Democracy Out Loud #415:This week
Dear friends,
This Wednesday, January 8 at noon, new NC Representatives and Senators will be sworn in at the NC General Assembly in Raleigh (16 West Jones St). We plan to be there to quietly observe so that they know we will be watching their votes and the general tone of the proceedings. Marci made a beautiful Facebook event about this; please share it with Facebook friends.
The galleries will likely open at 11:30 am, so we will meet on the third floor (take an elevator or go all the way up the red-carpeted staircase) at about that time and go inside.
The election and the redistricting by Republican leadership of the NCGA devastated Democratic representation and control in both the state and the US Congress. Please consult this link to find out exactly who is representing you (changed from last year for many of us) and put these people on speed dial. In the NCGA, get to know their legislative assistants and learn where their office is. What is the most important thing to you about their legislative agenda? Let them know that.
From Cliff, a summary in the News and Observer of what to watch for in the NCGA.
I’m not clever enough to remake the graphic above, but the truth is that it is even worse than this. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 might be more important dates, and segregation has not ended by any means. Private school vouchers, which will cost NC taxpayers $825 million dollars by 2032, fund what many of us call “segregation academies.” We can see the shadow of our history of slavery and segregation everywhere we look, as well as new attempts to revive and strengthen white supremacy.
Democracy Out Loud is in the process of curating our list of alternative news sources. Today, the anniversary of January 6, I suggest Joyce Vance, about what happened on this day 4 years ago, and Heather Cox Richardson, about the recent suicide bomber in Las Vegas and how his motives relate to MAGA rhetoric and decades of economic policy.
Robert Reich is also important to follow, and this post is especially valuable: “Trump will overplay his hand. Be ready when he does.”
(below, the cartoon censored by the Washington Post following the 15 million dollar payment payment by Disney/ABC to Trump. Ann Telnaes, the cartoonist, described why she quit, saying “We can’t function without a free press.”)
Our book club meeting has changed from January 8 to January 22 at 3 pm. Everyone is welcome to join: email Marci at DemocracyOutLoud@gmail.com for the zoom link.
This week in addition to connecting with our NC legislators, we continue to pay attention to Trump’s Cabinet nominees. Chop Wood, Carry Water contains an especially useful script for calling Senators. “In light of the recent terrorist attack in New Orleans and the rising threat of domestic terrorism in general, I want the Senator to vocally oppose the confirmations of Pete Hegseth for Secretary of Defense, Tulsi Gabbard for Director of National Intelligence, and Kash Patel to run the FBI. We need leaders in these positions who understand how to protect Americans, both here and abroad, and desire to do so. None of these nominees meets those qualifications. Hegseth has virtually no management experience and a checkered history, Patel is focussed on vengeance for Trump, and Gabbard is a Russian stooge. These people won’t protect us. They will, in fact, put us in danger. I expect the Senator to vote no.” Tillis: (202)224-6342 Budd: (202)224-3154
This Sunday January 12 from 3-5 pm at the Durham People’s Solidarity Hub, Jewish Voice for Peace, Southerners on New Ground (SONG), and Makom are co-sponsoring a conversation with movement elders to build a grounded understanding of the present and vision for a different future. These elders have decades of experience in movement work. Masks are required. You can watch the livestream at this link.
Everyone is invited to join us tomorrow and every Tuesday from 11:30 am to 12:30 pm (“doors open” at 11:15 am) for our weekly meeting on zoom. Everyone is also invited to our Thursday 7 Homecomings guided meditation every week at 10 am. If you need the link, write to Jewel at DemocracyOutLoud@gmail.com.
Thank you so much for reading this. We are all trying to figure out how to make our efforts strategic and effective going forward, and how to connect with news without getting gaslighted or overwhelmed. We are learning. We are growing. I am so grateful that none of us are alone, and grateful for our shared vision of freedom, a vision of “everybody in, nobody out.”
love, Karen
“For the Democratic Party to redefine itself as a force for change, and not just as the custodian of the status quo, it needs fundamental shifts in how it relates to working people in the U.S. There is time to do so before the midterms of 2026.
“Trump’s return to power certainly poses challenges to U.S. democracy. But he will make mistakes and overplay his hand — at home and abroad. America will survive the next four years if Democrats pick themselves up and start learning from the successes of opponents of autocracy across the globe.” - Robert Reich, Substack, January 1, 2025
