Mark your calendars
It’s going to be a summer of resistance
It’s all about the November election for the next five months, as resistance groups work towards what they hope will be a massive electoral repudiation of Trumpism.
It’s time to mark your calendar for these major events:
June 14: Rise Up, Sing Out: A Concert for the First Amendment
The No Kings Coalition is behind a star-studded concert and nationwide watch parties intended as counter-programming to Trump’s cage fight obscenity on the South Lawn. Jane Fonda, Bette Midler, Rufus Wainwright, Patti Smith, and many others will headline the main event at the Town Hall in New York City. Watch parties will “create a massive night of localized, relational organizing across the country.”
The organizers explain: “Moving beyond mass street mobilizations, June 14 will serve as a critical opportunity for No Kings supporters to strategize, connect with local organizers, and prepare for the ongoing fights ahead of the midterm elections.”
Find an event near you here. Extremely expensive tickets for the concert in New York can be purchased at riseupsingout.com.
June 17-20: Juneteenth Week of Action
The civil rights leaders behind the All Roads Lead to the South National Day of Action in Alabama last month have announced the first event of what they are calling “Freedom Summer,” in honor of the historic 1964 voter registration and education campaign.
The Juneteenth Week of Action includes events in Atlanta on June 17 and a June 20 rally in Harlem.
June 27: A Nationwide Mobilization for Truth, Equality & Freedom
Ahead of America’s 250th anniversary, organizers of this mobilization say their goal is “to repair our history rather than erase it, ensuring America lives up to its foundational ideals for all of us.” The day will feature marches, rallies, and protests across the country “to reject the whitewashing of our past and future.”
Find an event near you here. Or host one yourself. Partner organizations include 50501, the Women’s March, and Common Cause.
July 17-19: Good Trouble Lives On Weekend of Action
Adopting the phrase coined by civil rights icon Congressman John Lewis, Good Trouble events will “carry the torch of the civil rights movement by doing what Lewis loved most – organizing, educating, and taking action,” organizers say. Partner organizations include the ACLU, 50501, Public Citizen, and Common Cause. The three calls to action:
TEACH our community members about the critical fight for our freedom to vote
REACH out to our neighbors to bring them into this movement
PREACH to our loved ones about the moral necessity to carry the torch of the civil rights movement
There will be a virtual training session on June 11, “to learn how you can host a voter registration event and support your community in ensuring they can exercise their freedom to vote.” Are you a lawyer? A June 17 training session will focus on “how you as an attorney can help provide legal knowledge and support for one of the nationwide voter registration events in your area.”
August 8: Unite & Rise for Voting Rights
The League of Women Voters and its partners are hosting a nationwide day of civic action in honor of the anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
“Leagues and partners will lead hundreds of activations across the country centered on increasing voter engagement, turnout, and education, with particular emphasis on young voters and community partnerships,” organizers say. Anchor events will be held in Phoenix, San Francisco, Atlanta, Detroit, and Michigan.
It’s part of the League’s Unite and Rise 8.5: An Initiative to Defend Democracy.
September 15: National Voter Registration Day
Last year, 3,200 local organizations joined forces to help Americans register to vote or update their registration on National Voter Registration Day.
October 3: Power to the People Fest
At his Washington concert last month, Bruce Springsteen announced that his guest guitarist, Tom Morello, would curate a Power to the People Fest at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, MD, on October 3. The lineup is phenomenal, including Springsteen, the Foo Fighters, Dave Matthews, Joan Baez, Public Enemy, and many more.
Organizers say the event will be “about the power everyday human beings have when they come together — through music, art, community and action — to shape our country and our planet on, and beyond, Election Day.”
In an “immersive space” called Freedom Village, nonprofits and community groups will “highlight ways to get involved through civic engagement, grassroots organizing and mutual aid.”
Portions of the proceeds will be donated to VoteRiders, and HeadCount will help fans register to vote.
Inside and Outside Delaney Hall
The vigil outside Delaney Hall, the immigrant detention center in Newark, is about to enter its third week.
Protesters are once again facing off against ICE agents. Newark Mayor Ras Baraka had sent Newark Police in to de-escalate the situation after ICE agents and New Jersey state troopers repeatedly attacked protesters. But he has now pulled back.
