Baltimore Activist Alert -- July 19 - 20, 2021

18] Incorruptible Massachusetts – July 19

19] United Vision Project – July 19

20] Transit for Students – July 19

21] Reel and a Meal – July 19

22] Discussion on American Exceptionalism – July 19

23] National organizing call – July 19

24] Protest JHU’s weapons research – July 20

25] CALL WEST VIRGINIANS. – July 20

26] Humanizing Your Organization – July 20

27] Phone Bank for the Equality Act – July 20

28] "Why the Left Should Engage Fiction" – July 20

29] Animal Bereavement Support Group – July 20

30] Redistricting Summer Sessions – July 20

31] Understanding how Congress funds ICE and CBP – July 20

32] Gaza Fights for Freedom – July 20

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18] – Introducing Incorruptible Mass which is happening on Mon., July 19 at 5 PM ET.  Are you frustrated with the broken State House in Massachusetts? Tired of waiting decades for common-sense policies, like the Commonwealth Peace and Justice Agenda, to pass? Incorruptible Mass has an 18-month plan to raise awareness of the deep problems at the State House, amplify the demands for progressive policy, and challenge incumbents who support the status quo in key districts.   Mass. Peace Action is on board with the plan! Anna Callahan, founder of the organization and a Mass. Peace Action endorsed State Rep candidate in 2020, will explain how to take on these problems and will answer questions. Register at https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYsduipqDosE9CYP7k_JLirXIxLedgI5LLj.

19] – The Women’s March Organizing Team [info@womensmarch.com] is inviting you on Mon., July 19 at 5 PM ET to get involved with the United Vision Project Training and Texting Program.  Start having meaningful conversations. Sign up at https://www.mobilize.us/unitedvisionid/event/389212/?akid=3085.508952.jicmmR&rd=1&t=4&utm_campaign=em20210710&utm_source=womensmarch.

20] – Our Revolution is hosting Transit for Students on Mon., July 19 at 5:30 PM EDT. The Our Revolution July meeting will feature Corrie Schoenberg from the Fund for Educational Excellence, speaking about their new report, NOT IN SERVICE: Why Public Transit Must Aim to Serve Students. Based on interviews with 274 City schools students, the report examines students’ experiences with MTA public transit in Baltimore and finds an inadequate system not designed with them in mind, resulting in inconvenient routes for getting to school, unreliable service, and fears of violence and harassment. Sign up at https://www.mobilize.us/ourrevolution/event/269476/?referring_vol=3241828&rname=Max&timeslot=2859124&share_medium=email_link&share_context=email_1. After you sign in, you will be placed in the waiting room until you're approved to enter the meeting. Please use your actual name when joining the meeting so that you can be identified as a real person. 

21] –Susan Barnett [reelandmealatnewdealcafe@gmail.com] is inviting you on Mon., July 19 at 7 PM a Reel and Meal, which is presenting “Racially Charged: America's Misdemeanor Problem.”  Registration is required: https://tinyurl.com/ReelnMealJuly.  There is a Vegan meal option. Phone in your pre-order to the deli at 301.474.0522 by 1 PM on Monday for pick-up between 4 and 7 PM.  The film is by Robert Greenwald and Brave New Films.  Entry to the Zoom event starts at 6:45 PM. On the third Monday of every month, we present a film and discussion and encourage participants to enjoy a vegan meal (and consider moving toward a plant-based, locally-sourced lifestyle) in support of our environmental, social justice and animal rights mission.  

  George Floyd was killed for the misdemeanor crime of using a counterfeit $20 bill. Eric Garner died for selling a single cigarette without a tax stamp. Greenwald’s film shows how such low level offenses are disproportionately enforced against African-Americans and whose arrests turn violent or deadly. Freddie Gray was charged with carrying a knife. Philando Castile was charged with an expired tag. These victims were four among thousands. This violence was born out of the historic brutality and racial terrorism of post-reconstruction America. 

"Racially Charged" exposes the system that punishes over 13 million people a year- most of them poor and people of color. Further, it depicts how Southern states repurposed their misdemeanor system to control black people after the Civil War. Misdemeanors became a backdoor form of slavery.  

