Category: Issues (Page 2 of 129)

ACTION ALERT: 5th District Town Hall

On Sunday, Feb. 26, more than 1,200 people attended the People’s Town Hall at the MLK Performing Arts Center.

Our moderators, Saad and Kibiriti, did an incredible job. Dozens of you shared powerful stories and important questions, and we raised more than $3,000 for Amnesty International. We’re very disappointed that Congressman Garrett chose not to attend, but we recorded the whole event for his (and your) viewing pleasure.

Since our event, Rep. Garrett announced that he will be holding a “town hall” in Charlottesville for 135 people on March 31. That is absurdly inadequate, especially in light of the huge response we saw with the People’s Town Hall. We’re asking Rep. Garrett to plan a real town hall at a venue that can accommodate the thousands of concerned citizens who want to meet with him. If he moves forward with his tiny event, we’ll hold a rally to show him what democracy looks like.

We’re going to deliver that message to Tom Garrett directly this Monday, March 6, at 1 p.m.!

Monday is a District Work Day, and Garrett is scheduled to be at his Charlottesville office to meet with constituents. So this week, we’ll be having Monday with Tom, and we know he’ll be there to hear us! Gather outside of the Daily Progress (685 Rio Road West in Charlottesville) at 1 p.m., and we’ll walk over to Garrett’s office (686 Berkmar Circle) together. Bring a poster with your question or concern for the congressman!

[intense_alert margin_bottom=”20″] Call Congressman Tom Garrett (202-225-4711) and ask him to hold a real town hall meeting, not a tiny lecture. We expect our representatives to be responsive to our concerns. Tom Garrett can’t represent us if he doesn’t meet us.  Click here for a script[/intense_alert]

If you are able, please try to park in the surrounding area to make room in the Berkmar lot for those with appointments or others who work in the area. We want to respect the other businesses and not block entrances.

Thank you again for your tremendous support. The People’s Town Hall was a monumental success, but it’s not the end of the road. We’ve got a lot of work to do, but we’re standing indivisible, and we’ve got this!

In solidarity,

Patrick for Indivisible Charlottesville

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The Great Correction

The Great Correction

Eliza Gilkyson’s latest video, set to her song “the Great Correction,” features a collection of powerful photos depicting the brave souls who, throughout this nation’s history, fought for a decent society and a protected and loved planet.

 

Quote: Malala Yousafzai

  1. Person on park bench: Daniel Lobo via Flickr Creative Commons (original is in color)
  2. Manhattan Skyline: Stefan Georgi via Flickr CC (original is in color)
  1. Statue of Liberty at Sunset: Michael from NYC via Flickr CC (original is in color)
  2. Los Angeles Traffic: Jim Sheaffer via Flickr CC
  3. Subway and Cellphones: Gonzalo G. Useta via Flickr CC
  4. Hurricane Katrina: News Muse via Flickr CC

Quote: Black Elk

  1. 50’s Billboard: Dorothea Lange via Library of Congress
  2. Homeless person with cart: Stefan Georgi via Flickr CC
  3. Wounded Knee Massacre of 1890: Trager & Kuhn via Wikimedia CC
  4. Nixon and flag:  Raymond Depardon courtesy of Magnum Photos
  5. Civil War re-enactors with kids: Bruce Davidson courtesy of Magnum Photos
  6. Sun: Bruno Caimi via Flickr CC

Quote: Rivera Sun

  1. Cheyenne woman Pretty Nose, war chief at Little Bighorn: Laton Alton Huffman via Wikimedia CC
  2. Sojourner Truth: Photographer unknown via Wikimedia CC
  3. John Muir: Unattributed via Library of Congress
  4. Pueblo Indian Delegation at White House 1923: Underwood & Underwood via Library of Congress
  5. Frederick Douglass: George Kendall Warren via National Archives and Records Administration
  6. Ida Wells: Photographer unknown
  7. Child slavery protest: Unattributed via Library of Congress
  8. Women’s suffrage rally 1916: licensed from Shutterstock
  9. Woolworth Strikers 1937: Unattributed via Library of Congress
  10. Miners at the Virginia-Pocahontas Coal Mine: Jack Corn for US National Archives
  11. Border family: Sandy Huffaker
  12. Playing in the fountain – Alex Webb – courtesy of Magnum Photos
  13. Anti-Vietnam War March 1969: Wystan via Flickr CC
  14. Vietnam protest-Leonard Freed – courtesy of Magnum Photos
  15. The Longest Walk: Seth Roffman

