We are all overwhelmed. Do what you can, but do something. One thing if that’s what you can manage. Make a call, attend a protest/demonstration, help a neighbor.
"Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world's grief. Do justly now, love mercy now, walk humbly now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.” (Pirkei Avot 2:16)
CALL OUR SENATORS & REP:
Thom Tillis: D.C. (202) 224-6342 Raleigh (919) 856-4630 Charlotte (704) 509-9087
Ted Budd: D.C. 202-224-3154 Raleigh 984-349-5061 Wilmington 910-218-7600
Valerie Foushee: (202) 225-1784 and (919) 967-7924
or use 5calls.org or subscribe to ChopWoodCarry Water
Suggested Script (feel free to change if you like):
This is (name) calling from (zip). My tax dollars and yours are being used to keep human beings crowded in cages, 32 men to a cage with 3 toilets in the open and the only source of drinking water a spigot attached to those toilets. These men have had no due process. The Senator (Representative) must call for this government run concentration camp in Florida to be shut down immediately. We cannot have this in the United States. It must be closed, NOW.
Definition: “Concentration Camp”
From Merriam Webster:
Concentration Camp: a place where large numbers of people (such as prisoners of war, political prisoners, refugees, or the members of an ethnic or religious minority) are detained or confined under armed guard.
Thirty two men per cage with three toilets per cage, the only source of water is from a spigot connected to the toilet. Mosquitos, heat, inadequate food, no privacy, no due process. Most of us have heard about this.
Here is Rep. Maxwell Frost after his visit to this federally funded detention center.
WHAT WOULD JOHN LEWIS DO?
Let’s show up in the streets, let’s learn to register voters. If Durham had turned out 5% more of our voters in 2024, there would have been no need for recounts with Allison Riggs. We need to re-elect Justice Anita Earls in 2026; for that we need to turn out in numbers too big to challenge. Review of the path to Fair Maps HERE.
Show up Thursday to talk about voting rights and the importance of voting and registering voters & sign up to register voters at future VR events. (if you can’t make it but want to help with future Voter Registration Drives, sign up here.)
Bring non-perishable food & cleaning supplies for Day One Relief. There will be collection boxes around CCB Plaza.
Register HERE.
“Ordinary people with extraordinary vision can redeem the soul of America by getting in what I call good trouble, necessary trouble. Voting and participating in the democratic process are key. The vote is the most powerful nonviolent change agent you have in a democratic society. You must use it because it is not guaranteed. You can lose it.”—from an op-ed in the NYT by John Lewis, published posthumously, July 30, 2020.
OTHER EVENTS/ACTIONS
Tuesday, July 15 6 – 7:30pm
Support unionizing at Corning Life Sciences plant in Durham More info here
Please join us in solidarity as we leaflet employees at the Corning Life Sciences plant in Durham. We are trying to support their efforts to unionize. Having community support with positive signs saying, "We stand with workers" and "Protect worker rights" and "Unionize Corning!" would help our cause.
Tuesday, July 15th, 7 PM. VIRTUAL. How to build an ICE Watch Network with Siembra. Sign up here.
Wednesday July 16 8-9:30 pm virtual
Sign up HERE. The Moment & Your Mission -Get oriented to making meaning of this moment and the role you can play in coordinated strategic action.
July 20 Triangle Bridges to Freedom Register here
Why do this? Consider Jess Craven’s story about hope:
On Sunday when I was driving back from dropping Mj in Maine I saw, as I drove South on Route 1, a group of people on an overpass above me with a giant sign reading “NO KINGS!” They were dancing and waving flags and having what looked to be a high old time. I gave a big honk as I sped underneath them, and grinned for about a half hour afterwards. That quick sight of fellow travelers all the way across the country from where I live gave me such hope, strength, and encouragement.
July 23rd 5 PM: HCR + Justice Anita Earls discuss the Voting Rights Act.
Join to watch HERE
JULY 16-30 Durham Dems School Supply Drive Collection sites needed in each precinct.
OR JUST SIGN UP TO DONATE HERE
Do you have a porch to host a drop-off box for school supplies?
