to public safety Trump’s lies previously created, “that the risk has sufficiently receded.”

We know that whether we are at a Planned Parenthood, a drag event, a Democratic congressperson’s house, or the seat of our government, the risk of violence and harassment from the right is still all too real. 

The tech giants will not protect the American people -- it is on us to shed light on the truth and ensure his lies are not allowed to spread unchecked. Small actions can make a big difference. 

With that, here are your weekly to-dos:

 Your 3 weekly to-dos 

  1. Read the new 2023 Indivisible Guide (PDF). If you want tangible actions you can take to confront MAGA extremism, this is the place to start. Catch up on where we stand in the new year, explore our game plan for the current Congress, and find out how to get involved. Our wins over the last six years have been because we were coordinated, energized, and informed; let’s make sure we go into 2023 with that same foundation in place to fuel more wins.
  2. If you have a Republican representative, call them and let them know you’ll be holding them accountable in the new year. Republicans are playing political games with the global economy, highlighted by allowing us to hit the debt ceiling. A default on our debt could be disastrous, and the extremists in their party don’t seem to care -- call your representative and let them know that you do and you’re ready to hold them accountable if they go along with their MAGA colleagues instead of acting in the interest of constituents like you! If you’re not able to call or want to do more, use this template to write a Letter to the Editor.
  3. Do you live in a rural area? Click here to join our National Rural Program. We have resources and calls specifically for our rural Indivisibles where you can learn more about strategies and issues specific to Indivisibles living in rural areas. If you want an idea of what that looks like, check out our agenda and notes from previous meetings. 

P.S. We rely on your support to keep call pages up and running, fund ads to get the word out, and continue all the work we’re doing this year. If you’re able, click here to donate to help fund our work.

 Tyre Nichols 

Content Warning: Police violence; Murder of a Black man

 

Four videos of the Memphis police murdering Tyre Nichols were released Friday evening. The videos are graphic, horrifying, and reveal exactly how callous, aggressive, and violent unchecked law enforcement can be. 

Given the tragic nature of his murder, these are the central asks from our Black Staff Caucus:

Do not share the video. As Black people, we have been inundated, traumatized, and re-traumatized by videos of our people being murdered. You are not sharing anything new with us. If we want to see it, we can seek it out just like anyone else. Sharing the video is sensationalizing violence while minimizing the pain that it imparts on Black bodies. Share solutions. Share actions. Share outrage. Do. Not. Share. The. Video. Don’t get caught up in the discourse that says “but they were Black too.” This conversation ignores the larger power structure that leads to anti-Black violence in order to individualize the actions and insulate the system from critique. These cops were a part of a new “Scorpion Unit” meant to tackle violent crime in the city of Memphis. We now, once again, clearly see the results of that sort of policing. “Violent crime” framing criminalizes Black and brown peoples before any evidence of a crime exists. When we empower a bolder, stronger police presence, we encourage the militarization of Black and brown communities which leads to our deaths. The Black men involved are a symptom, not the cause. Focus on the cause.

Read the full statement from our Black Staff Caucus here. 

We have received very kind and thoughtful feedback from our network in response to our email about this unjust killing and wanted to help navigate a few recurring questions:

Why doesn’t the race of the cops matter? How is this connected to racism if the perpetrators are Black? In a Vox article detailing systemic racism in policing and how it affects Black officers, they say, 

“racial bias isn't necessarily about how a person views himself in terms of race, but how he views others in terms of race, particularly in different roles throughout his everyday life. And systemic racism, which has been part of the US since its founding, can corrupt anyone's view of minorities in America.” 

Racism is not solely about the action, it is about the reasonings behind the action. Everyone in America, especially those involved in the justice system, has internalized negative ideas about Black people via the long history of racism in the United States. From TV, to movies, to music, to the history we are taught (or not taught) in school, our images of Black Americans are skewed by our racist past. That affects everyone regardless of color. 

Memphis instituted the Scorpion Unit to tackle issues of violent crime, don’t we need that? The answer to creating safer communities is through building real communities, not criminalizing poverty. When schools are well-resourced, opportunities for work are plentiful, access to food is easy, healthcare is affordable, and other basic necessities are met, communities thrive. The more we focus on building community rather than punishing community members, the safer we will all be. As a Times article put it, “if throwing money at police and prisons made us safer, we would probably already be the safest country in the history of the world.”  

What can we do to help? We are following the lead of activists on the ground in Memphis and will continue to update our network as we find more actions. If you would like to help right now, you can support the GoFundMe for Tyre’s family. 

Tyre Nicols should still be alive. That is a basic, indisputable fact.

It is on all of us to fight for a day when we never have to say those words about another victim of police violence again.

 IndivisiWin of the Week 

Tweet of Indivisibles standing behind an Indivisible banner at a rally on the first day of the TN Assembly

Indivisible TN with a strong showing at a rally on the first day of the Tennessee Assembly’s new legislative session. Here’s news coverage of the event.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to keep up on the latest information, and text “INDIVISIBLE” to 59798 to opt-in to our text messaging program where we send rapid response actions a few times a month.

It may feel like a slower week for Congressional tasks, so take the time to read the new guide (PDF) and connect with your local Indivisible group. Now is the time to organize for the fight ahead.

In solidarity,
Indivisible Team
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