MUUSJN is working in coordination with the “Promote the Vote Coalition”, ACLU People Power and the ACLU of Michigan, Voters Not Politicians, the NAACP and other groups that are working to oppose voter suppression in Michigan. Anti-democracy legislators introduced 39 bills this spring and are expected to review and take action on these bills through the Senate Elections Committee each Wednesday up until they break for summer recess during June, 2021. Jessica Ayoub, Public Engagement Specialist with the Michigan ACLU is offering to send an action alert each Monday before these hearings. To get on her list, email Jessica at jayoub@aclumich.org For more information on MUUSJN efforts to promote the vote and oppose voter suppression, contact randyblock@yahoo.com. We’ve just begun to fight!
Thank you so much to everyone who took immediate action last week to voice your opposition to Senate Bill 287, which would bar local clerks from offering prepaid postage on absentee ballot envelopes. This morning, we learned that nearly 300 volunteers submitted cards in opposition to these bills, and over 200 volunteers called their legislators to voice their opposition! This impressive showing is a fantastic tool to show the legislature that voters are opposed to these suppression efforts! The Senate Election Committee held a hearing that lasted nearly two hours. The bills were not voted out of committee and onto the Senate floor. We do not yet know if and when this might happened. This week, we need volunteers to take action to oppose Senate Bills 273 and 286, which would restrict the use of ballot drop boxes.
Ballot drop boxes are commonly and effectively used across the country, and provide large numbers of Michigan voters with a safe, secure way to vote. Putting restrictions on the use of drop boxes will burden Michigan voters that have used drop boxes for years, especially in rural communities that don’t have updated infrastructure and face geographical barriers to voting.
To submit a card, email the Committee Clerk, Heather Dorbeck (hdorbeck@senate.michigan.gov) and cc the Committee Chair, Senator Ruth Johnson (senrjohnson@senate.michigan.gov) and Minority Vice Chair Senator Paul Wojno (senpwojno@senate.michigan.gov)
When you call, you will be prompted to enter you zip code and will then be routed to your Senator. Whether you reach a person or a voicemail, please let them know you’re a constituent and that you oppose Senate Bills 273 and 286 because putting restrictions on the use of ballot boxes will burden Michigan voters. Instead of putting up deliberate barriers, our elected officials should be working to ensure every Michigander has a voice in the future of our state.
Email your legislator using this LINK:
The May 12 deadline to shut down Enbridge’s 68-year-old pipeline is fast approaching, but we know Enbridge is going to fight it tooth and nail. We’re joining Michigan LCV and a panel of experts on May 4 to hear how we get this ticking time bomb out of our Great Lakes for good. There’s still time to register! Reserve your spot: https://michiganlcv.zoom.us/…/WN_2wld9MwDR8WM43bmx55bt
For the past 3 years Black Lives of UU (BLUU) has encouraged Unitarian Universalists across the country to participate in Black Mama’s Bailout. In Spring 2019, Michigan Liberation organized to free Black womxn, mothers and caregivers from cages in Michigan— jailed because of the immoral and unconstitutional practice of money bail and the industry that profits from it.
This year to deepen the work and connections in Michigan, MUUSJN is joining Michigan Liberation in this crucial work! Money bail (and the industry that profits from it) has long been instrumental in destroying our communities, so until we end the practice of caging our black women, mothers and caregivers— we will fight to free them and bring them home!
Don’t miss this important conversation on Thursday, May 6th at 7PM ET as women who’ve been directly impacted and failed by the criminal legal system share their stories and experiences… and learn how YOU can be a part of the movement to dismantle the oppressive system of cash bail. Washtenaw Assistant Prosecutor, Victoria Burton-Harris will be joining us as well to share about how they are ending cash bail in Washtenaw County!
There’s still time to register! Reserve your spot: https://bit.ly/TheCriminalizationofPoverty For more information, contact Jenny Teed, MUUSJN Special Projects Coordinator at jennifer.a.teed@gmail.com or call 313-247-3399.
On March 3rd, the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act was adopted by the U.S. House with a vote of 220 – 212. All six of Michigan’s Democrat (and no Republican) Representatives co-sponsored the bill. This police reform was propelled by the public killing of George Floyd, a 26 year old unarmed black man by a Minneapolis Police officer almost one year ago. The pattern of police misconduct toward people of color created the environment for the Black Lives Matter movement. Since 2015, an investigation by NPR has found 135 unarmed black men and women have been fatally shot by police nationwide. These killings have made it clear that reforms are urgently needed in how policing is done in our country. President Joe Biden has urged passage of this Act by the anniversary of George Floyd’s killing on May 25th.
The Prison Within|| Friday, April 23, 6:30-8:00 pm Are you curious about what Restorative Justice is? Do you wonder what a Restorative Justice program might look like in your community? In short, Restorative Justice is a powerful tool for reducing harm and increasing healing for those caught up in our criminal justice system, so is a key part of the pursuit for racial justice as well.
