Because low income communities and communities of color have borne the brunt of environmental injustice for too long.

CAPA should cancel plans to produce the racist musical “Thoroughly Modern Millie.” There should be no place in our public schools for productions that devalue and debase any group of people. The musical is offensive. It features characters who are racist caricatures and in yellow-face, as well as a subplot focused on a "white slavery" ring kidnapping women for the sex trade in Asia. Administrators plan to edit the play, but this does not solve the problem. The racism of “Thoroughly Modern Millie” cannot be edited out. Cosmetic changes do not alter the play’s history. Modifying some elements of a racist production will not make the play acceptable. Producing a sanitized version of “Millie” is a way of sanctioning racism—saying that it is OK if we hide it. We are calling for CAPA to DROP PLANS TO PRODUCE MILLIE. CHOOSE ANOTHER PLAY.

The number of homeless and hungry in our country is outrageous and unconscionable. No one who works 40 hours a week should live in poverty. America is smarter than this.

Donald Trump wants to ban Muslims from traveling to the United States, including U.S. citizen Muslims outside the United States at the time of the restriction. He says he wants to "understand" the problem of radical Islam. Maybe first he should understand ordinary and peaceful non-radical Islam, which truly represents 99% of all Muslims throughout the world.

Providing Trump a national stage in the face of his latest rhetoric would make the GOP complicit in it. He now fits the classic definition of a "demagogue: a leader who makes use of popular prejudices and false claims and promises to gain power." His behavior reflects on us as a country, hurts our standing in the world, and negatively hinders our legitimate efforts against extremists. We must speak out against it.

Petition Targets: Kitchen Aid, Gucci, Nike, Starbucks, Dorya Furniture, Licensees of Trump's Brand (Real Estate) Donald Trump's brand is bigoted bullying. In recent months, his commentary has grown grown increasingly reckless and racist. For example: * Trump attacked Mexicans, calling them "murderers" and "rapists." * Trump endorsed and encouraged violence against Black Lives Matter as well as other anti-Trump demonstrators * Attacked female critics in the media by suggesting that they were having their period or by explicitly calling them ugly. * Said that he would seriously look into getting rid of all the Muslims in the United States. Several weeks after saying that, he put out an official policy that called for banning all Muslims from entering the United States. Trump's conduct has gotten so extreme that even mainstream and venerable news outlets have started comparing his conduct to fascism. Many of Trump's major business already cut ties with him. NBC and Macy's as well as many other companies that do business with Trump ended their relationship over the summer. It's a good start. But there's more work to do. This petition is targeting remaining Trump business associations: 1) Did you know that many of the Trump buildings are not actually owned by Trump? They're actually owned by other property companies and they pay Donald Trump to license his name and put it on the building. These companies should stop paying Trump to use his name and remove his name from their buildings. 2) Over the years, Donald Trump has bragged many times that Gucci and Nike placed their flagship stores in Trump buildings. He's very proud of these stores and these business deals. Donald Trump uses Gucci and Nike's brand recognition to legitimize his bigoted bullying. Gucci and Nike should no longer allow Trump to do this. They should reconsider their business deals with Donald Trump and begin exploring relocating their flagship stores. 3) Starbucks has coffee shops in Trump properties. Trump's brand is wildly inconsistent with Starbucks' brand. Not only that, but recently Trump actually called for a boycott of Starbucks, claiming that Starbucks was engaging in a war on Christmas. Starbucks should reconsider its business arrangements with Trump and pursue relocating those stores, 4) Kitchen Aid is the named sponsor of the PGA Senior Golf Championship. Donald Trump spent many years lobbying for a major golf tournament and was awarded the 2017 Kitchen Aid PGA Senior Golf Championship. Trump is very proud of this. Kitchen Aid should not allow Donald Trump's dangerous bigoted bullying to be rewarded. Accordingly, they should push to move the tournament to another location (as many less prestigious golf events have already done).

As part of the diplomatic process to end the Syrian civil war, Saudi Arabia is hosting a meeting of Syrian opposition groups that is supposed to select representatives to talks with the Syrian government on a transition government. The fact that such a meeting is taking place is a positive development. But the main Syrian Kurdish group that has been fighting alongside the U.S. against ISIS has been excluded from the Saudi-hosted meeting, apparently at the insistence of Turkey. [1] That's unacceptable. Not having all the parties at the table risks sabotaging the transition talks and could undermine the ceasefire that is supposed to happen once the transition talks start, by January 1. Urge President Obama and Congress to speak up for the inclusion of Syrian Kurds who have been fighting against ISIS in the transition talks by signing our petition. References: 1. https://www.yahoo.com/news/syrias-fractured-opposition-seeks-elusive-unity-against-assad-140242363.html

Maryland’s districts are comically gerrymandered. These maps are drawn behind closed doors, with no meaningful opportunity for public comment or review. As a result, they slice and dice counties, communities, and neighborhoods. Your legislators now need to hear from you that Maryland needs a change in how we draw our districts.

