Let’s begin this week with Maxine Waters. And April Ryan. And all the other #blackwomenatwork who are standing up and speaking out about how women of color are treated in the workplace. And on top of that, Essence has declared this the year of the Black Woman Mayor.
Your weekly songspiration!
1. Your phone calls, letters, and attendance at town hall meetings changed history.
“Obamacare is the law of the land.”
Yassssssss. That’s right it is!
Phone calls to Congress numbered 50 to 1 against the bill—and helped convince moderate Republicans to withdraw their support. The GOP is a hot mess, and a Republican Congressman admitted, “I don’t know if we could pass a Mother’s Day resolution right now.”
Meanwhile, a handful of states—including red states—plan to expand Medicaid. (Yes, the Kansas governor did veto their state’s bill, but we think it’s a victory that the Republican-controlled state legislature passed it in the first place.) Plus, more than half of Americans now support single-payer, universal health care, and these two senators want to see it come true. ?
2. Today is the Trans Day of Visibility! People in Iowa, Texas, Tennessee, and other states held transgender rights rallies this week, and a poll showed that most Americans oppose anti-transgender “bathroom bills.”
In other LGBTQIA news, the Native American Osage Nation voted to recognize gay marriage, and the Associated Press changed their guidelines to allow the use of the singular “they” as a gender neutral pronoun.
3. Billion-dollar corporations will defy Trump on climate change. And if 2016 was any indication, so will India and China.
4. Akron, Ohio’s mayor signed new civil rights legislation into law.
5. The US women’s hockey team and teenagers at a Florida high school fought back against sexism this week—and they both won.
6. ICE released DREAMer Daniel Ramirez from a detention center, thanks in large part to United We Dream’s #HereToStay network.
7. Our neighbors to the north are planning to legalize marijuana by 2018.
8. Iceland introduced legislation requiring employers to prove they are paying men and women equally. They want to bridge the gap within five years.
9. The judicial branch is on fire this week:
? The people who produced fraudulent Planned Parenthood videos were charged with 15 felonies.
? NJ governor Chris Christie’s former aide was sentenced to two years in jail for his abuse of power in the Bridgegate scandal.
? A federal judge ruled that Aetna deceived the public on the reason it left Obamacare.
? Exxon was dealt a major blow by a Texas court.
? A Louisiana judge blocked a law that kept a refugee from marrying.
? ANOTHER judge ruled against the Muslim ban
? Tons of ordinary people are suing Trump:
“In any other country, when the president wants something, he gets it. The fact that a lowly judge somewhere can basically stop the most powerful man on Earth with a simple ruling is gratifying, and it shows what this country’s all about.”
10. Anti-corruption protests swept Russia, and Yemenis held enormous anti-war rallies. Here in the States, Trump protests have boosted art supply sales. (Thanks, Nancy!)
11. People in Los Angeles voted to tax themselves to help the homeless.
It’s all about the little things over here, so this week we’re signing off with the poem “Sorrow is Not My Name” by Ross Gay.
P.S. Samantha Bee, thank you for bringing attention to this victory from last year. ? ?
P.P.S. Build the wall? We’ll tear it down, just like these two did.
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