On June 27, eight officers fired more than 100 shots at Jayland Walker. Over 60 of them struck his body, and he was killed instantly. Currently, the Akron Police Department and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigations are examining this horrific incident. We know that Jayland was unarmed when he was killed—despite what police claim, and that his murder fits a pattern of racially-charged killings of Black people by police. Local organizers in Akron, including the Akron NAACP, are calling for an independent investigation led by the Department of Justice. Ohio elected officials must use their platforms to call for a DOJ investigation, as well.

This amendment bars the use of federal funds for abortion healthcare. This means that medicaid recipients, service members, and young people who are most dependant on federally-funded health services cannot access abortion services through their healthcare plan and are left to find the money and resources to seek out this procedure on their own. For many people, this is equivalent to an abortion ban. This amendment unfairly targets our most vulnerable citizens. Abortion healthcare and bodily autonomy should be a human right, not a luxury that only the privileged can afford. We believe all pregnant people deserve access to abortion healcare regardless of their financial status, and demand that this amendment be excluded from the next federal budget.

A Fourth of July neighborhood parade. Another young white man with a military-style semi-automatic assault rifle, who, this time, killed six people and injured 26 more, many of them children. Our scarred hearts are again aching for the victims, their families, and the Highland Park community. There’s no good reason for civilians to own high-capacity magazines and weapons designed for war, especially civilian young men who would barely be considered adults. In the United States, military-style semi-automatic assault weapons are used in the majority of mass shootings, and the majority of mass shooters obtain their deadly weapons legally due to our lax laws. Meanwhile, our overall epidemic of gun violence, of which high-profile mass shootings are only a small fraction, continues to rise. In 2020, the last year with complete data, gun deaths exceeded 45,000, representing a 14% increase from the year before, a 25% increase from five years earlier, and a 43% increase from a decade prior. Tell Congress we need comprehensive gun policy reform now, including a ban on military-style semi-automatic assault weapons and high capacity magazines, and raising the age of gun purchases to 25!

From their unelected perch, the 6-3 conservative majority on the Supreme Court handed down decisions designed to take away our personal freedoms and make our country less safe to live in. If we don’t do something to stop Mitch McConnell’s handpicked, right-wing extremists on the bench, they’ll continue to attack our rights until we no longer recognize the country we live in. To protect our fundamental freedoms, Congress must rebalance the Supreme Court by adding four seats. We can’t let Mitch McConnell or Donald Trump hide behind their hand-picked Supreme Court to enact their extreme agenda. Our rights are too important for that. Congress has changed the Court’s size seven times throughout American history. In order to protect our fundamental rights, it’s time to do it again. 58 members of the House of Representatives have already signed on to the Judiciary Act, a bill that would rebalance the Supreme Court by adding four new justices. Sign your name today to support expansion of the court.

Roughly 20 million people in the United States identify as LGBTQ+, nearly every American has a relative, classmate, or neighbor who identifies as LGBTQ+. All of these people are afforded the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness afforded to them in the constitution. Now, put that in the law!

This is important because the people of the United States cannot allow a currently undemocratic institution like the Supreme Court to make incredibly dangerous population-wide decisions which go against facts, logic, and the will of the people.

In leading efforts to undermine the peaceful transition of power after a free and fair election, he attacked the foundations of our democracy. Nearly 160 million Americans exercised their right to vote in the November 2020 election. Dozens of courts rejected unfounded claims of widespread voter fraud, and the Electoral College formally ratified President-elect Biden’s victory on December 14, 2020. Despite these clear expressions of the will of the people—and with full knowledge of the implications of their actions—John Eastman undermined the Constitution and our democracy. These actions prove John Eastman fundamentally unfit for membership in the legal profession. He has flagrantly violated some of the most elementary ethics rules governing the legal profession. The California Bar should undertake disbarment proceedings against John Eastman and send the message that the legal profession stands firmly in defense of our democratic institutions. They must do so whether or not John Eastman plans to assume the roles of advocate and counselor ever again, as a private or public lawyer. It is the least our profession can do to protect and defend our most cherished ideals and institutions.

On June 11th, 11 churches joined together to provide $25,000 in free gas in Prince George's County to provide direct aid to the community. Organizers were discouraged to learn that Sunoco Gas Station on Marlboro Pike increased the price per gallon by 10 cents during the event- and immediately lowered the price after. Currently, in Laurel, MD residents are receiving rent increases from $400.00 - $1600.00 as well as parking fees of varying amounts depending on rental seniority & Schweb Partners LLC based in Jackson, NJ claims this is market value for their units. Blatant exploitation and price gouging are unacceptable when our community is struggling to make ends meet, Maryland needs explicit anti-price gouging legislation to protect our citizens from industry greed.

On Saturday, June 11th, a group of Proud Boys verbally attacked attendees at a family-friendly LGBTQ Drag Story Hour that occurred at the San Lorenzo Library. Congressman Eric Swalwell has organized a meeting to discuss this issue and the harm caused to LGBTQ families. His colleague in Congress, Hon. Congressman Ro Khanna, has endorsed an Anti-Gay candidate for State Senate. Her name is Lily Mei and over 90% of the members of the Alameda County Democratic Party agree that her anti-gay past makes her ineligible from receiving the Democratic Party's Endorsement. We are asking that Congressman Swalwell do more than just hold a meeting. We are asking that he call his colleague in Congress to request the reconsideration of Lily Mei's endorsement.

This change lowers recidivism, decreases prison violence, reduces state spending, and increases public safety.

 With 2.9% of every company's earnings contributing to the SSA, I am urging the decision-makers to consider the welfare of such a diverse community of citizens who are so in need of a hope to hold on to. By making one small step for man, we can rest assured that addressing this issue head-on is the most important leap for mankind during this prevailing crisis. By increasing policies to aid the crisis itself, I believe that taking action will create a domino effect in which others will want to be apart of. It is not too late to make a difference, sign this petition to propel this initiative forward and enact change in our country today. 

Please sign and pass along this petition so that New Orleans can “be in that number” of cities and states engaged in reparatory justice actions to address the glaring racial disparities in personal well-being between Black and white children and adults in the United States.