As a result, as AMNY reported, on Friday night ICE agents shot protesters with pepper balls, and a prison employee struck a photographer with their vehicle.
On Monday, N.J. Gov. Mikie Sherrill was finally allowed into the facility. But, she said, “I was not allowed to meet or speak directly with the detainees, which continues to raise serious questions about the real conditions of the facility and the treatment of those held there.”
Ms. Rachel, the beloved children’s YouTube star, paid a visit on Monday. “Met the sweetest children whose hearts are broken,” she posted on Instagram. “They just want their parents home again. I spoke with a 13 year old whose dad is in Delaney. ‘He’s a wonderful father’ she said, tearing up,” she wrote. “It makes no sense that their family has been ripped apart. Why are we traumatizing kids?.. I will always stand with these families.”
The American Friends Service Committee reminds us that inside Delaney Hall, detainees have issued four letters of demands. They are calling for:
The immediate release of all detained people. They are prioritizing the elderly, pregnant, young people, and those with serious medical conditions—while insisting that all detained individuals deserve to pursue their cases outside of detention.
Meaningful and fair review of immigration cases and habeas petitions.
An end to coercive pressure to sign deportation or voluntary departure documents.
An in-person meeting with Gov. Mikie Sherrill at Delaney Hall so she can observe conditions and hear directly from detained people.
More Vindication for the “Broadview Six”
Transcripts from the grand jury proceedings that resulted in the indictment of the “Broadview Six” anti-ICE protesters in Chicago were released on Tuesday, revealing jaw-dropping misconduct by federal prosecutors.
Many observers had suspected that grand jurors had been railroaded into supporting trumped-up politically-motivated charges.
Wow were they right.
The transcript for the October 9 session shows that Assistant U.S. Attorney Sheri Mecklenburg personally vouched for the credibility of the case and argued the case rather than simply presenting it, two massive violations of grand jury rules. Nevertheless, the grand jury did not indict.
A week later, she came back to try again -- and kicked several people who had expressed skepticism about the case off the grand jury, which is not allowed. (One of them told her “I heard this case like last week and I thought it was a crock of shit then and I still think it is.”)
A week after that, she admitted to having talked to two grand jurors outside the grand jury room, another gross violation of grand jury rules. The jurors finally gave in.
Did this happen because of pressure from the White House? Defense attorneys have filed a motion seeking any communications between Washington and Chicago. So stay tuned.
Last Week in the Courts
A federal judge in Rhode Island struck down immigration policies that have halted asylum processing, frozen immigration benefits, and targeted immigrants based on nationality. Judge John J. McConnell Jr. assailed “a series of policies that threw the lives of countless immigrants living in the United States into indeterminate legal limbo.” Citing the line that if people want to immigrate to the United States they ought to “follow the law” and “do things the right way,” McConnell wrote that “This case serves as a perfect example of immigrants doing just that.” By contrast, he wrote, the government had done neither. He also slammed DHS for “pretextual concerns of ‘national security’ that mask anti-immigrant sentiments that it is forbidden from letting influence its decision-making.”
A federal judge in Washington struck down Trump’s move to impose $100,000 fees on employers seeking visas for skilled foreign workers. Judge Leo T. Sorokin said the “payment requirement amounts to a tax, which exceeds the scope of the President’s discretionary authority.”
A federal judge in Washington struck down an Internal Revenue Service guidance that restricted tax credits for wind and solar projects, finding it “arbitrary and capricious.” Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly wrote that “Defendants failed to articulate a reasoned explanation for this consequential decision.”
Two members of the publisher’s advisory board for Stars and Stripes, the military’s independent newspaper, have filed suit seeking to block implementation of a U.S. Department of Defense memo that would effectively end the newspaper’s editorial independence.
End Notes
From Sherilyn Ifill: “The SCOTUS Project to Undo Voting Rights Protections is Nearly Complete.”
From the Associated Press: “What to know about the growing opposition to Trump family-linked resort in Albania.”
From the “prophetic preachers” who spoke at “Moral Monday” in Washington: “Truth In A Time Of Lies.”