Weekly inbk newsletter

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.

April 20, 2025

It’s been another tough week, but we made it through. These days, that is something to cheer. Also worth cheering? More and more people are joining us in standing up to Trump, and those in positions of power are starting to follow our lead. For example, Harvard University pushed back hard against the Trump administration’s attacks and demand for capitulation. Harvard's decision to resist was reportedly prompted by the Hands Off! marches. Universities are now joining forces in a mutual defense compact. And now the White House is deflecting blame for their failed bullying campaign, calling the attack on Harvard a mistake precipitated by an unauthorized letter.

That retreat is sweet, but sweeter still is recognizing that the growing resistance is borne from our own individual actions of coming together to make a collective demand. We were back in the streets yesterday, marching with thousands of New Yorkers to demand protection for immigrants and our planet. Let’s keep the momentum going in the coming week. Here’s how.

Your Top 3 actions for this week

🗳️ Join Indivisible Brooklyn’s Monthly Organizing Meeting this Tuesday, April 22 at 7pm on Zoom. Join our Policy Team to plan some good trouble! Together, we’ll identify policy priorities to organize around and develop action plans for resisting authoritarianism and working towards a progressive democratic future. RSVP here.
🗽 Come to our NY-11 Empty Chair Town Hall this Wednesday, April 23 at 7pm in Bay Ridge. We’re inviting Rep. Malliotakis to attend this Brooklyn town hall to engage with the people she represents, but we’re not holding our breath. Join your friends and neighbors to speak out on the issues that matter most to you — and send a clear message that we demand that our congressional representatives put the people first. The town hall will be at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church (7420 4th Ave) in Bay Ridge. RSVP here.
📋 Canvass for CM Crystal Hudson with us this Saturday, April 26 at 10am in Crown Heights. With just 2 months until the June Primary Election, we need all hands on deck to help get Crystal re-elected to the City Council! Join Indivisible Brooklyn and New Kings Democrats as we talk to our neighbors about Crystal's campaign and why she is the best choice for District 35! We'll set you up with the materials and any training and support you need – including an experienced canvasser to partner with! We'll have both door-knocking and street canvassing options available. RSVP here.

Upcoming Events

Rally to Demand Housing Now: Tuesday, April 22 at 11am at City Hall Park. Join Safety Net Activists. Coalition for the Homeless, Neighbors Together, VOCAL-NY, and more in City Hall Park (near the fountain) to speak out against the criminalization of homelessness & the federal budget cuts. Demand real solutions & dignified housing for all. RSVP here.

Earth Day Rally for the NY HEAT Act: Tuesday, April 22 at 12pm at City Hall. The NY HEAT Act is the top climate priority of New York's environmental movement, with its promise of lower energy bills while eliminating massive subsidies to the fracked gas industry. Join the NY HEAT Act’s lead sponsors Sen. Liz Krueger and AM Jo Anne Simon and dozens of our coalition partners for a rally to show popular support for making energy more affordable while moving off fossil fuels. RSVP here.

Dignity Not Detention Phone Zap: Tuesday, April 22 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. You can also use NYCLU’s one-click tool to email your own NYS legislators about this urgent priority.

Colleges at a Crossroads March from City College to Columbia: Friday, April 25 at 3pm at City College. Join NYC Union of Students in protest against the Trump/Musk administration’s cuts to university funding, its sending ICE after students, and threats to free speech. Universities choose to stand with fascism or stand with students, staff, faculty, workers, and NYC residents. RSVP here.

May Day Rally and March: Thursday, May 1 at 5pm at Foley Square. Join the NYC Labor Movement and our allies across the city to rally and march against attacks on workers! RSVP here.

SAVE THE DATE! Tesla Takedown Protest and March: Saturday, May 3 at 12pm at 860 Washington Street in Manhattan. Save the Date for a second big May Day action. We will join the Tesla Takedown protest in the West Village and march against technofascism. Look for a signup and more details in next week’s email.

more ways to resist this week

Indicate your interest in a future Protest Marshal Training with Indivisible Brooklyn and Rise and Resist. As we build the capacity to protest in larger numbers, we will need large numbers of trained protest marshals to ensure that protests are safe and orderly. Indivisible Brooklyn will host a training for those interested in serving as protest marshals once we have sufficient interest. Anyone can serve as a protest marshal, no special skills are needed, and it is an empowering and joyful way to protect our democracy and our first amendment rights. Please fill out this form and share it with others. We can never have too many trained protest marshals!

