Now that summer has unofficially arrived, we in Michigan have a comparatively short window of good weather in which to make personal contact with our neighbors and start to lay the groundwork for successful local campaigns this year and statewide campaigns next year.
The explosion of community-based organizing post-election has settled into a routine for many groups, both new and established. Unfortunately, there’s no lack of incentive for our engagement; fortunately, we are rising to the challenge in many different ways. Here I’d like to draw your attention to a few significant events and organizations that may pique your interest and offer you an (additional) opportunity to get involved locally.
After the jump, you’ll see the event notices and the organizational promos. They are Washtenaw-heavy, since that’s where I am and what I know best. If YOU have other notices you’d like to promote, please feel free to add them in the comments. I am not able to cover all of the possibilities myself. The more use we make of all our modes of communication, the better.
Please help us build this weekly Michigan thread so that it includes any information relevant to turning MI Blue again that you would like me to highlight. MI contributors are always welcome! You can reach me through kosmail at peregrine kate. Or say hi through email here: peregrinekate@gmail.com And please follow me on Twitter @peregrinekate
Please feel free to drop in on ANY State Open Thread!
Colorado: Sunday Mornings
Kansas: Monday Evenings
Michigan: Thursday Evenings
Missouri: Wednesday Evenings
North Carolina: Sundays, 1:00 PM Eastern
• An Activists’ Calendar of Resistance Events
• Indivisible’s list of Resistance Events & Groups
THIS WEEKEND IN WASHTENAW
Saturday June 3
11:00 AM — 1:00 PM Our Washtenaw County Dems have a busy Saturday coming up. The monthly General Membership meeting, to be held at the Learning Resource Center, 4135 Washtenaw, from 11:00 to 1:00, features a panel of community members speaking on the topic, “Muslims in the Age of Trump.” The room is likely to fill up, so come early and enjoy some social time beforehand while you’re securing your seat. See the WCDP website for more information on the panel.
9:00 AM- 8:00 PM All day Saturday, the local Dems will also have a booth at the African-American Downtown Festival in Ann Arbor (at Ann and Fourth Ave., 9AM to 8 PM. Of course, we’re not the main draw; that honor goes to the Festival artists, musicians, food vendors and other merchants, but you’re welcome to stop by to say hello. See this FB page for details.
June 2nd is National Gun Violence Awareness Day. To bring the message home, Wear Orange and other advocacy/awareness organizations including Everytown for Gun Safety are sponsoring “Wear Orange” rallies and marches at locations across the country through the weekend, to bring people together for the sake of reducing gun violence.
10:00-11:30 AM The Ann Arbor event will take place starting at 10:00 AM at Braun Court, across from the Kerrytown Market on Fourth St. Sponsors and speakers include Rep. Debbie Dingell (MI-12) and MI House Rep. Donna Lasinski (MI-52). (Yes, I plan to be at this event too, at the beginning. It’s a good day to wish for a clone.)
An email I received about the campaign included these facts:
On average, gun violence kills 93 Americans every single day, and hundreds more are injured. In an average month, 50 women are shot and killed by a current or former partner. The rate of gun suicide in America is eight times that of other high-income countries. Black men are fourteen times more likely than white men to be shot and killed.
Even if you and those dear to you have not been directly affected by gun violence, millions of Americans have. We suffer as a nation from it. The devastation is almost incalculable. Imagine how different we would feel, and how many lives would be saved, if we did not have this particular battle to fight over and over again.
The stakes in Michigan are particularly high right now, because our benighted GOP-dominated House is about to take up several bills that relax current limits on concealed weapons. From the Detroit Free Press via Eclectablog:
Current law requires people to get a concealed-pistol license from the state — at a cost of about $100 — and take eight hours of gun safety training.
The bills that received committee approval Tuesday, House Bills 4416 to 4419, would:
• Allow anyone to carry a concealed pistol without having to get a permit or training, except for people who are prohibited by state or federal law from possessing a firearm because of certain criminal convictions.
