“May we not just grieve but give 
May we not just ache but act….”

-Excerpt from a poem by Amanda Gorman, 5/28/2022 

Upcoming Events

Action Hour at a Cafe is Back!

Beginning Friday June 3 at 4pm, we will be meeting for Action Hour at NU Kitchen on 19-23 Pleasant Street. We are excited to resume our more social postcard writing gatherings and pick up where we left off when we had to stop meeting at the Commune Cafe. NU Kitchen is sunny and comfortable and they serve delicious coffees, teas, baked goods and more. It is a great atmosphere for writing, visiting, and having a snack. Come join us there every Friday at 4-5 pm. We’ll treat the group to some yummy sweets! 

After Action Hour on June 10, join us for Persistence Happy Hour next door at Loretta at 5:30-6:30.

 Knock on Doors in NH  

Join us and Swing Blue Alliance’s Win Blue NH team for canvassing in Exeter, NH on Sat, June 11 from 10-1. We’ll carpool, train newcomers in teams,while canvassing, and gather with fellow canvassers at the end of our shift for ice cream. Plan to join us to help reelect Senator Maggie Hassan and Representative Chris Pappas. 

Email indivisible.rise.newburyport@gmail.com if you’re interested in participating. We’ll make sure you are registered, have access to advanced training, and have guidance during canvassing if you are new to this activity.

 Rescheduled (Again!) Fundraiser Fun

Let’s try again, on the theory that the third time’s a charm! We have rescheduled our fundraiser party for Friday June 17th at 7pm. We’ll be outside in the backyard of a home in West Newbury, and we’re excited to finally get together again!

Your donation of $25 to attend the fundraiser will be used to help I-RISE working hard to make a difference in the upcoming midterm elections. We use these funds judiciously to pay for things like space rental, a Zoom subscription, and postcard stock. It also will be allocated toward donations to non-profit organizations dedicated to voter protection like Common Cause and the New Georgia Project. Indivisible National will match up to $500 in donations, a generous contribution that will go a long way.

Click here to RSVP. We look forward to seeing you!

If you already RSVP’d, you are all set! We’ll email you with the new address.

Don’t Miss this Documentary

Monthly Meeting, Tuesday, June 21, 2022

7-8:15 pm. Register here.

Suppressed and Sabotaged: The Fight To Vote (2022) by Robert Greenwald (Director of Outfoxed, Walmart: The High Cost of Low Price, and Making A Killing: Guns Greed and the NRA) is a powerful 44-minute documentary about the growing threat of voter suppression and election sabotage to our 2022 midterm elections. We have a unique opportunity through Common Cause to show this film at our June 21, 2022 meeting, and we hope you will join us.

In 2021, 19 states passed 34 new voter laws following the Big Lie of the 2020 election. The film focuses on this recent wave of voter suppression and subversion laws being enacted in states, and how the 2018 Georgia gubernatorial race between Stacey Abrams and Brian Kemp provides a blueprint for today’s voter suppression laws across the country. The film includes perspectives from voters in Arizona, Florida, Texas, and Georgia that highlight how these new laws will affect their constitutional right to vote. It is a call to action against the calculated, unconstitutional and racist attacks intended to suppress the right to vote in America.

We’ll follow the film with a brief discussion and a description of ways that we can help.   

Register to join us on Zoom and hear these informative reports.

Save the Date: Statewide “IndivisiGather”

Ezra Levin, Co-Executive Director of Indivisible, will be the  keynote speaker at the IMC Statewide IndivisiGather event in the Worcester area on June 26, from 12 - 4 PM! All Indivisibles, their families, including kids, friends and allies are invited!

Break out of the Zoom box and meet in person! Come socialize, get energized, inspired, and envision the future of possibilities of strong, civic engagement!

RSVP Y'ALL to reserve your place so we can all have fun, eat, share ideas, register voters and PARTY!

Critical Issues

Our primary focus has been on voter rights and increasing voter turnout in swing states. However, there are key issues front and center in headlines which demand attention and about which we want to share actions:  

Focus on Ending Gun Violence
 

Spring Into Action with Moms 

Moms Demand Action has prepared a one page document listing ways to get involved, whether you have 5 minutes or several hours to help. Ideas include signing up for their mailing list, attending a rally, making calls,utilizing a special skill, and more. Review the list and find what works for you here. 

Gun Violence Awareness Day and Wear Orange Weekend

Mayor Reardon Proclamation
Friday, June 3, 11:30 am

June 3 is Gun Violence Awareness Day and the kickoff to Wear Orange Weekend. We each can acknowledge this time with simple actions like wearing orange, hanging a sign in a window, reminding friends to do the same, and anything that lets the community know how you feel about the crisis of gun violence. Learn more here. 

Please also attend one or more events at which mayors will formally recognize Gun Violence Awareness Day and express support for victims and survivors of gun violence. Newburyport’s Mayor Reardon will make this proclamation at 11:30 on Friday, June 3 outside of City Hall. Please wear orange and join us there. Similar events are scheduled in Amesbury, Gloucester, Portsmouth, and more. Click here for details.  

