When I woke up on November 9th I realized I have a lot to learn. About my state, about my country, about the progressive movement.
Since then, when I’ve had a spare moment, I’ve been reading. A lot. Obsessively. News. Long articles. Books. History. Political Theory. Everything I could think of to help me understand what’s going on and what I can do.
This is true for many of us at TakeAction, including Arianna, our digital organizer. Once we connected about it we realized that this feeling is probably true for many, many others. So, in the spirit of experimentation and learning, we wanted share what our staff and members have been reading recently. Once a week. With you. Here it is.
1. Trump administration attempts to silence climate justice movement, rogue national park accounts emerge
A new Twitter account called “AltUSNatParkService” appeared Tuesday afternoon and began tweeting facts about climate change, support for the National Parks and comments in opposition of President Trump, a critic of climate change. We love it. Read more about it here.
2. An intro. to one of the President’s key policy thinkers.
As all of the White House hiring is being announced, this profile of Stephen Miller from June of 2016 seemed relevant again. Let’s get our policy caps. Read it here.
3. Wondering what it would mean to turn Medicaid into a “block grant”? (spoiler, it’s a terrible idea)
Check out this FAQ from the non-profit, non-partisan Kaiser Health News. Again, to be clear: we are strongly opposed to this idea for all of the reasons laid out by opponents and critics in this article.
4. We’re so impressed by our allies at CTUL. #superfans
They are constantly innovating their organizing in a way that speaks to workers’ intersecting identities, including immigration status. Read about their work and work around the country to protect the rights of immigrant workers, maintain sanctuary cities, and resist Trump’s anti-immigrant policies.
5. “The Tyranny of Politeness”
The title alone let’s you know this is an interesting read. Read it here.
6. We all WIN when workers have paid sick time
Including businesses and the larger community. Here’s more on what those health benefits look like.
7. Shameless Plug: We have great memes on our state’s history of resistance.
Don’t Believe us? Check them out! We plan to post a total of 100 memes to resist Trump’s first 100 Days in office AND to remind ourselves that our resistance fight has a legacy. #BelieveResist
That’s what we have for you this week. We’re excited to be sharing what we view as key reads every Friday, and we’d love to hear what you’ve been reading. Please shoot us back an email and let us know. Stay tuned for our next This Week in Action.
— Chris Conry and Arianna Genis
