NYC Primaries (6/20/21)
Tuesday is primary day in NYC. We have spent months meeting the candidates, reading their policy plans, and debating their merits, and finally have arrived at the moment when the election is upon us. If you are a NYC resident and eligible to vote and did not vote early, please vote this Tuesday on Election Day. Spend the next two days text banking, making phone calls, canvassing on the street, and spreading our vast knowledge about the races to everyone you know. Do what you can to turn out the vote and then remember that we will not get final results of the ranked choice votes until sometime in July. No matter the results, be proud of the part we played in educating ourselves and others.
We commend the United States Congress for officially designating “Juneteenth” as a national holiday. We must, however, remember that in 1820 there were 1.5 million slaves and in 2020 there were 1.8 million people incarcerated. We must continue our work on racial justice and ending mass incarceration. As we continue our commitment and education in this area, please join us Wednesday evening at 7:30pm for our discussion of Caste by Isabel Wilkerson at our next meeting of our Obama Book Group (OBG). Details and RSVP below.
The Republicans are committed to blocking every Biden agenda item and are intending to make Biden a "one-half-term president". While the exhaustion from living for four years under the horror of the previous guy is real and the stress from enduring 15 months in a global pandemic still haunts us, we can pause, but cannot stop the work we are doing in anticipation of the 2022 midterms. Democracy hangs in the balance. Even as the country opens up and summer provides us with lots of social opportunities, please try to make time for your activism. Postcard by the pool or make it a beach activity. Join our postcarding Zooms as we now pivot away from NYC candidate visits and return to candidates and grassroots organizations from across the country. Also, please don't forget to join the Markers For Democracy 2021 Giving Circle. We have returned to Virginia to protect the slim majority in the House of Delegates. Early money matters. The laws passed in state legislatures are what affects people's day to day lives. Find your moments to re-activate your activism.