With so much going on, it’s hard to know what to do or how to do it. Our weekly newsletters gather as much information as we can find and organize it to make taking action as easy and accessible as possible. You don’t have to do ALL the things, but you should do SOMETHING. Our most current edition is below, and you can sign up to receive future newsletters here.
May 17, 2026
Last week we saw the devastating effect of a racist Supreme Court decision on voting rights. Seven southern states moved rapidly towards racial gerrymandering that will disenfranchise Black voters and remove Black leaders from office. Three more states were not far behind, and Virginia was prevented from partisan redistricting that would have benefited Democrats. I went to sleep Friday night feeling discouraged, anxious, furious, and altogether exhausted. I know I wasn’t alone in having those feelings.
But when I woke up early Saturday morning, I read about the thousands of people gathering again in Selma and Montgomery to fight for civil rights. Outside, I could hear people cheering in the streets to support runners in the Brooklyn Half Marathon. Then I spent most of the day at my building’s stoop sale, chatting with my neighbors, giving out immigrants’ rights flyers to passersby, and having political conversations with other Brooklynites on the street.
Suddenly, I realized all my negativity from the night before had vanished. The sense of community we all felt, and the act of talking to people one on one about important issues, had rejuvenated me. So if you’re feeling down, hopeless, overwhelmed by all the bad news - don’t despair, and don’t give up! The MAGA movement’s strategy is to make us feel like nothing we do matters. Don’t let them fool you. Action is the antidote to despair. So let’s organize together to support one another, hold those in power accountable, and elect better leaders – starting with the June primaries. That’s our winning strategy!
Your Top 3 actions for this week
📋 Join our monthly Organizing Meeting on Monday, May 18 at 7pm on Zoom. Join other INBKers as we organize locally to resist violent MAGA authoritarianism, promote democracy, and stand up for our communities. We’ll be talking about how we can protect elections, push our reps to enact progressive policies, and hit vulnerable corporate targets like Citizens Bank (who finances ICE detention centers) through The People’s Pickets. RSVP here.
Malliotakis Mondays—Reconciliation Rally: Monday, May 18 at 5:30pm in Bay Ridge. (Note the later-than-usual time.) Last summer, Malliotakis voted in the dead of night to strip healthcare from millions as part of the Big Beautiful Bill. Now the GOP is running the same play—another one-sided reconciliation bill to hand more money to ICE and fund Trump's gold-crusted ballroom, while doing nothing to restore the premium cuts already pushing insurance out of reach. Join a rally outside her Brooklyn office (7716 3rd Ave) to demand money for healthcare, not ICE—or ballrooms. RSVP here.
📱 Phonebank with Team Lander and BKForge on Thursday, May 21 at 6pm on Zoom. Join our friends at BKForge to talk with NY-10 voters about the people-powered campaign to send Brad Lander to Congress! No experience necessary — training will be provided. All you need is a phone and internet connection! RSVP here. You can also join phonebanks for Brad on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, if that works better for you.
Upcoming Events
Stop Data Centers with Food & Water Watch: Monday, May 18 at 7pm on Zoom. Our top priority this week is the organizing meeting. If for some reason you’re not participating, do this instead. Data centers are a huge affordability and environmental threat, rapidly increasing demand for energy, driving more fossil fuel pollution, straining water resources, devouring land, and raising utility bills. Join Food & Water Watch to learn about the statewide campaign to establish a moratorium on data centers in NY. RSVP here.
Dignity Not Detention Phone Zap: Every Tuesday at 1pm on Zoom. The Dignity Not Detention Act would end NY’s support for immigrant detention. Join our coalition partners in pushing constituent phone calls to NYS legislators about the need to pass the bill now so that NY doesn’t run or profit off of the mass detention of our neighbors. RSVP here.
Weekly Vigil for Democracy at Brooklyn’s ICE Jail: Every Tuesday at 6pm in Sunset Park. Join INBK and our fellow organizers at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Bay Ridge for our weekly vigil outside the Metropolitan Detention Center (Third Ave. & 29th St.), where 200 of our abducted neighbors have been imprisoned. Let’s stand firm against the inhumane treatment of our neighbors, and call for the release of all ICE detainees. Sing songs of resistance and bring signs to bear witness in solidarity. RSVP here to stay updated. See our full vigil list and make a plan to bring folks with you to one of these events.
Ground Truth: New Volunteer Orientation: Every Tuesday at 8pm on Zoom. Get involved with Ground Truth—Swing Left’s innovative, people-powered program that’s helping Democrats win back power by reimagining how we talk with voters. You'll learn how to make an impact from anywhere, no matter your schedule or preferred type of action. Whether you want to knock doors, call voters, help recruit volunteers, or more, we need all hands on deck. RSVP here.
Communities Against Nuclear: Wednesday, May 20 at 7pm on Zoom. Join Food & Water Watch to learn about the problems with nuclear energy, how NYS is pushing to build it anyway, and what we can do to stop it. RSVP here.
Good Trouble Training 101: Thursday, May 21 at 7pm on Zoom. Join us for the first training in our host series for the Good Trouble Lives On Weekend of Action, coming up on July 17th! In this kickoff session, we’ll walk you through everything you need to know to start planning an impactful event in your community. We’ll cover how to set up and register your event on Mobilize, what strong events should look like, and key things to think about as you organize, from connecting with local faith groups to understanding your state’s election and voter registration laws. RSVP here.