Please join the Restorative Justice Group of First Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Ann Arbor and Michigan UU Social Justice Network for a live panel discussion to hear from and interact with people who directly experienced a Restorative Justice Program while incarcerated for murder at San Quentin Prison. All are featured in a remarkable film, The Prison Within, produced and directed by Katherin Hervey, who will also be with us on April 23rd to discuss Restorative Justice.
We encourage you to watch this film in advance: https://theprisonwithin.org/. It is available on YouTube, iTunes, or possibly your public library through Hoopla.
Pre register here: https://forms.gle/vbfbRS7QxhYRWx4BAFor questions, please contact Mary Ann Hergenrother at UUAA at 203-247-4836 or mahergen@gmail.com.
We invite you to sign, as an individual or as an organization, a letter to Attorney General Dana Nessel. Please let Nomi Joyrich (nomijoyrich@gmail.com or 248-497-1226) know if you are willing to be a “featured signer.” If so, then send her your photo/name/title and/or your organizational logo. Feel free to pass this on to other people/groups who might be interested. It would be very helpful if you shared this message with your organization, your faith leaders and their social action committee.
Click for Sign On Letter: https://rocunited.org/michigan/time-to-care/organization/
Week of Action schedule and registration linksWeek of Action Resource Folder
(Week of Action schedule and registration links included)
Dear Paid Leave Ally,
Please sign your name or your organization onto the letter linked above to guarantee the right to earn paid sick time and a minimum wage increase for all Michigan workers. Attorney General Dana Nessel has the authority to right a wrong committed in 2018, which robbed Michigan workers of the ability to earn paid sick time immediately before a global pandemic.
Attempting to subvert the democratic process and prevent voters from approving PA-337 (MOFW) and PA-338 (MI Time To Care) in the 2018 general election, Michigan Republicans adopted these ballot measures into law before they could be approved by voters. Wildly popular, these bills were polling at 70% voter approval.
Republicans adopted these laws and then proceeded to gut them during their lame duck session. Under Article 2, Section 9 of the Michigan Constitution, the legislature may not adopt and amend ballot measures in the same legislative cycle. Their actions were an assault on workers and an attack on democracy. The blatant voter suppression being experienced in Georgia is nothing new to Michigan.
Michigan families and workers deserve paid sick leave and a minimum wage increase to at least $12/hr. Over 4 million new people entered poverty over the last year and over 95% of all U.S. counties can’t afford a one-bedroom rental on minimum wage.
Justice delayed is justice denied, and Attorney General Dana Nessel holds the power to deliver it for Michigan workers and mamas. Please join us in calling on Attorney General Nessel to take action.
In Solidarity,The MI Time To Care Coalition
The United Nations says Yemen is the site of world’s greatest humanitarian crisis: 5 million of 28 million Yemenis and 400,000 Yemeni children are in danger of starving. We must act now! One Yemeni child is starving to death every 75 seconds. Our country is contributing to this massive human tragedy by giving military aid to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Click HERE for a recent news article describing this humanitarian crisis and appeals from four U.N. organizations.
Yemen has been the site of a deadly civil war between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and Houthi rebels. By giving shipments of arms to these countries, the U.S. has blood on its hands. President Biden can demand that Saudi Arabia lift the blockade on the port of Hodeidah so that petroleum can become available to transport food and supplies to the rest of the country. About 30,000 Yemenis live in Michigan.
BACKGROUND: This Wednesday, March 24th, the Michigan GOP introduced a package of 39 bills that constitute an assault on democracy. These bills suppress the vote and make it harder to cast a ballot. It’s part of a national effort to suppress the vote based on “the big lie” that the 2020 Presidential election was “stolen”.
Coined as “protecting election integrity,” these bills aim to make it harder to vote. Michigan Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey has expressed support for this legislations. Republicans state that these bills “will ensure election integrity and restore trust in the election system.” Democrats claim that the bills “attempt to silence voters.” Click HERE for more information.
Among other things, these bills would eliminate drop boxes, require all absentee ballots to be delivered directly to clerks, and make it more difficult for a voter to have someone deliver their ballot for them. For a full list of the bills, click HERE and scroll down to Senate Bills 273-311. In the meantime, Secretary of State, Jocelyn Benson is working to advance legislation to increase access to voting. Benson’s Advance the Vote agenda can be found HERE.
The Michigan Association of Municipal Clerks, the Michigan League of Women Voters, the Promote the Vote Coalition and Secretary Benson have all denounced the 39-bill package. Benson states: “Many of the bills in this package will make it harder for citizens to vote. Rather than introducing bills based on disproven lies and copied from other states, lawmakers should be codifying what worked in 2020. Michigan voters demonstrated they want our elections to be accessible in 2018 when they enshrined new voting rights in our state constitution, and again in 2020 when millions exercised those new rights. Everything we do should be based on protecting the right to vote, and too many of these bills would do the opposite.”