Quote: Oscar Romero

  1. We March with Selma 1965 by Stanley Wolfson via Library of Congress
  2. Firehoses and marchers in Montgomery: Bruce Davidson courtesy of Magnum Photos
  3. Anthony Quin arrest sequence Montgomery: Matt Herron courtesy of Take Stock/The Imageworks
  4. Martin Luther King Jr , Coretta Scott King and Abernathy family: Matt Herron courtesy of Take Stock/The Imageworks
  5. Cesar Chavez Grape Strike NFWA: George Ballis – courtesy of Take Stock/The Imageworks
  6. Dolores HuertaGeorge Ballis – courtesy of Take Stock / The Imageworks
  7. Lesbian, Gay and Bi Rights March in Washington DC 1993: Constantine Manos – courtesy of Magnum Photos
  8. Gay rights demonstration at the DNC 1976: Warren Leffler via Library of Congress
  9. Harvey Milk: Danny Nicoletta
  10. Nina Simone: Dutch National Archives
  1. John Trudell: Nels Israelson (courtesy of John Trudell Archives)
  2. Woody Guthrie: courtesy of Woody Guthrie Publications
  3. Pete Seeger and Joan Baez: Claire Smith

Quote: Chief Joseph

  1. Orlando Vigil-Brian Feinzimer
  2. Keystone XL Protest: Joe Brusky via Flickr CC
  3. Hamilton High students: Lisa Law
  4. One Billion Rising March in Santa Fe: Seth Roffman
  5. A Future to Believe In: Dan Potter
  6. People’s Climate March 2014: Stephen Melkisethian via Flickr CC
  7. Trump Protest in Los Angeles: Ken Shin via Flickr CC
  8. Statue of Liberty: Lisa Law
  9. Occupy Wall St 2011: Zach D Roberts via Flickr CC
  10. Black & Brown Lives Matter: Joe Brusky via Flickr CC
  11. MLK The Great Freedom March to Montgomery: Bruce Davidson – courtesy of Magnum Photos

Quote: James Baldwin

  1. Standing Rock tipi: Dan Potter
  2. Standing Rock water cannons: Avery Leigh White
  3. Standing Rock water cannons frontlines: Avery Leigh White
  4. Standing Rock water protector: Avery Leigh White
  5. Standing Rock frontline medics: Avery Leigh White
  6. Standing Rock water protestor in gas mask: Avery Leigh White
  7. Veterans March in blizzard at Standing Rock: Avery Leigh White
  8. Veterans for Standing Rock handshake: Larry Towell – courtesy of Magnum Photos
  9. Anti-Trump Rally Costa Mesa: Brian Feinzimer
  10. Trump Protest LA 1: Brian Feinzimer
  11. Trump Protest LA 2: Brian Feinzimer
  12. Women’s March on Washington: Mobilus in Mobili via Flickr CC
  13. You are Beautiful: Brian Feinzimer
  14. Black Lives Matter: Alisdare Hickson via Flickr CC
  15. Refugees Welcome: Geoff Livingston via Flickr CC
  16. We Must Rise Together: Brian Feinzimer

Quote: Ida Wells

The Movement Resisting Donald Trump Has A Name: The (Local) Democratic Party

While outside groups are getting the attention, local Democratic parties nationwide are seeing a surge of interest.

By Ryan Grim , Amanda Terkel
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/democratic-party-trump_us_58ac7f3ce4b0c4d5105717e0

The resistance to President Donald Trump has taken a variety of forms, all of them well chronicled by the media. The Women’s March, which saw some 5 million people take to the streets in a single day, helped fuel the growth of Indivisible chapters around the country, and has itself continued organizing meetings and protests since. The groups Swing Left, Flippable and The Sister District Project are routing people to swing districts where they can be most effective.

