37 weeks to Midterm Elections
If you only have 10 minutes, take our top three suggested actions:
- Action 1: Keep your state’s election administration nonpartisan.
- Action 2: Find out if your county’s elections could be affected by paper shortages.
- Action 5: Advocate for prison reform from the top down.
In this edition of the AoC Checklist:
- Senate action: What we’re contacting our senators about.
- Action 1: Keep your state’s election administration nonpartisan.
- Action 2: Find out if your county’s elections could be affected by paper shortages.
- Action 3: Encourage high school students to register and vote.
- Action 4: Support equitable higher education through strategic debt forgiveness.
- Action 5: Advocate for prison reform from the top down.
- Action 6: End unconstitutional border policies.
- Action 7: Advocate for protecting a corruption whistleblower.
- Acts of Gratitude
- Good News from around the nation
Contact your senators
Check the box if you made contact–for one issue or all–so we can count your action.
Join the 0 Americans of Conscience who have completed this action by checking the tally box!
Your script: Hi, I’m from [ZIP], asking [NAME] to support an efficient and accessible postal system by passing H.R. 3076 when it comes to the Senate floor. [Source: AoCC]
I value democracy
With respect and collaboration, we work to create a nation that welcomes all people, expands freedoms, and upholds the Constitution. Each citizen must be able to freely and fairly elect those who represent their values.
Action 1: Keep your state’s election administration nonpartisan.
Source: Voting Rights Lab
Join the 0 Americans of Conscience who have completed this action by checking the tally box!
If you live in AK, AZ, GA, IA, IN, SD, MI, MN, MO, NC, NH, PA, SC, TN, VA, WA, or WI: Contact your state legislators (look up).
- Find the pending bill(s) in your state in this legislation tracker.
- Urge your state legislators to vote NO on the bill(s).
Script: Hi, I’m a resident of [ZIP] and concerned that [BILL NUMBER(s) FROM TRACKER] attempt to subvert free and fair elections in [STATE] by increasing partisan power over the election process. Can I count on [NAME] to keep our election administration safe from partisan influence and vote NO on this legislation? Thank you.
If you live in any other state: Become an election protection volunteer (you can do this from home).
Action 2: Find out if your county’s elections could be affected by paper shortages.
Source: Americans of Conscience
Join the 0 Americans of Conscience who have completed this action by checking the tally box!
Contact: Your county or local election officials (look up).
Script: Hi, I’m a resident of [ZIP] concerned about supply chain issues affecting the availability of paper for voter registration forms, informational mailings, ballots, and envelopes. With primaries and midterms approaching, how prepared is your office to have all paper materials needed to run elections?
If prepared, express thanks.
If uncertain, encourage them to order and print materials early. Request they make a public announcement regarding their plans to resolve the voting-related paper supply issue.
Action 3: Encourage high school students to register and vote.
Source: The Civics Center
Join the 0 Americans of Conscience who have completed this action by checking the tally box!
Reach new voters by sharing The Civics Center’s voter registration tool with teens, schools, and school boards.
Fewer than 20% of high schoolers who will turn 18 by the 2022 Midterm elections are currently registered to vote. Research shows that providing young people with the specific information they need to register can increase their participation in elections.
I value equality
Support the dignity of your rainbow of neighbors from every religion, race, ethnicity, culture, gender, sexual orientation, economic status, age, and ability.
Action 4: Support equitable higher education through strategic debt forgiveness.
Source: MomsRising
Join the 0 Americans of Conscience who have completed this action by checking the tally box!
Contact: President Biden at (202) 456-1111 or via the White House contact form.
Script: I’m contacting you from [STATE] about our nation’s student debt crisis. Over 44 million Americans carry more than $1.7 trillion of student debt. The burden of debt falls heaviest on communities of color—particularly Black women due to the race-restricted accumulation of generational wealth in the U.S. I’m asking you to cancel $50,000 in student debt per borrower to help close this racial wealth gap and secure financial stability and economic mobility for millions.
Action 5: Advocate for prison reform from the top down.
Source: The Sentencing Project
Join the 0 Americans of Conscience who have completed this action by checking the tally box!