22] – Join Maryland Peace Action and Maryland Poor People's Campaign on Mon., July 19 at 7 PM ET for a discussion on American Exceptionalism, The global consequences of the Five Injustices.  This is a virtual In[ter]dependence Rally exploring our country’s sense of nationalism, through the assessment of the military and foreign policy impacts.  The impacts of the militarized US Empire around the world are wide-ranging and severe. They are shamefully intertwined with the five interlocking evils as identified by the Poor People's Campaign: systemic racism, poverty, ecological devastation, militarism/war economy, and the distorted narrative of religious nationalism. Hear from Phyllis Bennis, Institute for Policy Studies, Greg Wilson, Sunrise Movement Maryland Hub, Barbara Larcom, Casa Baltimore/Limay, Jean Stokan, Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, and Tasnuva Khan, MDPA and Muslim Voices Coalition.  This event will include a call to action presented by Maryland Peace Action, on behalf of the Fund Human Needs Not War Coalition. 

23] – Our Revolution [info@ourrevolution.com] is inviting you to join a National Organize to Win Call on Mon., July 19 at 8:30 PM ET with Our Revolution Board Chair Larry Cohen; Congressional candidate and former Our Revolution leader Nina Turner; Minneapolis City Councilor Jeremiah Ellison, and NY City Council primary winner Felicia Singh! RSVP at https://www.mobilize.us/ourrevolution/event/148017/?akid=1746.8252965.7M_lPu&rd=1&t=8.  Join call at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/993867009 or go to the Facebook Link: https://www.facebook.com/events/1236103730180461/.

24] – There is a Vigil to say "No Drone Research at JHU" at 33rd and N. Charles Sts. on Tuesdays from 5 to 6 PM. Contact Max at mobuszewski2001 at Comcast dot net or 410-323-1607.  You may consider contacting President Ron Daniels and telling him that the university should reject all military contracts, including those for killer drone and nuclear weapons research.  The president’s mailing address is Office of the President, 242 Garland Hall, The Johns Hopkins University, and 3400 N. Charles St., Baltimore, Maryland 21218.  You can also reach his office by Phone: (410) 516-8068, Fax: (410) 516-6097 or email: president@jhu.edu.

25] – We Have a Do-or-Die, Time-Limited Chance to Defeat White Supremacy and Big Money. If you want equal protection so that every voter counts the same regardless of color, income, age, or neighborhood, now is the time to act. If you want freedom from the influence of big money, now is the time to act. In the next months, action by people like you can create a groundswell to pass three major bills (see details in box below). One of them (S. 1) would provide sweeping reforms to end special-interest corruption in our government. Congress must act early this summer or partisan redistricting – based on a flawed census – will have happened. The House of Representatives has the votes to pass these bills, and they can pass the Senate, too - but only if We the People let our senators know how we feel.

If these bills do not pass, action by some state legislatures will reduce the freedom to vote for targeted populations. Get Money Out – Maryland (GMOM) founded For the People – Maryland with 20 other groups to fight for these principles in the U.S. Congress.  Therefore, the filibuster rule will need to change to allow these bills to pass with a simple majority.

While there are several Senators who haven’t formally committed, people in-the-know say if we can convince WV Senator Joe Manchin, the others will come along. Opponents are putting lots of money into WV, and we need to fight back. WV residents tell us that Manchin is often willing to do a 180 degree turn if he gets enough pressure. Volunteers asking his constituents to contact him could trigger the biggest reform since the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Make calls to WV residents on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Please sign up to call on Tues., July 20 from 5:30 to 8 PM ET and try to convince one friend to do so also!  There is good training and support throughout!  Go to https://www.mobilize.us/vopropros/event/389987/.  CALL WEST VIRGINIANS.

26] – Future Coalition [info@futurecoalition.org] is doing a workshop on Tues., July 20 at 6 PM ET about communications strategy. This session is called Humanizing Your Organization.  Register at https://wearemarchon-org.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJEvdO-qrDkuH9axSkpYxtsA-lUrleZ0gLmh?link_id=3&can_id=4b9d4061aec5469758759317ac0f5285&source=email-our-2022-plan-read-now-2&email_referrer=email_1225909&email_subject=join-us-for-a-free-communications-strategy-workshop.

27] – Geoff Wetrosky [hrc@hrc.org] is inviting you on Tuesdays through September 28 from 6:30 to 9 PM ET  to join the Phonebank Team and Help Pass The Equality Act!  ‌The Equality Act would provide consistent and explicit anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQ people across the nation, but right now Congress is being bombarded DAILY by anti-equality forces who want to stop the Equality Act from becoming the law of the land! By joining the Human Rights Campaign’s phone banks, you’ll be on the front lines in the fight for equality. Sign up at https://www.mobilize.us/hrc/event/400000/. 