Also that weekend, there will be a Vigil for Gun Violence Awareness in Market Square in Amesbury on June 4 at 10-11 am. This peaceful gathering is sponsored by the Amesbury Friends Peace Center and Moms Demand Action. Bring signs to show your support for common sense gun laws.

In case you were wondering, “why orange”, Moms’ website explains: "Orange is what hunters wear in the woods to protect themselves and others from harm. Orange is a bright, bold color that demands to be seen. Orange expresses our collective hope as a nation — a hope for a future free from gun violence." 

Join the Gunsense Action Network

 Participate at a March or Rally

March for Our Lives events are taking place throughout June, in recognition of Gun Violence Awareness Month. Locally, there are a few marches on Saturday, June 11th. Let’s send as many I-RISE representatives to join forces with Greater Haverhill Indivisible at their rally from 10:30-noon. Click here for more information and to sign up for the Haverhill or any of the many other marches. 

As Robert Hubbell stated in his 5/28/22 newsletter: “The next March for Our Lives will be held across the nation on June 11, 2022. Among other efforts to support gun control, please consider marching with millions of other Americans. The Women’s March in 2017 changed the live of millions of Americans—it converted them into lifelong political activists. Let us hope that the 2022 March for Our Lives will turn millions of Americans into activists for gun control.”

Artists Unite Against Gun Violence

On Thursday, June 16 at 6-8 pm, the PEG Center for Art and Activism, 3 Harris St., Newburyport, is holding an event at which Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America advocate Ann Haaser and Everytown activist and gun violence survivor Gregor Gibson will discuss the epidemic of gun violence in this country, its impact on survivors, and actions we all can take to help making a difference.

These presentations are part of a 2 month long focus on gun violence and gun safety, with the PEG Center displaying an exhibit of the works of 15 artists whose work focuses on these issues. The exhibit is co-curated by Doris Madsen of the Massachusetts Chapter of Moms. 

Women’s Reproductive Rights

Our Bans Off of Our Bodies Rally was a great success, with nearly 500 people attending and a positive article in the Newburyport Daily News. If you missed the event, click here to see photos (starting on slide 6). 

Rallying is just the first step, though. The most important action we can take to help ensure that women do not lose the right to make decisions about their own bodies is to get out the vote in swing states and elect more Democrats to help ensure passage of the Women’s Health Protections Act or the equivalent. It also is important to stay informed so as to be as well-versed about the issues as possible. 

Listen, Learn and Act

Last week’s Indivisible Mass Coalition (“IMC”) meeting featured Dr. Carrie Baker, a lawyer, writer and professor of Gender Studies. The meeting also included an update from Caroline Kimball-Katz of Planned Parenthood League of MA. You can access the recorded video of this meeting by signing up for the IMC Slack workspace here and locating the link in the General Channel.  You also may be interested in reading two informative articles by Dr. Baker that were published this month in Ms. Magazine: What Would Alito’s Draft Opinion Mean for Women’s Rights?,  Forced Pregnancy Is Involuntary Servitude, Violates the 13th Amendment.

The IMC Feminist Action Team has prepared a Bans Off Our Bodies Action Toolkit listing ways to help. Check it out here. 

Ongoing Activities

Write Postcards to Go

In addition to Action Hour every Friday, write more postcards through our Postcards-to-Go program. Pick up a packet of 50 postcards, we’ll email addresses and scripts as you need them, and you provide postage. To learn more and join our Postcards-to-Go writing team, please email us at indivisible.rise.newburyport@gmail.com or come to Action Hour where we’ll have packets of 50 cards and will explain the details.

 Texting Hour

Thursdays 3:00-4:00 pm. Register 

With the list of travesties in this country seeming to grow almost daily, the number and variety of texting campaigns also is growing. As always, we’re reaching out to people to encourage voter registration and voting in upcoming primaries. With recent disturbing news, there also has been texting to encourage engagement in the pro-choice movement and texting is starting up to remind people that electing more Democrats is critical to finally enacting common sense gun control laws. 

Register here to join us on Zoom any Thursday at 3:00-4:00. If that time is not good for you, we are happy to meet with you one-on-one at a convenient time. Email indivisible.rise.newburyport@gmail.com with your availability and we'll find a time that works to train you individually.

Phone Banking 

We are calling to register voters in Arizona and Florida before those state's July deadlines to register for August primaries. We’re also continuing to make voter protection calls with Common Cause, reaching out to voters to support ranked choice voting, recruit poll monitors, and more.

We hope you will join our phone banks on Monday (to register voters) or Wednesday (Common Cause) afternoons. Click on your preferred day and type of calls for more information and to register. Email us at indivisible.newburyport.rise@gmail.com if you have questions, would like to train individually, or want to learn about additional phone banking options.

Please sign up here to volunteer with I-RISE. Choose among numerous options and devote as much or as little time as you prefer! Every bit makes a difference! 
 

• Bookmark our Event Calendar for events sponsored by Indivisible-RISE and allied organizations.
• Find us on Facebook  and visit our website.