Contact: Attorney General Merrick Garland
Via this contact form or write The Honorable Merrick Garland, Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice, 950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20530.
Script: Hello, I’m contacting you from [STATE] asking you to commit to hiring a new Bureau of Prisons Director from outside the prison system and furthering the Bureau’s mission of rehabilitation. The federal prison population is 600% higher than it was in 1980, with costs absorbed by taxpayers. New leadership must increase compassionate release, improve conditions of confinement, ensure compliance with the First Step Act, and create a culture of transparency and accountability. Thank you.
Action 6: End unconstitutional border policies.
Source: Human Rights First, Witness at the Border
Join the 0 Americans of Conscience who have completed this action by checking the tally box!
Contact: President Biden at (202) 456-1111 or via the White House contact form.
Script: I’m a constituent from [STATE] who opposes the inhumane treatment of Haitian refugees. The U.S. continues to violate its own asylum law by denying due process to those turning to us for protection. I am joining community leaders, human rights organizations, and members of Congress in calling for an end to deportations and to Title 42.
Action 7: Advocate for protecting a corruption whistleblower.
Source: RAICES
Join the 0 Americans of Conscience who have completed this action by checking the tally box!
Jacob is a former police officer who fled his home country after government officials there threatened his life for speaking out against corruption. ICE is particularly hostile toward Black asylum seekers, separating Jacob from his family and detaining him without bail.
Sign: The RAICES petition urging ICE to release Jacob while his appeal moves forward in court.
Acts of Gratitude
Signatures to the forms below will be printed with a letter of thanks from Americans of Conscience, and mailed to the recipient 2 weeks after the Checklist publication date. Your information is not stored after that date.
Thank AZ state senators Rosanna Gabaldón (D), Sally Ann Gonzales (D), Tyler Pace (R), and Raquel Teran (D) for voting to uphold access to gender-affirming treatment for transgender and nonbinary minors.
If you’d like to mail your own personal expression of gratitude, use these addresses at 1700 W Washington St., Phoenix, AZ 85007
RG: Capitol Complex Room 303B
SAG: Capitol Complex Room 314
TP: Capitol Complex Room 303
RT: Capitol Complex Room 315
Good News
As Americans of Conscience, we celebrate!
Tribal
- The Rosebud Sioux Tribe’s recent treaty rights victory will not be appealed by the Biden administration.
- The Snoqualmie Tribe regains control of 12,000 acres of their ancestral forest land.
National
- Gray wolves regain federal protection as an endangered species.
- Senate passes legislation to make Amache (a former Japanese internment camp) part of the National Park System to ensure future generations can prevent history from repeating.
- House passes the America COMPETES Act with amendments that will expand visa and green card opportunities for STEM workers of diverse national origin.
- House passes the Global Respect Act, which will deny or remove visas from people from other nations who have been complicit in human rights abuses against LGBTQ+ people abroad.
- The White House announces new commitments to support safe pregnancies, childbirth, and postpartum care as part of the first-ever Maternal Health Day of Action.
- The White House and the Dept. of Labor form the Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment to better enable workers to organize and bargain with their employers.
- USDA establishes the Equity Commission and Subcommittee on Agriculture to provide recommendations on policies and programs needed to address equity issues in agriculture.
- Former CIA operative Jeffrey Wichman is appointed as the election threats executive at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, a critical role to counter foreign election interference.
- Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin orders the military to strengthen efforts to prevent civilian deaths and to improve their investigations into claims of civilian harm in U.S. combat operations.
- DOJ’s Antitrust Commission and the FTC rewrite corporate merger guidelines to prevent the monopolization of tech.
- FDA authorizes an additional antibody treatment to treat COVID-19 omicron variant infections.
- EPA announces stricter fuel economy standards for cars and trucks.
- USCIS updates their mission statement with more welcoming language.
- U.S. charges Belarusian officials with aircraft piracy for their actions taken in an attempt to arrest an opposition journalist.
- The Biden administration lifts visa sanctions on Laos.
- Individuals seeking refuge in the U.S. and those granted asylum can now renew their work permits every two years instead of every year.
- 41 people are free to live with their families after the McHenry and Kankakee ICE detention centers close due to canceled contracts.