Freedom Friday in Bay Ridge: Friday, May 22 at 5:30pm-6pm at Ovington & 4th Ave. Join a quick and joyful community demonstration of progressive democratic beliefs, with music and signs about the world we want. Signs are available on site for you, or bring your own to this family-friendly visibility event. No RSVP necessary.
Hands Off Our Vote Election Protection Volunteer Training: Saturday, May 23 in Manhattan or Saturday, June 6 in Brooklyn. Want to do your part to ensure our midterms are safe and secure? Join Common Cause NY, Riverside Church, NY Branch NAACP,and Hands Off NYC to learn how to support your neighbors—and yourself—by understanding your voting rights, de-escalation techniques, and how to respond to issues at the polls. See the complete list of borough-based trainings, and sign up to become an Election Protection volunteer.
Caring Majority’s Care Not Corruption Lobby Day of Action: Thursday, May 28th in Albany. The Care Not Corruption campaign is an initiative to put people before profits in our home care system and protect critical Medicaid funding in New York State. Join with family caregivers, home care workers, people with disabilities and older adults to fight to pass the Home Care Savings & Reinvestment Act (S2332/A2018), pass the Fair Pay for Home Care Act (S8955/A1991), restore choice and oversight to CDPAP (S9142/A10537), and make the wealthy pay their fair share to invest in our care and prevent Medicaid cuts. RSVP for details or call your representatives and demand they fix the state’s home care crisis. You can look up your state legislators and their contact info here.
Script: Hi, my name is… and I’m a constituent living in [your neighborhood]. I’m calling to ask the Senator/Assemblymember to support the Home Care Transparency Act (S.9142/A.10537). Since PPL took over CDPAP last year, we have been plagued by one issue after another - lost pay, lost care, lost jobs, lost services and lost lives. Meanwhile, there has been almost no public oversight of this contract. The Home Care Transparency Act would create common sense reporting requirements so that the public and state legislators know how PPL is spending $11 billion tax payer dollars meant for care. Will the Senator/Assemblymember sign on as a co-sponsor to the Home Care Transparency Act and speak directly with leadership on the need to pass the bill this session?
Indivisible Canvass for Brad Lander: Sunday, May 31 at 12pm in Park Slope. Let’s show up in force to elect Brad Lander to Congress and power toward the better world we all believe is possible! RSVP to knock doors with us and Brooklyn Resisters on Saturday, or sign up for another shift sometime this week here.
More Ways to Resist this week
Take action to protect the Black vote. Black Voters Matter is leading in the effort to push back on the racist, white supremacist gerrymandering onslaught in the South. Follow the many links here to take action to protect the Black vote and stand in solidarity.
Call your New York State electeds to support the Hands Off Our Vote legislative package. NYS has passed much needed pro-voter reforms over the past 7 years. But there are still very basic things NYS can do to be better prepared for all-too-predictable forms of election interference. Common Cause NY is encouraging everyone to call their NYS electeds to demand passage of reforms that will reduce frivolous challenges to voter eligibility, make it easier to keep polls open following a disruption, and protect voters and election officials from intimidation and harassment. Use this toolkit to call your electeds about the Hands Off Our Vote priority package now.
Tell the NYC Council to say “NO” to no-speech zones. Amid the Trump regime’s attacks on our freedoms, our city leaders should be fighting for our right to protest—not undermining it. Mayor Mamdani stood up for free speech and rightly vetoed a bill to create no-speech zones around any public or private “educational facility” in New York City. The bill would effectively ban protests across tens of thousands of city blocks. Now the City Council is considering whether to override the Mayor and pass it into law anyway. Use the tool from NYCLU to tell City Council Members to vote “NO” on no-speech zones.
Tell Congress to say “NO” to warrantless AI mass surveillance. The War on Terror-era legislation that authorized decades of civil liberties-eroding mass surveillance was recently extended for another 45 days without any reforms. Now more than ever in the era of authoritarian consolidation and mass AI, personal privacy and civil liberties must be protected. Use Indivisible’s tool to send your Member of Congress an email. telling them to reject reauthorization unless it includes significant reforms to protect our civil liberties against this authoritarian regime.
Help Future Film Coalition #BlockTheMerger. Do you work in the media? It's not too late to protect the film/tv industry from mega-mergers like WBD-PSKY. Visit blockthemerger.com to share your story about how media consolidation has affected your work or community, and use their social media toolkit to spread the word. Your experience is evidence – show regulators and policymakers how media mergers harm competition, culture, and local economies.
Stand with the families of ICE detainees. After a period of relative quiet when agents were deployed at airports, ICE has returned to street abduction actions across NYC. You can learn about the families we are partnering with in South Brooklyn on standwithsouthbrooklyn.org, which includes GoFundMes. If you are able, giving even just $10 to each of the families at the top of the page would help our neighbors stay housed, cover living expenses, and support their detained loved ones. If you prefer to give to an organization, we recommend MiTlalli or our South Brooklyn Legal Support Fund, used for commissary and legal support.
In solidarity,
The INBK crew
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