Indivisible SB Oct 15 newsletter: Time is Running Out and The Pressure is On!

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

1. Defend Our Right to Protest

The National Park Service has submitted a proposal that would close 80% of the White House sidewalk, put new limits on spontaneous demonstrations, and open the door to charging fees for protesting. Comment by Monday, October 15 by 9 pm to protest this serious threat to our First Amendment rights. (If you’ve attended a protest in Washington, DC or have organized protests before, talk about your experience and how the right to protest is important to you.)

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Sample Written Script: The National Park Service’s proposed regulations restricting peaceful demonstration near the White House and the National Mall is an attempt to limit our freedom of speech and right to free assembly. Requiring demonstrators to “pay” for the right to protest by imposing fees for putting up barricades or covering the costs of “monitoring” the protest will make a large scale protest (such as the March on Washington where Martin Luther King delivered his iconic “I have a dream” speech or, more recently, the Women’s March) prohibitively expensive. Moreover, I strongly object to the NPS changing the permitting process to eliminate the rule that a protest is deemed granted if not denied in 24 hours. This change will make it nearly impossible to organize spontaneous, large-scale protests in a timely way. These proposed new rules will have an adverse impact on my right to protest and are an unconstitutional attempt to silence my freedom of speech.

IMMIGRATION

2. Protest Inhumane Conditions at Privately Run ICE Facility in San Bernardino

Federal inspectors found multiple nooses fashioned from bedsheets at the Adelanto Detention Center in San Bernardino during a surprise visit following the fatal, self-inflicted hanging of an immigration detainee and several attempted suicides by prisoners. Discovery of the nooses was one of many serious deficiencies at Adelanto, which is owned and operated by Florida-based GEO Group Inc. and houses 1,659 Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees and has 307 contract guards. Nationwide, self-inflicted strangulation accounted for four of every 20 ICE detainee deaths reported from October 2016 to July 2018, according to investigators.

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Sample Script: I’m calling [Senator Harris/Feinstein ; Rep Carbajal] from [zip code] to protest the inhumane conditions at Adelanto Detention Center in San Bernardino. I am demanding that Congress conduct an in-depth investigation into the GEO Group’s management of immigration detention facilities, taking into account all deaths at their facilities. I am also urging that you draft and pass legislation prohibiting ICE from contracting with private prison companies.