As Houston begins to recover from Tropical Storm Harvey, we want thank all those who rescued families, elderly men and women, and our furry friends from the floodwaters.
If you would like to donate towards the recovery effort, these organizations are a good place to start. And we agree with Naomi Klein: Now is the time to talk about climate justice.
Your weekly songspiration!
1. In Texas, federal judges temporarily blocked an anti-immigration law targeting sanctuary cities and a new anti-abortion law.
2. The alt-right continues to cancel rallies—this time in San Francisco. Counter-protesters showed up anyway, prepared with the most creative defense (), and held a dance party procession featuring a special guest. #TooLegitToQuitProtesting
Stephen Lam / Getty Images
3. Several white supremacists involved in far-right rallies were arrested, including a member of the KKK who shot at a black counter-protester; two of the men who assaulted Deandre Harris in a parking garage; and a notorious white supremacist who assaulted people in Berkeley. We’re grateful to Shaun King for his work identifying some of these men and calling for justice.
4. A coalition of students, faith groups, and other groups began their march from Charlottesville to DC to confront white supremacy, and counterprotesters outnumbered racists 70-to-1 at a rally to protect a Confederate monument in Knoxville, Tennessee.
5. Kamala Harris will co-sponsor Bernie Sander’s upcoming Medicare-for-All bill, becoming the latest Democrat to support this legislation.
6. One quarter of Trump’s cybersecurity advisors took a stand and resigned en masse. Then there’s Sebastian Gorka, who either resigned or was fired—we don’t really care, we’re just happy the guy is gone.
7. Illinois’ governor signed a law protecting immigrants from being detained by state police and limiting how much police can work with ICE. Thank you to the Campaign for a Welcoming Illinois and their supporters for all of their work making this possible!
8. The father whose ICE arrest was taped by his crying daughter Fatima has been reunited with his family and his deportation order was dismissed. His lawyer described Fatima’s decision to record and share the video:
“It was an act of resistance, and I’m hopeful that more people will do that. In a democracy, we need people to speak out when they see injustice.”
9. The Los Angeles City Council replaced Columbus Day with Indigenous People’s Day, joining a number of cities around the country who already took this step.
10. Peoples Platform advocates and Our Revolution members convinced a Massachusetts Congressman to support automatic voter registration.
11. The original creator of Pepe the Frog—before it was co-opted by the alt-right—sued a man for using Pepe’s image in an Islamophobic book and settled the case. The book will no longer be printed, and all existing proceeds will be donated to a Muslim-American advocacy group.
12. Thousands of people (and even some pups) marched in New York to support DACA. #heretostay #defendDACA
13. International improvements: Chile passed a landmark abortion bill and proposed a bill to legalize gay marriage, and thousands of people engaged in civil disobedience across Germany (for the third year in a row!) to fight for climate justice. #progress
14. A Democratic-backed candidate was elected to the school board in a hotly-contested Northern Virginia race.
15. Robert Mueller and Eric Schneiderman have joined forces to investigate Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, and his financial dealings.
As summer Fridays come to a close, we’re reading about the forgotten history of Labor Day and this network of activists and strangers who worked together to save a life.
P.S. From Rough Ruff to Potomac, Maryland 20854, we hope all of these become a reality.
P.P.S. Coach of the year. #morehammertime
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