Many teachers in our public schools count on this supply drive. We are excited to be partnering with the Durham Public Schools Foundations as we help them Fill That Bus! Let’s see which precinct brings in the most donations! For more info, contact: secretary@durhamdemocrats.org
Please consider donating some of the following items: 12-inch rulers, 2-pocket folders, graph filler paper, 3 x 5 index cards, blue ink pens, notebook paper (college ruled), sheet protectors, pencil grips and tissue boxes. You can get one of almost all of these (except tissues) for about $30 at Office Depot or Staples.
Saturday July 19 10-1
Join this canvass to build coalition between Democrats and unions!
Even before billionaires nearly doubled their wealth during the pandemic, income inequality had reached levels not seen since the Great Depression. In NC a new confederate-minded Republican Party holds power through a combination of voter suppression tactics and gerrymandered districts designed to institute minority rule. The brewing constitutional crisis signals the early days of an autocratic regime under Trump.
Unions and aligned organizations must lead the fight back through a multi-year strategy of new union organizing, political education, and electoral wins. To move in this direction and create a vehicle for deeper strategic collaboration, UNITE HERE, UAW, and CWA, are inviting in aligned groups to participate in a shared training and canvass program this July with hopes of building longer term strategic partnership and deepening alignment.
Register here
For other protests and events, happening pretty much daily on bridges and street corners and everywhere, check out Mobilize and/or Durham Resistance Hub
Please continue to help our neighbors.
DONATE TO DAY ONE RELIEF AT THIS LINK
“Si se me yebo de agua el apartamento i perdí todo “—the text accompanying this video of a family’s Durham apartment. (screenshot from video)
DROP OFF LOCATION AT Day One Relief on Ramseur St. across Fayetteville Rd. from Ponysaurus and Mezcalito. It’s at 809 Ramseur St. It’s a long low building painted a pale lemon yellow.
Or:
Durham Co-Op Market (1111 W. Chapel Hill Street) Everyday 7 am-8 pm
Trosa Thrift Store (3500 N. Roxboro Rd) W-Sat 12-6
People’s Solidarity Hub 1805 Chapel Hill Rd. T/Th 10-2
Needs:
Snack food/Gatorade/Tuna fish/Shelf stable ingredients for any meal prep
Purple and yellow respirators/Tools - any and all/Large scale dehumidifiers/Sump pumps
Ziplocks/Industrial brooms/Push broom squeegees/Rakes/Fans
Fabuloso cleaner (available at Costco in bulk)/Body wipes (not baby wipes)
NEW non-cotton activewear shirts that are size XL, 2XL, 3X
FINALLY: HOPE IN COMMUNITY COMING TOGETHER.
I received this email from a neighbor recently. I found it inspirational and thought provoking. I hope you do too.
As the climate crisis worsens, I think there will be more and more need for mutual aid. I'm aware of several local mutual aid organizations, and I appreciate the work they're doing. I try to support them when I can.
Here on ——- Street we've started meeting monthly, in part to get to know each other better, and in part to plan for the next big power outage, the next big pandemic, etc. In a sense, we're practicing to be better neighbors. Right now eleven of our households are growing tomatoes as part of what we're calling a "Tomato Conspiracy." Half of the tomatoes will go to the community fridge outside of St. Joe's Episcopal Church on Main Street, and we hope to use the other half for a big tomato potluck in August. I'm wondering if there are others…who are organizing this way and if there's an interest in coming together as a larger group, both to prepare ourselves for the difficult times ahead and also to find ways to help our Durham neighbors who will be less resilient in hard times.
(photo of tomatoes from SouthWind Produce)
p.s.
Two pieces for your consideration:
1. Marilyn Hartman’s post on Resistance Vs. Electoral Work
2. Rebecca Solnit’s MEDITATIONS IN AN EMERGENCY
Please Shout Fire. This Theater Is Burning
a sample: “The United States is being destroyed from within, and mainstream journalism isn't making that clear. … But too many of the powerful voices in this country are downplaying the crisis we're in, and that tamps down the reactions that could save us.
All the pieces are being reported on, one way or another, but it's as if someone was just run over by – well let's just say a giant armored vehicle driven by faceless goons in camouflage dress-up and body armor… but the journalists reported it all in close-up, so we got a report one day that a spleen burst and another that lots of ribs were shattered. It's when you add up all the individual injuries that you see the victim is in critical condition. And when you look around that you see the armored vehicle is revving up for another pass. And another.”
Wrote them about this. Again.