6/24/20 newsletter

Dear Greylock Together,

Justice doesn’t begin next year, after the election.  Justice doesn’t begin next month, or next week, or tomorrow.  We must start pursuing justice today — and every day.  What’s your cause?

• #MorseForce  (contact Ed S to help elect a progressive to replace Rep. Richie Neal)
• #TeamGideon (contact Maddy A to help replace Maine’s Susan Collins with a decent person)
• #I’mStickingwithMarkey  (join their FB to help keep our Sen. Ed Markey)
• #VoteForward (letter writing) (Jeanne&BernadineLeanMeanDreamTeam to help flip the Senate)

And all of us are working on #BLM!

Williamstown Select Board Meeting.  Thank you to everyone who showed up at the meeting, and thank you to those amazing and impassioned folks who spoke up.  There’s a video here if you want to get caught up on what happened — and if you’re a Williamstown resident, I highly recommend it.  9:53 is when the racial equity discussion starts. Abby is at 31:29. Jess at 34:25. Randy at 41:20. Tashi at 52:48. Me at 58:44. Annie at 1:04:01. Wendy at 1:08:03. Gail at 1:13:42. Bilal at 1:18:31. Peggy at 1:24:57. Sam at 1:29:55. Arlene at 1:31:46. Twink at 1:34:59. And Grace at 1:41:00.  I particularly want to point you to Tashi, Bilal, and Twink’s amazing contributions.  Oh, and three years after we started asking, Williamstown Select Board and everyone took the NIOC pledge.  Check it out.

Welcome to New Members.  Welcome to our new members.  We’ve gotten a surge of new activists in the last month, both here and in our Facebook group.  Please take a moment to share this newsletter or a Facebook invite to anyone local you think might appreciate a chance to make a lasting difference in their community.

Black Lives Matter Signs.  Now at 560 sold, but these are still available! And an update this week: Elinor Goodwin at The Print Shop Williamstown is now selling these right on Spring Street for easy access!  Julia Bowen, Janine Hetherington, Liza Barrett and Janie Strachan continue to sell as well. Signs are $10 each with $2 going to  NAACP – Berkshire Country.  Contact lizabarrett6@gmail.com to order. They come with stakes for those who need them. People can Venmo @jeanette-strachan or pay cash at pickup/delivery.

Williamstown BLM Weekly Vigil.  The vigil will be Friday at 5:00 pm at Field Park, as usual.

At 5:10 pm, a speaker will give a short reading on dismantling systemic racism from the center of the green. At 5:15 pm, we will join in respectful silence for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, in honor of George Floyd and the countless other Black people killed by police brutality and other forms of white supremacist violence.

RSVP on Facebook or just come by.  Bring your masks and keep your distance.

Blood Drive.  There will be a blood drive at the Williamstown Historical Museum, Tuesday, June 30 from 9am – 2:30pm:  All donations made via Berkshire Health Systems help local patients, and for those dealing with cancer, other illnesses, and emergencies, the need is great.  Donors are requested to be healthy without any symptoms of cough, cold, or fever.  Please eat a well-balanced meal and plenty of water before arriving to donate.  Please schedule an appointment, which helps prevent long wait times and assists BHS to plan for this event.  To sign up, please contact (413) 447-2597 x 2 or camuso@bhs1.org.

Election/Polling.

• Booker probably lost to McGrath in the Kentucky primary, unless the late ballots get weird, which is too bad because McGrath is an amazing fundraiser but an unbelievably poor candidate.  Ah, well.
• Bowman beat Engel in the Bronx, though!  A Black progressive took on a complacent committee chairperson and won.  Look out, establishment!
• At this point, it’s safe to say that the significant lead in polling for Biden over Trump is real, with the very good NYT/Sienna poll confirming an advantage of something like nine points (according to the now-live 538 polling average).  Remember two things, though: there’s still four months before the election, so there’s a lot of time for that to tighten up, and Trump will probably have a two or three point advantage in the Electoral College.  Let’s win this thing by so much that we flip the Senate, too, and make Trumpism look like the loser that it is!

COVID-19 Update.  Massachusetts has the lowest transmission rates in the country, probably through a combination of moderately competent leadership (setting aside the Commons debacle). a generally liberal bent that encourages folks to wear their masks, and warming weather.  Great job — keep wearing your masks!

Not Even Half a Loaf.  Senate Dems are going to block Sen. Scott’s police reform bill, since it won’t be open to filibuster-free amendment on the floor.  This means that there’s only a small chance of any police reform passing, since the House bill will die in the Senate without a vote.  This is maybe a good thing, but it represents a pretty aggressive bet by Democrats, since it signals that they think they’re likely to get a better deal after the election.  But we saw this dance on immigration reform, and nothing ever happened.  Cross your fingers and work like hell.

Meeting Dates.  I know I got the dates wrong on the last newsletter for general meetings.  They are July 12th and August 9th.  Sorry about that!

This week’s HOW TO BE AN ANTIRACIST RESOURCES from Jess:

READ

• How Do We Change America? The quest to transform this country cannot be limited to challenging its brutal police. By Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor
• The Conversation We Must Have With Our Children – Courtney Martin
• So You Want to Talk About Race? – Ijeoma Oluo
• The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America, Richard Rothstein

LISTEN

• Why Now, White People? CodeSwitch Podcast, 6/16/20
• Black History Boot Camp – A 21-Day Walking Meditation…for daily resistance, starting with Audre Lorde

WATCH

• Get Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable – Luvvie Ajayi, Ted Talk, 2017
• TNQ Show – The Next Question… Imagine How Expansive Racial Justice Can Be. The TNQ Show engages leading voices on critical topics of racial justice in America. Created by best-selling author Austin Channing Brown, Season 1 is now available featuring Nikole Hannah Jones, Andre Henry, Brené Brown, and more.  Here’s the Trailer!
• Watchmen -HBO series, first two episodes streaming free now!

GIVE

• Lots of impactful ways to give to the incredible Berkshire County Multicultural BRIDGE team! We are grateful for their work and continued partnership.

SHARE

• These Posters Can Help You Picture Alternatives to Policing – Fast Company, 6.9.20

LEADERS TO FOLLOW!!

• 86 ANGELIC TROUBLEMAKERS TO RESET AMERICA – a fresh and eclectic list of 86 “angelic troublemakers” who are helping to reset America and the world. This list includes musicians, authors, political figures, athletes, activists and scientists.

Check out more news from this week at Muckraker Farm.

Events (GCal,iCal)

Greylock Together Meeting
Zoom
July 12 @ 3:00 – 4:00 pm
Guest: Alex Carlisle

Greylock Together Meeting
Zoom
August 9 @ 3:00 – 4:00 pm