- Many student loan borrowers in the federal Public Service Loan Forgiveness program finally have their debt forgiven.
- At least 14.5 million people are currently signed up for healthcare under the Affordable Care Act.
State
- MS legalizes cannabis for medical use, reducing future prison population.
- NC Supreme Court strikes down gerrymandered redistricting maps.
- ND: Court temporarily blocks a rule making medication abortions more difficult to access.
- NJ enacts legislation limiting the use of neonic pesticides harmful to pollinators and other wildlife.
Local
- 154 people experiencing homelessness in Boston, MA move out of tent encampments and into transitional housing.
- Providence, RI implements nonviolence initiatives using American Rescue Plan funding.
- Andrea Jenkins is elected president of the Mineapolis City Council, becoming the first openly transgender city council president in U.S. history.
- Over 100 high school students in Huntington, WV assert their 1st Amendment rights and stage a walkout in protest of a mandatory religious assembly.
- Newark, NJ replaces 23,000 lead service pipes, resulting in safer drinking water.
Corporate/business
- Author Cheryl Day honors the legacy of Black bakers during Black History Month by featuring their recipes on King Arthur’s website.
- An Adidas bra ad counters stigmas and promotes body positivity in a diverse photo of 25 people’s chests.
Groups and organizations
- Smithsonian Museum launches “The North Star,” a new webpage where students grades 6-12 and educators can explore African American history using the museum’s collection.
- Jorge Zamanillo is appointed to be the first director of the Smithsonian’s new National Museum of the American Latino.
- Tamara Rojo is appointed Artistic Director of the San Francisco Ballet, becoming the first woman to hold the position since the ballet’s founding in 1933.
- The Center on Budget sharespoems on Valentine’s Day to advocate for safe and affordable housing.
- The National Women’s Soccer League Players Association ratifies the league’s first collective bargaining agreement.
- The families of five adults and four children killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012 receive a $73 million settlement from Remington Arms.
News with heart
- Maus, Art Spiegelman’s Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel about the holocaust, reaches Amazon’s top 20 book sales after being banned by a TN school board.
- Comic book store owner Ryan Higgins ships free copies of Maus to anyone who asks within the McMinn County, TN school district.
- Brandon Jackson, in prison for 25 years despite his non-unanimous conviction being unconstitutional, leaves prison on parole to live in the community.
- Olympian Erin Jackson wins the gold medal in speed skating at the Beijing Games, becoming the first Black woman to win a gold medal in the event.
- Jeopardy! champion Amy Schneider, who won $1,382,800 in a 40-game winning streak, shares her gratitude for her trans forebears and contemporaries in an essay reflecting on her experience.
- 8th-grader Joslyn Diffenbaugh creates a book club for local teens to read and discuss books about race, gender, and sexuality in the face of increasing censorship.
- An Afghan family seeking refuge in the U.S. finds assistance from Eric Chirolla and his scout troop as well as Lutheran Services.
- Philadelphia Eagles player Anthony Harris escorts his 11-year-old fan Audrey Soape, who recently lost her father and grandfather, to her father-daughter dance.
- Dana Boone, an Orlando third-grader, creates a Periodic Table of Black History for Black History Month.
- More than half of the television shows nominated across three GLAAD Media Awards categories feature transgender or nonbinary characters.
- University of Alabama renames a campus building after Autherine Lucy Foster, the first Black student to attend the university, and removes the name of a former KKK leader.
- HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) are featured on an eight-episode CW show March, giving the world a glimpse into band culture.
- European court orders countries to respond to a lawsuit from young climate activists, upholding the progress of a landmark climate case that could hold governments accountable for unhelpful or dangerous environmental policies.
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Housekeeping
- Gratitude: Our team pitched in to cover unexpected illness and loss this week. Big thanks the whole team, and to Julia, Wendy, Jennifer, Sam, and Bethany for going the extra mile. Thanks also to our amazing patrons and donors who make this Checklist possible.
- Schedule: There’s a new Americans of Conscience Checklist every first and third Friday of each month.
Called Senators Boozman and Cotton here in AR
Fantastic! Thank you!