Demand that Schumer, Gillibrand, and your MoC speak out aggressively against the unconstitutional imprisonment of people overseas without due process. You can find their phone numbers here.
Suggested call script: "Hi, my name is [name]. I’m a constituent from [city and zip] and I never miss an election. I'm calling because we are in a constitutional crisis. Trump openly supports 'disappearing' citizens and is working with El Salvador to detain Americans overseas — just like the hundreds of Venezuelans he’s sent there in violation of the law. I’m terrified that dissenters like me could be next. What will your office do today to return Maryland dad Kilmar Abrego Garcia from El Salvador’s torture prison and ensure compliance with the Supreme Court’s unanimous ruling? Because if Trump can defy the Supreme Court, what’s stopping him from doing anything to anybody? So what will [the senator/representative] do today to stand against this terrifying, lawless administration?"

Tell Schumer and Gillibrand to hold the line against the SAVE Act (S.128) aka the Silencing Americans Act. In a healthy democracy, both parties would support voting rights. Here in the US, we need to fight just to make sure that at least Democrats do. Last Thursday, four Democrats joined House Republicans in voting for the SAVE Act, which would disenfranchise millions of US citizens and prohibit them from voting without ID they don’t have. Schumer has already declared the SAVE Act dead on arrival in the Senate, but let’s keep up the pressure on our senators to unite the whole Democratic caucus against this attack on voters. Use Indivisible’s one-click tool to make your calls (script provided).

Practice using NYC’s Ranked Choice Voting system. Play this online ranked choice voting game from Brooklyn Voters Alliance (BVA) to learn more about the ranked choice voting system we’ll be using in the June primaries. BVA’s website also provides a voting plan checklist for you to follow, and a link to this informative 2021 video on ranked choice voting put out by the Board of Elections. If you find the website as helpful as we do, please share it with your friends and neighbors!

Tell the City Council to pass better protections for trans NYers. The City Council is currently considering a package of bills to provide better protections for trans, gender nonconforming, nonbinary, and intersex (TGNCNBI) NYers. By providing better access to resources, better privacy protections, and better ways to defend the right to gender-affirming care, this is the strongest legislative package nationwide for protecting TGNCNBI communities. Call your Council Member and ask them to co-sponsor the AFFIRM Act (Intro 1201) and the rest of the package of 4 bills and 4 resolutions. (And if you’re represented by lead sponsors CM Hanif, CM Hudson, CM Ossé, CM Bottcher, CM Cabán, or CM Schulman, thank them for their leadership!) You can find your Council Member here.

Tell your NYS electeds to say No to Hochul’s budget shenanigans. The NYS budget was due on April 1, but Governor Hochul is holding up negotiations by trying to force through bad policy riders that wouldn’t pass on their own. Use the toolkit from the Alliance to Protect Kalief’s Law to tell your NYS electeds to reject Hochul’s attempts to undermine our discovery laws, which would hide evidence from the accused and lead to more wrongful convictions. Use NYCLU's one-click tool to tell your NYS electeds to reject Hochul’s mask ban proposal, which would undermine our First Amendment rights and public health, making us all less safe. Use this one-click tool from NY Renews to tell them to reject Hochul’s scheme to delay NY’s Clean Truck Rule, which is already a modest phased-in standard for truck manufacturers that encourages cleaner options than the diesel-guzzling trucks polluting our neighborhoods and making us sick. Finally, use WFP's one-click tool to demand that NYS tax the rich and support working families, including immigrant NYers.

Tell the City Council to pass a People’s Budget! The People’s Plan NYC is fighting for a budget that puts people first — not service cuts, criminalization, or corruption. We demand investments in education, mental health care, housing-first policies, and immigrant protections. Use the People’s Plan NYC’s tool to send a message to your Council Member now!

Ask your friends in other states to tell their Democratic senators to call for new leadership. We need a Senate Minority Leader who will fight, and Senator Schumer can’t or won’t put up meaningful resistance. Any 10 senators can start the process to replace the Minority Leader. Share Indivisible’s phone call and email tools with friends in other states to expand efforts to transform Senate Democrats into a real opposition party.

Last, if you’re celebrating Easter or the last day of Passover today, wishing you a peaceful, meaningful holiday.

In solidarity,

The INBK crew