Human Rights Activism Opportunities

  • Demand the Trump Administration Take Action to Fight Anti-Semitism via @ADL_National

    No_place_for_hate.jpgLast week, all 100 members of the Senate sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice and the FBI calling on them to address the string of bomb threats made against Jewish Community Centers, Jewish Day Schools and Synagogues, and desecration of Jewish cemeteries, across the country. Around the same time 100 leaders of Jewish Community Centers wrote to Jeff Sessions expressing their frustration at the lack of federal level involvement in the investigations. 

    Days later, the Department of Homeland Security finally pledged to investigate these crimes. Though their more than two month delayed response has been duly noted by all. 

    The lack of any serious action by Trump and the Feds prompted the Anti-Defamation League to basically do the work for them. In a post on the ADL Blog and Medium, the CEO and National Director of the ADL, Jonathan Greenblatt, proposed a nine point plan of action for the Trump administration to address anti-semitism, while also calling out Trump for his reluctance to address it.

    Greenblatt wrote, “Whether invective is coming from the Extreme Right or the Radical Left, it is irresponsible for leaders to shrug aside the slander and write off hateful threats or bomb scares as “empty hoaxes.” In an environment where there is no price to be paid for prejudice, bigots will continue to turn up the dial.”

    The ADL plan includes the appointment of a new White House coordinator for fighting hate, a DOJ directive encouraging state and local law enforcement agencies to train officers on handling hate crimes, clarification from DHS on its Countering Violent Extremism program to ensure it encompasses all forms of extremism, increased Department of Education funding for anti-bias, anti-hate content in schools, and more. 

    You can make sure the Trump Administration is forced to address these proposed actions by sharing this plan widely on social media, as well as with your local Representatives, and especially your Senators, who all signed on to the letter to DHS, DOJ and the FBI. To see the post, go to the ADL Blog under the “News” tab on ADL dot org, or get the link from our show notes.

    Again, we want to ask that you help us in our work to amplify the most effective activism. If you have come across an action or a new organization that is doing great work getting people engaged to resist the Trump agenda, please share it with us by emailing Amanda@bestoftheleft.com.  

    The segment notes include all the links to this information as well as additional resources and, as always, this and every activism segment we produce is archived and organized under the activism tab at Best of the Left dot com. 

    So, if fighting hate in all its forms is important to you, be sure to hit the share buttons to spread the word about Demanding the Trump Administration Take Action to Fight Anti-Semitism via social media so that others in your network can spread the word too.

    There’s no better time to take a page out of Anne Frank’s Diary: “How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” 

     

     

    TAKE ACTION

    Share the ADL's 9 step plan for the Trump administration to fight anti-semitism on social media

    Send the plan to your Representatives and Senators and demand they fight for action 

    EDUCATE YOURSELF

    President Trump: Time for a Plan of Action to Fight the Surge of Anti-Semitism (ADL.org)

    Anti-Semitism in the United States (ADL.org)

    Letter from Senate to DOJ, DHS and FBI (Peters.senate.gov)

    Homeland Security Finally Vows To Fully Join Investigation Into ‘Hate-Inspired Attacks’ (Huffington Post)

    After a new wave of anti-Semitic attacks, White House appears skeptical about anti-Semitism (Vox)

    A Sixth Wave Of Bomb Threats Has Hit Jewish Centers Around The United States (BuzzFeed News)

    Muslim Fundraiser to Repair Jewish Cemetery Raises $100k (NBC News)

     

    Posted March 10, 2017; Written by Best of the Left Communications Director, Amanda Hoffman. 

     

    Hear this segment in the context of Best of the Left Edition #1086: Unleashing the demons (Anti-Semitism)

  • Get Trained for the Resistance via @ShowUp4RJ

    the-first-task-of-whites-in-these-struggles-is-to-be-vocal-and-visible-anne-braden.jpg

    You're a listener of this show, so you’re already paying attention and you understand what the country is facing under a Trump administration. But if you've never taken the next step to get involved in activism in the past, we want to remind you today that you, of all people, at all the times in history - ESPECIALLY if you are white - have no excuse not to take action today.

    You cannot rely on the people who already consider themselves activists or the people who will be targeted to get in the streets, stand up for themselves and those under attack and fight Trump and his followers for the next four years. If you do, you will be complicit in America's downfall. Because it doesn't matter anymore if you voted for Bernie, Hillary, Johnson or Stein. We all lost on November 8th - even Trump voters. They just don't know it yet. And that's just the sick reality of it.

    In less than 70 days, Trump will be sworn in as president of the United States. But as you've heard today, his impact is already being felt. So what are you going to do? Here’s a better question - how will you be part of changing our culture so this can’t happen again? 

