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 have to do SOMETHING. Our most current edition is below, and links to past newsletters can be found below.
December 15, 2024
Dear friends,
With just one week to go before many people go on vacation, we are taking some critical last actions and getting ready for 2025. It was great to see so many folks inspired to take action at our Electoral Team meeting last week as we get ready to go all in for progressive candidates in the New York City Democratic primaries in June 2025. This coming week, our Policy Team will be meeting to determine how to push our electeds in City Hall, Albany and D.C. to resist the worst of the Republicans’ regressive agenda. With Representative Jamie Raskin set to take over as ranking member of the Judiciary Committee and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez with a good chance of succeeding him to lead the Democrats on the powerful Oversight Committee, we will have some new allies who know how to fight. Here’s how you can get involved this week:
Your Top 3 Actions for This Week
Join our Organizing Meeting this Tuesday, December 17 at 7pm on Zoom. Like taking action and focusing on passing policies? Like planning some good trouble? Like planning events and hatching call scripts? Join us and our special guests Councilmember Shahana Hanif and Senator Zellnor Myrie at our monthly organizing meeting to do any or all of the above! RSVP here.
Call Senator Schumer and tell him to rally his caucus to OPPOSE the nomination of RFK Jr. for HHS Secretary. Meetings with Senators are happening now in advance of a 2025 confirmation vote. Call Schumer at 202-224-6542 or 212-486-4430 and tell him that every Democrat must vote No on putting an anti-vax conspiracy theorist in charge of the health, safety, and well-being of America. Script: “I am calling to tell Senator Schumer that the nomination of RFK Jr. for HHS Secretary is dangerous for New Yorkers. RFK Jr. opposes life-saving vaccines and has pledged to stop funding research on treatments and cures for deadly diseases. RFK Jr. also lacks the experience necessary to manage major health care programs like Medicare and Medicaid. As a constituent, I urge the Senator to secure the opposition of the entire Senate Democratic Caucus to reject RFK Jr.’s nomination, and protect the health of New Yorkers and all Americans.”
Call your NYS electeds and tell them to fight for our future. We need to keep up the pressure on our New York State lawmakers to act quickly to protect NYers’ free speech, LGBTQ+, and immigrant rights as well as our digital privacy… BEFORE Inauguration Day. Call your NYS Senator and Assemblymember and tell them that you, as a constituent, want lawmakers to take immediate action to defend NYers from what’s coming by following the recommendations in NYCLU’s November 6 report, “Four Things New York Lawmakers Must Do Before Trump Takes Office,” which includes passing the New York for All Act (S.987/A.5686) to protect our communities from mass deportation and passing bills like S.7879A/A.8884A to protect healthcare patients and providers. You can see where your representatives stand on the bills NYCLU highlights using our tracker here. If you can’t make phone calls, try using NYCLU’s toolkit to send an email to your NYS elected representatives here.
Upcoming Events
Save the Date for Our Brooklyn Mayoral Candidate Forum: Thursday, January 16 at 7pm at Brooklyn Law School or virtual. We are partnering with several other Brooklyn orgs to host a candidate forum of the Democratic candidates running for NYC Mayor in 2025. You’ll have a chance to submit a question to the candidates when you sign up. Seating is limited, so if you want to attend in-person, RSVP now!
Rally for Communities Not Cages: Monday, December 16 at 1pm in Foley Square. Community Not Cages is hosting a statewide day of action to demand the end of prejudicial and unjust sentencing laws. Right now, New York State has the third largest population of people serving terms of life imprisonment in the country. Over 30,000 of our loved ones, neighbors, and friends are incarcerated in state prisons. Join families missing loved ones this holiday season in calling for passage of the Marvin Mayfield Act (S.6471/A.2036A), Second Look Act (S.321/A.531), and Earned Time Act (S.774/A.1128). RSVP here.
Rally to Protect Immigrants on International Migrants Day: Wednesday December 18 at noon at City Hall (Broadway and Chambers Street). Join Make The Road, Popular Democracy, Immigrant Defense Project, and others for a rally at City Hall to tell Mayor Adams and NYC leaders to SAY NO TO ICE.
