The Justice Department isn’t hiding it anymore — they are arresting activists just for expressing opinions. Last week, they indicted 15 immigration activists in Minnesota and raided the offices and homes of voter registration activists in Ohio.
We may not be able to be there, but we can donate to make sure these folks have strong legal representation. Even if you can only donate a little, it will mean something to them to see support from around the country. Two organizations that will use your money well are Hands Off Ohio and Minnesota Legal Defense.
At the same time, the Supreme Court and legislatures throughout the South are disenfranchising Black voters — donate to the Black Voters Matter Fund to fight back.
Show Citizens Bank the (Jersey) door
Jersey City withdrew $265 million out of Citizens Bank because of its financing of ICE prisons, including the notorious Delaney Hall. To learn how to get your city or town to divest, come to De-ICE Citizen’s June 29 webinar with Jersey City Council members.
Art says what words cannot
Want to inject joy, laughter, or love into your art? Come to the Creative Activism Webinar on June 24, 5 pm.
Summer reading: The US History they don’t teach you
Since Howard Zinn’s shattering People’s History of the United States and James Loewen’s Lies My Teacher Told Me, many authors have filled in the details on important elements of US history. If you like to get your history in novels:
Victoria Christopher Murray’s Harlem Rhapsody shines a light on Harlem Renaissance trailblazer Jessie Redmon Fauset. The book captures her immense cultural impact—from publishing 17-year-old Langston Hughes to her romantic relationship with W.E.B. Du Bois.
Leaving Coy’s Hill, by Katherine A. Sherbrooke, tells the amazing story of Lucy Stone. Born on a farm in 1818, she became the first Massachusetts woman to graduate from college and spent her life fighting for women’s suffrage and the abolition of slavery — until she eventually had to pick one over the other.
You can’t go wrong with books by Geraldine Brooks, and in Horse, she seamlessly weaves together the real life stories of a 19th century racehorse and an itinerant artist with the politics of the present day Smithsonian.
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Pro-Democracy Organizations we are monitoring
Indivisible national and Massachusetts
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On this Date: On June 23, 1979, Montreal held its first Gay Pride march. They didn’t have a rainbow flag so an activist sewed two sheets together, dyed them pink, cut them into a triangle, and held it high at the front of the march.