December 1, 2015 letter to the Co-Chairs of Roxbury Strategic Master Plan Oversight Committee (RSMPOC) from the Bartlett Project Review Committee Dear Co-Chairs, The Bartlett PRC is providing written notification that WE OPPOSE DEVELOPMENT PLANS TO ADD THE CONSERVATORY LAB CHARTER SCHOOL TO THE BARTLETT PROJECT. We have consistently rejected the proposal and communicated our opposition to the development team at public meetings, including RSMPOC meetings. The Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) convened a PRC meeting in May 2015 at the District B-3 police station (open public meeting). At that meeting, the PRC, Councilor Jackson, and other community members clearly conveyed opposition of the school proposal to the Bartlett development team and the BRA. We request the RSMPOC support our opposition and communicate this message to the development team and the BRA. Most members of the RSMPOC will recall the long toil and determination of our community commitment to set a vision for Bartlett over a multi-year period. We believed in the strategic planning process for Roxbury and have not wavered on the vision for Bartlett. We remain committed to the RFP requirements that set a foundation of economic development and wealth creation for the Bartlett parcel. We firmly believe the entire site should be anchored to economic drivers (homeownership and commerce opportunities) that will have an immediate and lasting impact on the community. We know that homeownership is central to individuals and families ability to amass wealth. We also believe that commercial and retail space encourage entrepreneurs to create businesses, attract existing businesses, and ultimately increase employment opportunities and wealth generation. The approved development plan also incorporated open space that will allow the economic energy to flourish in a proportionately populated neighborhood village landscape. While we have nothing against The CLCS, it simply does not fit the wealth creation design for Bartlett. Roxbury must increase economic drivers in the community and the Bartlett parcel is committed to that effort. Washington Commons and Heritage Commons are great examples of a community process that created economic opportunity and security for Roxbury residents. Both projects successfully created homeownership wealth and security within the Roxbury community. Bartlett will expand that model and make it possible for many more residents to build wealth within the community. Once again, the community is protecting a transparent and inclusive process that spoke loudly with a voice of community unity. We now face a development team which intends to renege, and disrespect the very people that trusted their sincerity and commitment to the Bartlett RFP process and the Roxbury community; a developer who has decided to disregard the public process and stakeholder voice to pursue their own agenda. We followed the process believing that our voices would not be squashed or diluted by the resources of a developer or the political might of a mayor or city agencies. We respectfully request that you stand with the Bartlett PRC and send a very clear message that DEVELOPERS CANNOT AND WILL NOT BE ALLOWED TO PUSH THEIR AGENDA ON THE ROXBURY COMMUNITY! We would be happy to attend a RSMPOC meeting to affirm this letter. Sincerely, Bartlett Project Review Committee Michael Miles - Co-Chair

This Friday, December 11, Donald Trump will be the keynote speaker for the Pennsylvania Republican Party. Tickets to the event cost from $1,000 to $10,000. In light of Trump's recent unconstitutional call to ban all Muslims from entering the United States, we are demanding that the PA GOP rescind their invitation to Trump. If they do not, it means that they support Trump and his outrageous positions.

The Republican party must dump Donald Trump as a candidate and stop promoting his hateful, dangerous words and actions. Trump's idea calling for the ban of all Muslims in the United States is one of the worst ideas to come out of any candidate to run for President of the United States. This type of irresponsible statement is wrong-headed, inconsistent with our American values, and endangers our security. We are not at war with Islam. We should work in partnership with Islamic nations and patriotic Americans from all religions to take on the terrorist group known as ISIS. We should embrace citizens of every religion and recognize the partnership that we are united in taking on terrorist forces.

The NRA’s stranglehold on Congress is unbelievable. Here’s how bad it is: The federal government maintains a watchlist of suspected terrorists. It’s the list we use to keep bad guys off planes. But this is crazy: The federal government can’t use the suspected terrorist watchlist in background checks for guns. You read that right – suspected terrorists are free and clear to buy guns in America, thanks to the NRA. Sign the Petition: Tell Congress to ban gun sales to people on the terrorism watch list!