Worth Fighting For Mass Call: Thursday, December 19 at 8pm on Zoom. One month after the first Worth Fighting For call, which gathered together over 140,000 people to prepare for the struggle ahead, the same folks are leading a follow-up call. Join Working Families Party, Indivisible, MoveOn, and Public Citizen to reflect on the work we’ve done over the past month and talk about the structures and practices that will allow us to effectively organize under a second Trump administration. RSVP here.
Rally Against Mass Deportation: Wednesday, January 8 in Albany. On the first day of the new legislative session, four immigrant justice campaigns – New York for All, Dignity Not Detention, the Clemency Coalition of NY, and CARE – are uniting to send a clear message: the time for the legislature to act is NOW. Protect our immigrant communities and pass these bills before inauguration to help fight against Trump's cruel plans to attack NYers! Food and transportation will be provided. RSVP here.
Other Ways to Resist This Week
Call your Council Member about supporting immigrants’ rights. NYC has “sanctuary” policies in place that prohibit city agencies from colluding with ICE to deport undocumented New Yorkers. However, it is very hard to hold the NYPD and DOC accountable when they violate these laws, which they’ve done time and again. Intro 214 would create a private right of action for anyone who is illegally transferred to ICE, empowering New Yorkers to take legal action to protect themselves from violations of their rights under current law. If your City Council Member is already a co-sponsor of Intro 214, please call their office to thank them for signing on and ask them to encourage their colleagues to join them in co-sponsoring the bill. If your Council Member is not yet signed on, please use your power as a constituent to tell them that now is the time to support immigrants’ rights. You can find an up-to-date list of sponsors here. And you can find your Council Member here. Script: Hi, my name is… and I’m a constituent living in [your neighborhood]. I’m calling about the urgent need to protect immigrants’ rights by passing Intro 214. Intro 214 is a straightforward bill that allows New Yorkers to protect themselves from illegal transfers to ICE custody if their rights under existing law are violated. I hope the Council Member will help advance this proposal to make our city safer for us and our neighbors.
Oppose the Nomination of Frank Seddio to the NYC Board of Elections. Join Common Cause NY to oppose the nomination of former Brooklyn Democratic Party Boss Frank Seddio as Brooklyn Democratic Commissioner at the NYC Board of Elections. Seddio’s extensive record of ethics violations, corruption scandals, and financial shadiness makes him simply unfit to serve, while his history as Chair of the Brooklyn Democratic Party creates a conflict of interest. Take action here.
Phonebank for the Special Elections in Virginia. There are two special elections in Loudon County, VA on January 7, and the outcomes will determine control of Virginia’s State Senate and House of Delegates. Democrats Kannan Srinivasan and JJ Singh are running joint phonebanks together on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and weekends for the next 3 weeks. Sign up for a shift here and keep VA blue!
Sign the Before You Go Joe Petition. Join Popular Democracy in calling on President Biden to commute the sentences of everyone on death row and the thousands of people who received draconian sentences due to the 1994 Crime bill before he leaves office. The pressure is working because he already pardoned 1500 people this week. Sign the petition here.
Urge Governor Hochul to sign the Warehouse Worker Injury Reduction Act into law. One out of nine warehouse workers in NYS were injured at work last year, which is twice the national rate. Through better job design, safety standards, training, and enforcement, WWIRA will keep workers safe on the job and make warehouse work sustainable. This legislation is sitting on Governor Hochul’s desk, waiting to be signed into law, but mega corporations like UPS and Amazon are lobbying against it. Send Hochul an email using ALIGN’s one-click tool here and tell her to prioritize people’s safety over corporate greed.
Tell Biden to publish the ERA. We organized to help pass Prop 1 (AKA the NY-ERA), guaranteeing gender rights and so much more as part of the New York State constitution. Now it’s time to enact the federal ERA as the 28th Amendment to the US Constitution. President Biden can do this by telling the Archivist to PUBLISH EQUALITY in the Constitution. Vote Equality has suggestions for pressuring the Biden Administration to bring this long-promised, long-delayed amendment over the finish line and enshrine gender equality at the federal level.
Help INBK hold your representatives accountable. We’re keeping the pressure on elected officials to fight for democracy, sustainability, and justice. As an all-volunteer grassroots organization, our most effective means of doing this work is to help organize constituents around the issues that matter to them. Please fill out this survey so we can update our records about who our members are represented by and what change you are most eager to see and help bring about. And don’t forget to add your representatives as contacts in your phone, so you can easily reach out when they need to hear from you!
In solidarity,
The INBK crew