May Day Strong Here and Everywhere
Congratulations to Concerned Voters for a successful May Day Strong event in Issaquah. Almost 100 people stood on all 4 corners at Front Street and Sunset Way to support Workers over Billionaires this past Friday afternoon!
Millions of people took action in over 5,000 events across the country. From sit-ins in hotel lobbies where ICE agents were staying, to blocked roads in Washington, DC and outside Amazon warehouses, to strikes by nurses, grad students, and hotel workers, to walk-ins by thousands of educators nationwide, people refused business as usual.
We can count crowd sizes and numbers of events held across the US, but it’s a bit harder to measure the economic impact of this kind of mass mobilization. To really measure the impact of yesterday’s actions, please take a moment to fill out a brief survey about how you participated in May Day. Your responses will help us gauge our strength as a movement and how we can continue to build the muscle of economic disruption.
Momentum is building — but this is about more than a single day of action.
Join May Day Strong for their “What’s Next” call tomorrow at 5pm PT to find out the best ways to keep the momentum going. Even if you can’t make it, it will be your way to get the updates next week of where we go from here.
In the meantime, check out this NPR story to see where it might make sense for you to change your spending habits and stop supporting billionaire businesses.
A Week of Ups & Downs
If you were feeling both a sense of hope and disappointment this week, we wouldn’t blame you.
On the one hand, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a 6-3 ruling in Louisiana v. Callais, narrowing the scope of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA). This ruling hollows out the landmark Voting Rights Act that protected minority voting rights for six decades at the local and state level as well as the federal level. The decision allows gerrymandering that is racially discriminatory in effect, so long as it is disguised as political gerrymandering. Not surprisingly, any number of southern states with a dark history of racism already are taking steps to redraw congressional districts in ways that threaten to reduce or eliminate African-American representation in the House in those states.
As wrenching as this decision might be, it is heartening to know that there are ways to fight back and alternative avenues being taken to keep voting access going until we can correct at the federal level.
Watch this rapid response call on the Callais decision to learn more.
On the other hand, we finally saw House Republicans reopen the Department of Homeland Security, minus dollars for some immigration enforcement functions which ended the longest recorded agency shutdown. Democrats held strong and Republicans were forced to back down. This was perhaps not everything we wanted, but it WAS a win.
Rep. Schrier Disappoints With Her Vote on FISA Surveillance – Let Her Know!
This past Wednesday, Republicans needed support from Democrats to reauthorize Section 2 of FISA – especially since there were Republicans that voted against this. Unfortunately, Rep. Schrier, along with 41 other Democrats, did just that without serious privacy guardrails to protect our privacy.
Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) was passed in 2008 as a counterterrorist measure, but has a long history of abuse from the federal government, especially when it comes to surveillance.
FISA as it is currently written:
- Allows warrantless backdoor surveillance of people in and out of the country
- Offers little to no protections against the administration targeting critics, activists, religious minorities, or communities of color
- Actively chills our freedoms of speech and association
One day later, the Senate declined to pass the House’s extension, and instead passed another short-term (45-day) extension, once again kicking the can down the road. The House then promptly passed the Senate’s 45-day extension, with a majority of the members of both parties voting for it.
Rep. Schrier needs to know how disappointed we are that she voted for this without significant reforms to protect our civil liberties against this authoritarian regime, and that we expect her to stand up for our privacy when Congress takes up the matter again in the coming weeks.
Call her office today: 202-225-7761
Act Locally – Tell Sound Transit to Save Issaquah Light Rail on May 7th
Sound Transit will be revealing their proposal which could delay or effectively cut Issaquah’s planned light rail station on May 7, at the Sound Transit Executive Board meeting.
Travel with others to attend the meeting in person to express your support for Issaquah’s station! Meet at City Hall (130 E Sunset Way) by the eagle statue at 9 a.m. to ride the ST 554 bus to the Sound Transit meeting in Seattle. We will arrive by 10 a.m. to sign up for public comment and get a seat. Be sure to wear purple to show your support for Issaquah Light Rail.
The entire board is expected to vote on the proposal at their May 28 meeting. There is a real risk that investments promised to Issaquah will not be built, and local tax dollars will instead be diverted outside of East King County.
Can’t make the meetings? Write an email to the Sound Transit Board telling them to Save Issaquah Light Rail. Emailed comments to meetingcomments@soundtransit.org must be submitted at least one hour before the meeting starts.
