Check In 3 July

[tanaqui]

It's been a rough couple of weeks, with multiple terrible decisions coming out of the Supreme Court.

If you're looking for information specifically on Roe vs Wade, this Google Doc has advice on What You Can Do.

And I saw a good reminder on my reading list that to tackle one of the fundamental issues of why we're in this bad place, we should work on voting activism — making sure elections result in local officials such as sheriffs and district attorneys who won't enforce terrible state laws, along with state-level politicians who won't enact them, as well as getting control at the federal level. We have a post with election resources that you may find useful.

Here are the posts we've had in the comm since the last check in.

Signal Boost (Covid/Long Covid)
Possible Inclusion Of A Link Regarding Election Woes (Coping mechanisms)
FYI - The Mapping Project

And here's the usual reminder to not be shy of making your own posts about any issues and actions you think the comm should know about, or dropping some information into a comment to our sticky post if you'd like the mods to do it.

You can always use our tags to check for any ongoing actions or resources relevant to the issues you care about. (And a quick shout out to redbird for all the tagging work that keeps the comm running smoothly.)

Finally, here's our poll (behind the cut) for you to tell us what you've been doing in the last few weeks. And do let us know in comments what you plan to do next.

Poll #27201 Check In

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 5

View Respondents

Since the last check in, I...

View Answers

called my one senator
0 (0.0%)

called my other senator
0 (0.0%)

called my representative
0 (0.0%)

called my governor
0 (0.0%)

called my state reps
0 (0.0%)

sent a postcard/email/letter/fax
3 (60.0%)

attended a town hall
1 (20.0%)

donated money to a cause
2 (40.0%)

attended an in-person activist group
1 (20.0%)

participated in phone/online training
1 (20.0%)

went to a protest
1 (20.0%)

signed up for alerts
3 (60.0%)

worked for a campaign
0 (0.0%)

did textbanking/phonebanking
0 (0.0%)

took care of myself
3 (60.0%)

not a US citizen but worked in solidarity in my own community
0 (0.0%)

did something else (tell us about it in comments)
2 (40.0%)

committed to action in the coming week
2 (40.0%)

Comments

[jazzyjj]

Hi everybody. I just answered the poll for this week. Illinois primaries were held just last week, and I heard that our current governor did well so hopefully he'll pick up a second term. Other than that, I've been hanging out with the neighbors as usual. We found out last week that the next-door neighbors up here on the top floor are moving out. One of them will be starting college next month, so we've known about that for awhile and of course wish her all the best. But her brother and their father are going to move out as well. I also signed up for more free? online courses, thus me getting up early this morning.

[redbird]

I just moved (within the Boston area), and I have looked up the Congressional and state legislative districts for our new apartment. I'm back in Ayanna Pressley's Congressional district, which pleases me, and in the same state senate district, which means I don't need to investigate that representative's likely positions. I'll still be checking before sending "Dear Will, please support/co-sponsor this" emails, but "as your constituent, I want to thank you for co-sponsoring this" is a different script than "hey, this is important, and as your constituent I am asking you to support it."

I then did a first-pass check of which elected offices will be having primaries I can vote in this year, so I already have this information when it's time to ask for an absentee ballot, not wake up on on Election Day and have to decide whether to ask for a Republican ballot (to support the less-bad candidate) or a Democratic one at the polling place.

I also read an article about a debate between the candidates for Suffolk County district attorney. (Video is not my favorite way of getting information, so I didn't follow the link to spend an hour watching the recorded debate.)

[executrix]

It doesn't actually mean anything, of course, but Jersey City adopted a resolution making it a reproductive health sanctuary city. I attended the city council meeting where they adopted it 8-0 (one council member was absent).

[executrix]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmAMdZcw8_Y archived version of the ACLU's excellent 1-hour town hall. It's a lot to take in at once (for lots of reasons) but you can bookmark it, watch a few minutes, and come back later.

BRB, off to sign up for the ACLU's ongoing series, aclu.org/abortionactivist.

[executrix]

http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=czLzQtaQ91qWlavDCTXrKVVLcGY53ahd

RootsAction.org tool to contact state legislators and governors in the 22 states with abortion access, asking them to fund travel to the state.

What it says on the tin

[executrix]

https://reproductiverights.org/seven-things-you-can-do-right-now-advance-abortion-rights/