28] –In These Times [itt@inthesetimes.com] is inviting you on Tues., July 20 at 7 PM ET to "Why the Left Should Engage Fiction."  Watch this online event with a group of radical mystery and thriller novelists.  For example, check out the debut novel of In These Times web editor and staff reporter Sarah Lazare. Testimony, a “regulatory noir” released in July by Strong Arm Press, follows the story of a hapless, low-level analyst at the Illinois Commerce Commission who slowly pulls back the curtain on the regulator’s corruption, negligence and corporate capture. Sign up at https://www.facebook.com/events/822725148380203?link_id=1&can_id=4b9d4061aec5469758759317ac0f5285&source=email-watch-live-at-600-pm-et-a-pivot-toward-power&email_referrer=email_1236168&email_subject=youre-invited-to-a-special-online-event-why-the-left-should-engage-fiction.  The conversation will include left-wing organizers and journalists.

29] – On Tues., July 20 from 7 to 8:30 PM ET, get with the Animal Bereavement Support Group at the Baltimore Humane Society, 1601 Nicodemus Road, Reisterstown 21136. This will continue each Tuesday, through August 3. See https://www.facebook.com/BMOREHUMANE/.  The loss of an animal can be a devastating blow. Our friends are often loved as a member of our family, and we believe their passing should be treated with the same respect. RSVP to vvanhof@bmorehumane.org.

30] – This summer and fall, there are opportunities for grassroots engagement on new district maps across the country, so All On the Line is hosting Redistricting Summer Sessions to ensure grassroots activists and volunteers have the tools they need to make their voices heard through the final stretch of the 2021 redistricting cycle.  Grassroots Engagement Opportunities + Tactics will cover many of the ways grassroots activists can engage in their state’s redistricting process and how to prepare to participate.   The sessions available as follows are on Tues., July 20 from 7 to 8 PM ET, Tues., Aug. 3 from 8 to 9 PM ET, Tues., Aug. 17 from 7:30 to 8:30 PM ET and Sat., Aug. 21 from 3 to 4 PM ET. REGISTER at https://www.mobilize.us/allontheline/event/398976/?utm_campaign=20210717_AOTL_O_resend_RUcalendar_ActivesXopeners&emci=5211a10c-5fe6-eb11-a7ad-501ac57b8fa7&emdi=be8d0a56-ebe6-eb11-a7ad-501ac57b8fa7&ceid=4818037.

31] – Tonya Histand, AFSC [actioncenter@afsc.org] wants you to know about a webinar Understanding how Congress funds ICE and CBP on Tues., July 20 at 7:30 PM ET. For decades, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) have separated countless families, caused the deaths of people seeking refuge, and terrorized our communities. Stopping the flow of money to these agencies is an important step to ending systems of cruelty against immigrants. Join the training to learn more about how Congress funds ICE and CBP with our taxpayer dollars—and how you can advocate to defund these agencies. Register at https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIvce6trj8vHdPtfz0OK0iYkGv-ejJtN8ls?emci=2be3a132-b1d9-eb11-a7ad-501ac57b8fa7&emdi=8f3e2cdf-bbda-eb11-a7ad-501ac57b8fa7&ceid=764241.

32] – Marcy, CODEPINK [info@codepink.org] wants you to get involved on Tues., July 20 at 8 PM ET with the next CODEPINK Congress‌.  Join CODEPINK Congress for film clips and a conversation with Abby Martin, the director of the documentary Gaza Fights for Freedom. Filmed during the height of the 2018 Great March of Return protests, Gaza Fights for Freedom features exclusive footage of demonstrators demanding that Palestinian refugees be allowed to return to their homeland inside Israel. The documentary was filmed and produced by journalists within Gaza who risked their lives each week during the Great March of Return. It will also feature Ariel Gold, national co-director of CODEPINK. Sign up at https://www.codepink.org/07202021?utm_campaign=cp_congress_7_20_21&utm_medium=email&utm_source=codepink.

To be continued.

Donations can be sent to Max Obuszewski, Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 431 Notre Dame Lane, Apt. 206, Baltimore, MD 21212.  Ph: 410-323-1607; Email: mobuszewski2001 [at] comcast.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/.

"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs