Mass strikes require an organized majority, networks of solidarity and resources to weather repression. [View Email in Browser] ChooseDemocracy.us, Right now, a powerful coalition of organizers in Minnesota are gearing up for an economic blackout across the state: a one-day call for no work, no school, no shopping. If you’re in If you’re in Minnesota, please join the effort: ICEOutofMN.org. For the rest of us not in Minnesota, Stand With Minnesota has compiled a vetted list of organizations and mutual aid efforts for us to support. Locals are also urging us to pressure big corporations, like Target who is headquartered… Read full email…

I wrote about What do the Insurrection Act is invoked nine months ago. [View Email in Browser] ChooseDemocracy.us, “Law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress.” — Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Letter from Birmingham Jail, 1963 In recent days, Trump has threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act, while senior officials have made known that military preparations are underway involving Alaska’s 11th Airborne Division. Almost 9 months ago I wrote an article on the Insurrection Act… Read full email…

This update was written for Boycott Central, mobilizing folks to joining strategic, impactful boycott campaigns standing up to MAGA-aligned corporations and defend democracy. Last week saw three successful corporate campaigns against ICE. The news was largely overshadowed by the horrific killing of Renee Good. (Daniel Hunter published this piece at Waging Nonviolence on movement responses to her murder.) A recent article in The Nation, “Want to Stop ICE? Go After Its Corporate Collaborators” — helpfully lays out some of the biggest ICE enablers. In it they describe the goal, “Anti-authoritarian scholars and organizers stress that the most important thing for… Read full email…

I was leading the afternoon session in a room of Black clergy. I had been planning to announce happier news that our boycott pressure Avelo forced them out of the deportation business. (Since writing this piece, Spotify has announced it, too, has buckled to the boycott and is no longer showing ICE ads.) But the breaking news overshadowed it. I told them that an ICE observer in Minneapolis had been shot. They gasped. Somehow, the gasp was the first moment I realized we’re collectively holding a traumatic story. I didn’t have many details. I did not yet know her name:… Read full email…

Happy New Year. And it’s clearly going to be quite the ride. I drafted a New Year’s message that started, “Trump is the weakest he has been since getting in office. Weak dictators are dangerous and will lash out as their friends co-sign atrocious norm-busting actions to appear strong and in charge. We’re likely to see escalated violence even as his support drains away.” We are seeing this with Trump’s kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. A President unilaterally ordering bombing in Venezuela and the forcible kidnapping of a sitting head of state is clearly illegal under both international law… Read full email…

I hope you will excuse an unusual Thanksgiving message, but it’s unusual times. It’s about my experience with secondary trauma from the last couple of months — so read this with whatever gentleness you need, and feel free to pause if anything hits too close to home. I noticed something strongly amiss when I went to my daughter’s friend’s birthday party. It was at a loud indoor gym with kids screaming with glee. The sound waves hit me and immediately I shrugged off the other parents and found a quiet corner. I wanted to be alone. And in my alone… Read full email…

We wanted to alert you to two active campaigns that have reached a fever pitch. In short, we’re asking you to join boycotts against Starbucks, Target, Amazon, Home Depot.The boycotts are being organized through two national campaigns: the ‘We Ain’t Buying It‘ economic boycott of companies aligning with Trump’s regime, and ‘No Contract, No Coffee‘, the national Starbucks workers strikes. We Ain’t Buying It Starting on Thanksgiving, through Cyber Monday (Nov 27–Dec 1), organizers across the country are saying loud and clear: We Ain’t Buying It. We’re refusing to shop at Target for caving to attacks on DEI, Amazon for… Read full email…