[intense_alert block=”1″ margin_bottom=”25″]Democrats have already won two special elections in Virginia since November, and the state House and governor’s mansion will be up for grabs this fall.  If Democrats can ride a new wave into power, the gerrymandering of 2010 can be rolled back.  Local officials say they’re focused on creating a positive vision and a constant stream of activities to keep these new activists engaged.[/intense_alert]

Amid it all, observers and participants alike have wondered what the name is for this nascent movement. The Resistance? The Opposition?

But if the swelling ranks of county-level meetings are an indication of things to come, the grassroots movement underway already has a name. It’s called the Democratic Party.

Shocked by the outcome of the election and fearful for the future of the country, people of all ages, some of them Democrats, some independents, some Greens, found the time and location of a local party meeting and showed up.

Here are a few of their stories.

Virginia: a rights battleground

A Republican-dominated general assembly is churning out laws that target the state’s new minorities

Virginia: a rights battleground

VIRGINIA prides itself on being a birthplace of enduring democratic traditions. It was here that America made its first foray into representative government: in 1619, the House of Burgesses was created to govern the Virginia colony in partnership with a governor appointed by the British crown.

A Republican-dominated General Assembly is churning out legislation targeting the new minorities: Asian and Hispanic immigrants and LGBT Virginians, all of whom have a growing presence in the vote-rich metropolitan areas that favour Democrats. Such legislation—and the pointed debate it engenders—sharply contrasts with the image of Virginia as a forward-thinking, Upper South state that began to emerge in 1989 with the victory of L. Douglas Wilder as the nation’s first African American governor.

And though Virginia is a suburban-dominated state in which the majority of residents are non-natives with increasingly moderate views that favour Democrats, hyper-partisan gerrymandering has allowed Republicans, for most of the past 15 years, to maintain a firm grip on the legislature.

[intense_blockquote color=”primary” border_color=”primary” border_radius=”0px”]
The next governor, in 2021, will accept or reject new legislative boundaries based on the previous year’s census. Population growth and accelerating diversity favour the Democrats, but those trends can be blunted with gerrymandering. A map that favours the Republicans is almost certain to be put in place if there is a Republican governor to sign it.[/intense_blockquote]

That allows Republicans to focus on ideas that matter most to their narrowing, conservative and largely rural base. They do not appear to mind that this projects, to an audience beyond Virginia, a discomfiting picture of America’s 12th-largest state.

Republicans are also pushing a requirement that residents registering to vote must produce a birth certificate. Likely to be vetoed by Terry McAuliffe, the departing Democratic governor, the bill would be the latest obstacle to voting pressed by Republicans in what Democrats say is a continuing effort to suppress turnout of their most reliable voters: seniors, students, minorities, and foreign-born newcomers.

The debate over these issues is a preliminary proxy battle over higher stakes. In November, Virginia will choose a new governor. The election is likely to be viewed as early referendum on the Trump presidency. Republicans no longer control Virginia’s statewide offices, such as governor and United States senator. And they are desperate to win back the governorship, if only to perpetuate Republican legislative power into the 2030s.

Read the rest http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2017/02/fruits-gerrymandering

Federal judge in Virginia issues strong rebuke of Trump travel ban

A federal judge in Alexandria has issued a preliminary injunction against President Trump’s travel ban, dealing another blow to the White House attempt to bar residents of seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States.

The executive order, Judge Leonie M. Brinkema concluded, probably violates the First Amendment’s protections for freedom of religion.

[intense_alert]
“The ‘Muslim Ban’ was a centerpiece of the president’s campaign for months, and the press release calling for it was still available on his website as of the day this Memorandum Opinion is being entered,” Brinkema wrote.
[/intense_alert]
 
Brinkema’s order applies only to Virginia residents and students, or employees of Virginia schools. A nationwide freeze has been in place for several days, having been issued in Washington state and upheld by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.

Posted by Madison County Democratic Committee on Tuesday, February 14, 2017

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