    Your first step is to go to ShowingUpforRacialJustice.org. Also known as SURJ, Showing Up for Racial Justice is a national network of groups and individuals organizing white people for racial justice. Through community organizing, mobilizing, and education, SURJ Action moves white people to act as part of a multi-racial majority for justice with passion and accountability. Their focus is inviting in those who are simply uneducated about racism instead of spending time calling out those ill informed people when they misstep. 

    White people elected Trump. So to write them off in our resistance movement would be absurd. We want the “moveable white middle” to join us. We want them to see the mutual benefits of equality for all races, genders, religions and abilities. That means engaging in a conversation with them and inviting them to join us in standing up for people of color, the LGBTIA+ community, immigrants, refugees, the disabled and women with mass demonstrations across the country.

    As civil rights activist Anne Braden once said...

    “The battle is and always has been a battle for the hearts and minds of white people in this country...We need to become involved with it as if our lives depended on it because really, in truth, they do.”

    On the SURJ Action website, you can get resources on organizing, find a SURJ chapter in your community or start one, and sign up for in person or on the phone direct action and organizing trainings. Right now, many SURJ chapters across the country are currently offering direct action trainings in their communities and the national office is offering training conference calls into December. 

    SURJ is about educating those who are new to activism. So if this is your first time, don’t be nervous - they want you to be prepared. Because when activists are prepared and organized, they are effective. And that has never been more important. 

    So if resisting racism, fascism and authoritarianism is important to you, then be sure to hit the share buttons to spread the word about Getting Trained for the Resistance by Showing Up for Racial Justice via social media so that others in your network can take action too.

    So stand up. Fight back. There is no time to lose.

     

    TAKE ACTION

    Find a SURJ chapter near you (or start one) 

    Sign up for SURJ national training conference calls

    Get resources from SURJ 

    Sign up to volunteer with SURJ

    Find a SURJ action near you or post your own

    EDUCATE YOURSELF 

    White People Elected Trump. Now What?

    Finding Common Ground with Trump Supporters in Buffalo

     

    Posted November 18, 2016; Written by BOTL Communication Director, Amanda Hoffman.

     

    Hear the clip in the context of Best of the Left Edition #1059: "Hatred Unleashed"

  • Keep the Pressure on Congress to #BeBoldEndHyde via @AllAboveAll

    Ctob2h5WcAQuF9A.pngWe know this story all too well. Forty years ago, a rich white man wrote and passed a law that negatively impacted the health and welfare of women in poverty for decades to come…and of course, it disproportionately harms people of color, immigrants, the LGBT community, young people and rural communities.

    Thanks to Mr. Hyde and his “Hyde Amendment,” it is against the federal law for government funds to cover even one cent of the cost of a safe, legal abortion - effectively putting abortion out of reach for millions on Medicaid. As Maine state Senator Dave Miramant wrote this month, “The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed women’s rights to choose for themselves when to start a family back in 1973. But a right isn’t really a right when it’s dictated by how much money you make.”

    Right now, nearly one in six women of reproductive age are enrolled in the federal Medicaid program. Fifteen states currently have policies that provide state Medicaid coverage of an abortion, but 60% of women on federal Medicaid do not live in those states. And it’s important to note that Transgender people are living in poverty at four times the national average with Medicaid as their only option.  

    But Hyde is not just harming those on Medicaid. It has provided a path for anti-choice politicians to add abortion coverage and funding bans to appropriations language that restricts Medicare and Children’s Health Insurance Program enrollees, federal employees and their dependents, Peace Corps volunteers, Native Americans, women in federal prisons and detention centers - including those detained for immigration purposes - women who receive health care from community health centers, survivors of human trafficking and low-income women in Washington, D.C. 

    The organization All Above All is leading the fight to end the Hyde Amendment. Not only are they educating the country about the devastating impacts of Hyde with fact sheets, videos and articles, but they are taking direct action on the state and local level to pass resolutions that would allow abortion coverage. Visit allaboveall.org and click “Act” to sign up, find resources and join in on state and local actions near you. You can also engage by spreading All Above All’s resources and facts on social media and using the hashtag #BeBoldEndHyde to encourage politicians to stand up for the reproductive rights of those in poverty.

    For the first time, repealing the Hyde Amendment is part of the Democratic Party’s platform, but it is up to us to hold them to it. We encourage you to make fighting for reproductive justice part of your theory of change by getting involved in the long term with organizations like All Above All, Planned Parenthood, the Center for Reproductive Rights, NARAL Pro-Choice America and other organizations fighting to provide everyone with the reproductive healthcare access and coverage they deserve. 

