Shifting power to the people beyond Biden’s first 100 days
Today we are launching our latest federal policy agenda titled “Shifting Power to the People: A Rights-based Vision for Biden & the 117th Congress.” Building on our demands for the first 100-days, this policy agenda provides a roadmap to President Biden and congressional leaders through November 2022 for enacting bold, rights-based transformative policies that meet the urgent moment of today.
The overlapping crises facing our global community are the result of generations of political decisions. And while we must collectively uproot oppressive ideologies and institutions, President Biden and the 117th Congress have an obligation to make the political decisions that will mitigate harm, alter material conditions, and move us closer to the society we deserve.
With Shifting Power to the People, we join our movement partners and those struggling for a just and equitable world by offering necessary demands as an alternative to the “good enough” approach of progressive politics that leaves the most vulnerable members of our community without the public resources and support they deserve and need to thrive. In defining actionable, rights-based measures for the federal government, we are guided not by what is practical, but by what is necessary, just, life-giving, and liberatory.
We implore President Biden and congressional leaders to enact bold, rights-based transformative policies that meet the urgent moment of today. Read the document here.
Last week we held a dynamic conversation on Instagram live on the same subject, featuring our Executive Director Vince Warren, Advocacy Director Nadia Ben-Youssef, and Legislative Consultant Brad Parker.
Follow us on Instagram and click here to watch recorded conversation.
Judge allows challenge to anti-protest pipeline law to proceed
A federal judge Thursday allowed a challenge to an anti-protest pipeline law to proceed against a Louisiana district attorney and sheriff. Activists and a journalist who were arrested under the law sued, arguing that it violates the First Amendment and due process. Thursday’s ruling in White Hat v. Landry rejects a motion brought by the defendants urging that the case be dismissed.
“This law is nothing less than an effort to strong-arm water protectors, land owners, and concerned citizens into submission and silence us,” said Anne White Hat, lead plaintiff in the suit who was arrested and charged under the law. “It leaves the land and waterways, the pristine bayous, defenseless against the ongoing and increasing onslaught of environmental destruction by the triad of oil and gas industry leaders, Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association (LMOGA), and American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) that makes decisions that ultimately are not in the best interests of the water and our natural world, and certainly not in our best interests as citizens who rely on clean water for survival.”
Continue reading on our website.
Sign the petition & tell Biden to take action on Guantánamo
The U.S. military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba is an enduring international symbol of injustice and torture, and each day it remains open it continues to cause profound harm to our clients and the rest of the 40 men who remain imprisoned. The Biden administration has repeatedly signaled its commitment to close Guantánamo, but has so far failed to take any of the necessary steps towards fulfilling that goal.
Actions speak louder than words. Join thousands of people in demanding President Biden to close Guantánamo and end indefinite detention once and for all. Add your name to the petition on the Daily Kos website.
Solidarity for AAPI Heritage Month
We stand in solidarity and celebrate with Asian, Asian-American, and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities this month and every day. We honor and walk in your legacy of principled resistance and pursuit of justice.
We support our Asian and AAPI colleagues, social justice advocates, and allies who are fighting against racism, colonization, inhuman immigration policies, militarism, cisheteropatriarchy, and hatred. We stand with those demanding remedy and repair for historical injustice, and advancing equity through litigation, advocacy, and narrative shifting.
This Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, we recommit to dismantling the multiple oppressions that threaten the safety and undermine the freedoms and dreams of our Asian, Asian-American, and Pacific Islander communities. Until collective liberation.
Read more on our website.
