Democracy Out Loud #432: Courage
Like Ukrainians and indigenous and oppressed people all over the world, we are fighting ruthless opponents.
This Tuesday at 11:30 am our guest is Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove. He is an Assistant Director of the Yale Center for Public Theology and Public Policy; Rev. Dr. William J. Barber is its Founding Director. Jonathan works with Rev. Barber on weekly Moral Monday protests in Washington DC. Eloise will be MC this week. I’ll be on the zoom but may be distracted since Randa will be recovering from hip surgery. The Raging Grannies will sing.
Everyone is welcome. If you need the zoom link, email Jewel at DemocracyOutLoud@gmail.com and tell her just a bit about yourself.
Resisting the immoral (actually evil) budgets proposed by the White House, by Congressional Republicans, and by Republicans in North Carolina is one of the most important things we can do now. (See much more about the budget at the very end of this newsletter.) Check out “Why Should Another Child Go Hungry? The Moral Stakes of the Budget Debate” and Rev. Barber’s important short conversation with John Stewart about the book White Poverty at this link. He wrote this book with Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove and it is the subject of our book discussion on zoom in early June.
Many of us will hope to go to Washington DC on June 2. You can get more information at this link. We can all call our Representatives and Senators about this budget. It is easy using 5 calls. We may be tired of calling, but this pressure works.
Sen. Thom Tillis: D.C. (202) 224-6342 Raleigh (919) 856-4630 Charlotte (704) 509-9087 Sen. Ted Budd: D.C. 202-224-3154 Raleigh 984-349-5061 Wilmington 910-218-7600
We also have to do everything we can to resist ICE, which is operating as Trump’s secret police, abducting people off the street and forcing them into unmarked cars while sometimes wearing masks. This is going to require being very alert and ready to spring into action at a moment’s notice - check out this video of neighbors in Worcester, MA. We all have to be able to do this now. If you have not already done so, you can sign up with Siembre NC for an ICE watch training at this link.
You will also be aware of the arrest by ICE of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka in the context of a protest and the subsequent threat to members of Congress who were present. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez makes the point that “they can’t come for all of us” so ICE is now trying to intimidate us with illegal actions. We can’t let them.
Senator Chris Murphy recently spoke directly to US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem about her agency’s illegal, unconstitutional, and unfunded actions in a committee hearing.
Regarding Jefferson Griffin’s concession that Allison Riggs won her seat on the NC Supreme Court, and what we learned from this long fight, read this brilliant Gene Nichol piece sent by Cliff.
For protests planned for this week see the Engaged Durhamites 4 Action newsletter.
Coinciding with Trump’s proposed military parade, there will be No Kings Day mass protests all over the country on June 14. Save the date. If you don’t find one near you and decide to host one, Indivisible has developed a tool kit to support you.
Veterans and active service members are going to be increasingly important as the policies of the Administration play out. Cardinal and Pine is sponsoring “Voices for Veterans” at 5:30 pm on May 20 in Fayetteville, NC. You can get more information and sign up at this link.
This past Tuesday, we began our zoom by sharing the video of Marc Elias that was in Rev. Barber’s most recent newsletter. If you missed it, I hope you will watch and find courage and inspiration. The danger to our democracy that he articulates and fights for underpins everything else.
Thank you so much for reading this. Don’t worry if your attention to the news waxes and wanes or you find you can’t take all the actions you want to take. We just have to keep doing our inner and outer work the best we can, and keep connecting to ourselves and one another with compassion. One day at a time.
love, Karen
“For far too long, we have been divided by lies that tell us Black people are on one side of America’s story, white people on the other. And it goes on. Conservatives are on one side, progressives on the other. Poor people are on one side, the rest of us on the other. Red rural counties are on one side, liberal blue cities on the other. But this dichotomy isn’t true. We are not a nation divided by racial identity and political ideology. We are, instead, a people who have been pitted against one another by politicians and billionaires who depend on the poorest among us not being seen.” - White Poverty: How Exposing Myths About Race and Class Can Reconstruct American Democracy, by Reverend Dr. William J. Barber II with Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, 2024.
From The Feminist Majority:
The Budget Reconciliation Bill —an innocuous name for a cruel knife—is being framed as “all or nothing” legislation by the Republican-led Congress. It’s a vehicle designed to pass the entire Trump agenda without needing Democratic votes. It cannot be filibustered in the Senate, making it a high-stakes fast-moving process.
There’s not a moment to lose in calling your Member of Congress. House Speaker Mike Johnson has set Memorial Day (May 26) as the deadline to pass the bill out of the House.
Behind closed doors, behind fuzzy language made to dull our senses, men in suits are slicing the spine from Medicaid and SNAP (food assistance). Two programs holding up the trembling architecture of care in America. The outcome will affect women’s lives. Children’s futures. Dignity in old age.
Trump and the MAGA spin doctors say the aim of this bill is to impose fiscal discipline. But they lie.
Their goal is tax cuts. $2 trillion in yet more gifts for the super-wealthy and corporations. In exchange, they will rip the roof off the house and let the rain pour in on the rest of us.
It’s aimed at slashing funds for our mothers, grandmothers, aunts in nursing homes. Our children at the kitchen table, waiting for dinner or for their school lunch. Women’s bodies –pregnant, aging, ailing—needing medical care.
Here is what they won’t say out loud:
-> What Medicaid Really Is
Medicaid is not a luxury. It’s not some spare layer of government fluff. It’s the foundation of care for women and children in America.
Pregnant Women
Medicaid covers nearly half of all births in the U.S.
It provides prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum support, and access to midwives and OB/GYNs.
Without it, pregnancy becomes more dangerous. Complications become more fatal.
Children
Over 40 million children depend on Medicaid.
That’s vaccines, vision screenings, asthma care, dental visits.
That’s treatment for chronic illness. That’s the difference between health and harm.
Women
Medicaid funds mammograms, Pap smears, cancer screenings—the essential, preventative care that saves lives.
For women juggling caregiving and work, it’s often the only coverage they have.
And when the system fails them, it’s Medicaid that catches them.
Older Women
63% of nursing home residents rely on Medicaid.
Most are women. Women who raised children, paid taxes, worked until their backs bent. Most are alone. Women now called a burden. Most will not survive without it.
The average nursing home bill varies by state from: $3,000–$8,200/month.
Without Medicaid, that bill lands on the family or friends or the woman is kicked out of the nursing home.
-> What SNAP Really Is
SNAP isn’t charity. It is food survival. 42 million people—mostly women and their children—receive SNAP. It buys school breakfasts and lunches. Groceries for toddlers. It is the first and only line of defense between a family and hunger.
And what do Trump and the MAGA Republicans plan to do? Impose work requirements. Impose cuts disguised as “efficiencies.”
They will call it reform.
They will say it’s responsible.
They will never say it’s your kids or your neighborhood’s kids or hundreds of kids in your community who will go without school breakfasts and lunches – or dinner.
The Republicans are Using False and “Soothing” Language to Wage This War
But the damage will be real, and it is coming.
Once again, they are counting on women to bear the brunt and to clean up after them.
To give up jobs, delay retirements, drain savings. To absorb the cost of their cruelty in our bodies, our lives, our silences.
This time, we won’t bend. This time, we won’t go quietly.
TAKE ACTION NOW. Today!
They will not hear you in Washington. So call the local office of your Member of Congress – Republican and Democrat alike. They need to hear from you.
HOW TO CALL:
Enter your ZIP code
Click the email icon under your Rep’s photo
Locate the local office number
Call. Immediately.