While a North Carolina judge has blocked part of a law passed by GOP state legislators in North Carolina to limit the powers of the governor for new Governor Roy Cooper, the North Carolina Democratic Party still has a lot of battles to fight following a GOP power grab in the wake of the election. You can donate to them here. While you’re at it, donate to the North Carolina ACLU as well, which will be an important ally in these fights.
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Sign a Petition: Demilitarize Standing Rock
Add your name to the petition here. From the ACLU:
In below-freezing weather last night, law enforcement deployed tear gas, water cannons, percussion grenades, and rubber bullets against hundreds protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline.
News reports confirm more than 300 people have been injured.
Tell the DOJ to investigate and demilitarize police responses to nonviolent #NoDAPL water protectors.
Right now on a North Dakota prairie, nonviolent protesters are being confronted by police in riot gear with armored military vehicles, automatic rifles, sonic weapons, concussion grenades, attack dogs, pepper spray, and beanbag bullets.
This sovereign nation of the Standing Rock Sioux – one of many constantly threatened by environmental injustice – is fighting to keep its water safe and clean by means of an historic protest.
But law enforcement agencies are treating them like wartime enemies. Riot police raiding a protest camp even yanked indigenous people from prayer in sweat lodges.
North Dakota has received $3 million worth of military equipment from the federal government through the Defense Department’s 1033 program. On top of that, more than a half dozen states have sent equipment and officers to North Dakota.
The Department of Justice can help stop this militarized response to indigenous activists and their allies fighting for clean water. It oversees the various federal programs that may have supplied much of the equipment being used against protesters – and it can put those oversight measures to use.
Thousands from across the globe have joined in solidarity with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe to stop the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. The pipeline could destroy ancestral burial grounds and poison the water supply for an entire sovereign nation and millions of Americans downstream who rely on the Missouri River. This is worth standing up for – these brutal police tactics are not appropriate or just.
Tell the DOJ to investigate possible constitutional violations and suspend police use of federally supplied military equipment.
Reject the Russell Amendment
Some members of Congress are trying to use tax dollars to fund discrimination. They’re hijacking the National Defense Authorization Act to push sweeping discrimination that targets women, LGBT people, and religious minorities in the workplace.
This amendment would jeopardize existing non-discrimination policies that protect 28 million workers – one-fifth of the country’s workforce.
The Russell Amendment would allow religiously-affiliated organizations that receive federal grants and contracts – like hospitals and universities – to discriminate against a broad swath of our society. You could be fired for marrying your same-sex partner – or denied benefits afforded to other married couples. You could be fired for being a single woman and taking birth control. You could be fired for being transgender. Or you could be refused a job interview if you don’t practice the “right religion.”
The Russell Amendment was added to the NDAA late at night with no debate. They thought we wouldn’t notice, but they were wrong. We’re taking action to stop it in its tracks, working together with Planned Parenthood, NARAL, Lambda Legal, CREDO, and more.
You can add your signature here. This would also be a great thing to Contact Your Elected Officials over! Let them know that you don’t stand for legal discrimination.
How Can I Push Back? 