    So if making sure people can make their own healthcare decisions is important to you, then be sure to hit the share buttons to spread the word about Keeping the Pressure on Congress to Be Bold and End the Hyde Amendment via social media so that others in your network can take action too.

     

     

    TAKE ACTION!

    Get involved with All Above All actions on the state and local level

    Share All Above All resources on social media with #BeBoldEndHyde 

    EDUCATE YOURSELF

    What Women Do When They Can't Afford an Abortion (Broadly.vice.com)

    What are your state's laws when it comes to abortion coverage? (AllAboveAll.org) 

    All Above All's Hyde Amendment Fact Sheet (AllAboveAll.org)

    Term And Partial Birth Abortions: The Mythical Arch-Nemeses Of The Anti-Choice Movement (HuffingtonPost.com)

    Tim Kaine Now Backs Lifting the Hyde Amendment Banning Abortion Funding (NBCNews.com)

     

     Written by Best of the Left Communications Director, Amanda Hoffman.

     

    Hear this segment in the context of the latest Best of the Left Edition #1052: The policies we have vs. the policies we need (Reproductive Rights)

     

  • #HikeforHealing to Support The #MonumentQuilt for Survivors of Rape and Abuse via @UpsettingRape (FORCE)

    quilt_square.jpg30 years ago, the AIDS Memorial Quilt was displayed on the National Mall in DC - visually representing the overwhelming devastation of HIV/AIDS and forcing the country to confront the crisis. Inspired by that first quilt, sexual assault activists have been stitching together what is called “The Monument Quilt” to achieve the same kind of awareness and action for survivors of rape and sexual abuse. 

    The organization behind the quilt is FORCE, a creative activist collaboration dedicated to “upsetting rape culture and promoting a culture of consent.” FORCE says the quilt will be a place of healing and that it resists the popular and narrow narrative of how sexual violence occurs by telling many stories at once, not just one.

    The project began in 2013 thanks to a kickstarter campaign and FORCE tweeted this week that the quilt has doubled in size in the last year - now covering a football field. FORCE plans to display the quilt on the National Mall in the spring of 2018, and a national, year-long tour will follow. You can learn more about the quilt, view quilt squares, get information on making a quilt square, sign up to host a workshop and volunteer at themonumentquilt.org.

    But this project needs materials and the corresponding workshops for healing and activism need resources to expand. That’s why on October 29th, FORCE, and local organizations fighting rape culture and sexual assault across the country, want you to join them in your community for “Hike for Healing.” Participants will hike or walk with others and raise funds for the completion of this quilt, while raising awareness about consequences of our rape culture.

    To find a Hike for Healing team near you or to start one in your community, go to crowdrise.com/hikeforhealing. 

    The Monument Quilt is about giving a voice to many to show survivors they are not alone. In that spirit, we also strongly encourage you to check out the powerful hashtag #WhyWomenDontReport on Twitter to read survivor stories and the reasons that hold women back from reporting assaults.

    As the Republican candidate for president continues to personify rape culture itself and politicians continue to defend him, we encourage you to make ending rape culture part of your theory of change by getting involved in the long term with organizations like FORCE, Ultra Violet, Planned Parenthood, No More, RAINN, and other organizations fighting to end sexism, sexual assault, domestic violence and abuse and upturn the rape culture we live in.

    If you or someone you know has been assaulted, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE. That’s 1-800-656-4673.

    So if making our country face and change rape culture is important to you, then be sure to hit the share buttons to spread the word about the #HikeforHealing to Support The #MonumentQuilt for Survivors of Rape and Abuse via social media so that others in your network can take action too.

    TAKE ACTION

    Find a Hike for Healing team near you or start one at https://www.crowdrise.com/hikeforhealing

    View quilt squares, get information on making a quilt square, sign up to host a workshop and volunteer at https://themonumentquilt.org

    Check out #WhyWomenDontReport on Twitter 

    EDUCATE YOURSELF

    Our quilt project shares rape survivors' stories (CNN.com)

    Trump's Campaign Embraces Rape Culture (ThinkProgress.com)

    Everyone's talking to their daughters about Donald Trump. They need to talk to their sons. (Mic.com)

    The Conversation You Must Have With Your Sons (HuffingtonPost.com)

    8 Societal Barriers That Make it Hard to Report Sexual Assault (EverydayFeminism.com)

    Women share stories of sexual assault to show Trump what rape culture looks like (HuffingtonPost.com)

     

    Written by Best of the Left Communications Director, Amanda Hoffman.

     

    Hear the segment in the context of Best of the Left Edition #1051: "Consent is sexy"

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