It is tempting to not worry about these efforts and to feel safe thinking that Governor Whitmer will simply veto any voter suppression bills. And this may be true. However, some say that conservatives are likely to respond to vetoes by activating a network of petition circulators to collect enough signatures to put these issues on the ballot. Then the Senate could adopt the legislation into law and bypass the need for the Governor’s signature. It’s important our Senators hear from us now.
The Michigan Economic Justice Fellowship program, for the first time, is open to people throughout Michigan who want to develop their skills at doing justice work. The deadline for applying for a Fellowship, sponsored by the Economic Justice Alliance of Michigan, is March 28, 2021. The Fellowship is now open to people statewide because the training classes are being offered on-line instead in a face to face setting in Detroit. People who complete the nine month Fellowship will receive $1,500.
The Fellowship includes 30 (three-hour) on-line professional trainings on how to do justice work.Training sessions (held mostly on Saturdays) start on April 17th and run through mid December. Click HERE to see a training schedule.
Fellows also get 40 hours of Practicum work experience through the Michigan Unitarian Universalist Social Justice Network (MUUSJN) or four other non-profit EJAM partner organizations, including: The Restaurant Opportunity Center, Detroit People’s Platform, Mothering Justice, The Ezekiel Project (Saginaw).
With MUUSJN, a statewide social justice network, Fellows can have choices about the focus of their practicum field work: racism, environmental justice, LGBTQ+ rights, women’s and economic justice. People of color, women, people from LGBTQ+ communities and Unitarian Universalists are strongly encouraged to apply. For more information about MUUSJN Fellowships, email Randy Block, MUUSJN Director, at randyblock@yahoo.com. For further information or to complete an on-line Fellowship application, go to: www.mieconomicjustice.org
The COVID pandemic — and the economic and health crisis it triggered — is devastating families across the country. On February 26th, the U.S. House adopted a $1.9 trillion COVID relief package called the “American Rescue Plan”. Click HERE for details from a recent article in the Detroit Free Press that spells out how the plan includes billions in relief for Michigan:
Recently, the Senate parliamentarian ruled that a raise in the minimum wage could not be included in the Senate COVID relief bill under Senate “reconciliation” rules that would allow the relief bill to be adopted with only 51 votes. Some workers’ advocates say that the Senate should overrule the parliamentarian or abolish the filibuster rule that requires Senators to get at least 60 votes to adopt legislation. The federal minimum wage hasn’t been increased since 2009 while corporate CEO’s wages have risen big time. Low income workers have struggled to barely sustain themselves on a minimum wage. Even though Democrats like Senator Joe Manchin and Senator Krysten Sinema (AZ) have indicated they oppose a $15 federal minimum wage, the majority of Americans support it. A Reuter/Ipsos poll released on February 25th, indicated that a majority of Americans (59%) support a raise in the minimum wage over five years.
Americans also support the American Rescue Plan by 68% according to an Quinnipiac poll from February 2021. It’s urgent that the Senate adopts the American Rescue Plan adopted before March 14th when COVID unemployment benefits run out.
On Thursday February 25, the U. S. House of Representatives adopted the Equality Act (H.R. 5) on a vote of 224-206, including three Republicans. However, passage in the Senate faces an uphill battle. The Senate needs 60 votes to overcome a filibuster. This is separate from other state legislative efforts to amend the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act to protect rights of people based on their sexual orientation or gender identify.
Take action this week by contacting your Senators by email or phone to support passage of The Equality Act. Senators Gary Peters and Debbie Stabenow supported the Equality Act last year. Thank them, in advance, for their support. Ask your family and friends in other states to contact their Senators as well. Just a few clicks will get it done.
For more information, contact Sharon Pedersen, MUUSJN Welcoming and LGBTQ+ Justice Organizer, sspedersen@sbcglobal.net, 517-740-2629
Thank you to OutCenter of Southwest Michigan, Inclusive Justice, and HRC for content information for this Action Alert.
On Thursday February 18, the Equality Act (H.R. 5) was introduced to provide enduring non-discrimination protections for LGBTQ+ people in all aspects of life, including housing, credit, education, federally funded programs, public spaces, and jury service. A vote is expected as early as this coming week! All of Michigan Democratic Representatives were co-sponsors of this bill.
Why do we need it? Despite improved federal laws, discrimination continues to be a problem for LGBTQ+ people across the country. Nearly two-thirds of LGBTQ+ Americans report having experienced discrimination in their everyday lives. In 27 states, LGBTQ+ people are at risk of being fired, refused housing, denied a home loan, or being turned away from a business because of who they are.
Michigan Unitarian Universalist Social Justice Network (MUUSJN) has joined countless faith-based organizations and many national, regional, and local LGBTQ+ centers across the nation to support passing the Equality Act. The nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute found that national support for the Equality Act is around 83%! This is the strongest level of support the bill has ever seen.
For more information, contact Sharon Pedersen, MUUSJN Welcoming and LGBTQ+ Justice Organizer, sspedersen@sbcglobal.net, 517-740-2629.
Thank you to OutCenter of Southwest Michigan, Inclusive Justice, and HRC for content information for this Action Alert.