• Remove carrying a firearm — whether concealed or not — from laws that prohibit carrying dangerous weapons.
• Repeal a provision that allows security guards to only carry a concealed weapon when they’re on duty.
Eclectablog nails the absurdity of the proposed legislation, observing
So, instead of fixing the law to require all weapon carriers to get training and a permit, Republicans want to remove the requirements for everyone and make it easier than ever before to carry a gun, concealed or otherwise.
The package has now left committee and gone to the full House. It’s a good time to call your state representatives and senators, as well as the governor’s office, to express your opposition to this set of bills.
7:15-8:30 PM One more event of note for the day: a 7:15 PM screening at the Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor of a documentary, 12th and Claremount, about the 1967 Detroit uprising. The film draws upon oral histories, home movie footage, and other first-person accounts of the four days of chaos, trauma, and destruction that rocked the city fifty years ago next month. Information, including tickets, can be obtained via this link. It’s part of the Cinetopia Film Festival here, though other screenings throughout the summer are likely to be scheduled. (If you decide to attend, let me know. I’m not sure I have the stamina but I would like to see the film. It could make an excellent pretext for a Motor City Kossacks meetup.)
sunday, June 4
6:00-8:00 PM The Washtenaw County Democratic Party Black Caucus is sponsoring the third in a series of “Uncomfortable Conversations” about race, racism, and the impacts they have on our lives. The gathering will take place from 6:00 to 8:00 PM at the Learning Resource Center, 4135 Washtenaw. I attended the last such discussion and found it interesting, meaningful, and thought-provoking. I hope to make it to at least part of this one, too. For more information, consult the WCDP-Black Caucus FB page.
6:00-7:30 PM At that same time, alas, the kickoff event for the Poor People’s Campaign, 2017 edition, will be live streamed from Raleigh, North Carolina. The interactive watch party for “The Gathering: A Time For Reflection, Revival, & Resistance” — led by Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II and Jonathan Wilson-Hargrove — in Ann Arbor will be held at Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church (1400 W. Stadium several blocks west of 7th St.) from 6:00 to 7:00 PM.
Many of you reading here are already very familiar with the inspired leadership of Dr. Barber and the movement that he has helped to bring forth in North Carolina. If not, you might appreciate this sermon, delivered to mark the 50th anniversary of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s momentous address at Riverside Church, “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence.” It is long, but it is worth every minute.
Dr. Barber’s recent email explains the context for his new endeavor:
Dear Moral Movement family,
Last Monday [15 May 2017], I was in Raleigh, North Carolina, with our sisters and brothers who first came together as a fusion coalition 12 years and and launched "Moral Mondays" 4 years ago to resist extremism in our state. As we gathered to announce that I am stepping down from leadership of the NC NAACP to serve a new Poor People's Campaign that will share this movement with other states and with the nation, we got news from the Supreme Court that out victory against voter suppression--a four year legal battle--will stand.
For me, it was a confirmation: moral fusion organizing can transform mean-spirited divide-and-conquer politics into a Third Reconstruction for America.
I know it because of what I've seen here in North Carolina. But I also know it because of what I saw when we visited your communities during last year's Moral Revival tour. We don't have to start a Poor People's Campaign. It is already happening. Our calling is to connect the important work that's already happening in a moral fusion coalition that can coordinate moral action for a moral agenda.
In a few weeks we will be announcing dates and stops for a 2017/18 Poor People's Campaign tour. But beginning June 4th, we are launching a monthly program called "The Gathering: A Time for Reflection, Revival and Resistance."
The full schedule and goals for the campaign are yet to be revealed. But those of us who have seen Rev. Barber and the Fusion Movement in action are eager to see what we can all do to contribute to the success of the so-called Third Reconstruction, a movement to bring into fruition a society based on equality, respect, and mutuality. I urge anyone reading this announcement to see how you can participate in this and/or subsequent organizing events. The time is now, and we are the people to do it.