Immigrant essential workers and Latinxs in Wisconsin announced Tuesday that they will hold a statewide Day Without Latinxs and Immigrants strike and march on Indigenous People's Day, Monday, October 11. Thousands of Wisconsin's growing Latinx and immigrant workforce, multiracial youth and allies are expected to participate by refusing to work, go to school or make any purchases the entire day. This escalated action aims to increase economic and political pressure on President Biden, Vice President Harris and Congress to deliver on their promise to pass a path to citizenship in the Build Back Better reconciliation budget bill this year. 

Immigrants and Latinxs in Wisconsin and Washington state will kick off the first of many anticipated economic actions across the country on October 11, with Illinois to follow on October 12, Florida on October 13 and other states later in October. 
 
The Build Back Better reconciliation budget includes $107 billion for citizenship for millions of essential workers, Dreamers, TPS holders and farmworkers. However, last Wednesday, September 29, the Senate Parliamentarian rejected including a path to citizenship in the reconciliation package for a second time. The Senate Parliamentarian is charged with interpreting Senate rules and her opinion is not binding. This decision comes despite multiple polls showing strong bipartisan support for creating a path to citizenship for immigrant essential workers, Dreamers, farm workers and TPS holders through reconciliation  Congress can and should choose to ignore the Parliamentarian's decision and deliver on their promises to pass a path to citizenship for millions this year.
 
Voces de la Frontera hosted a virtual press conference on Tuesday, October 5 where immigrant essential workers, business owners, farmers and advocates encouraged widespread participation.  
 
Christine Neumann-Ortiz, Executive Director of Voces de la Frontera, said: "President Biden and Vice President Harris promised that they would pass a path to citizenship this year, and that is in danger of being lost. That's why Voces de la Frontera is calling on tens of thousands of people to join us on another statewide general strike on Monday, October 11 at 11am."

The Day Without Latinxs and Immigrants on Monday, October 11 will begin at 11:00 a.m. CST with a rally at Voces' new office located at 733 W. Historic Mitchell St, Milwaukee, WI, followed by a march to the federal courthouse downtown. For more information, including a toolkit with ways that you can support the march, go to vdlf.org/dia-sin-latinxs2021/2/. 

As anti-democratic voter suppression bills sweep through our nation's state houses, including in Wisconsin,  Senators Klobuchar and Manchin introduced on Sept. 14 the Freedom to Vote Act. This bill replaces the For the People Act, preserving most of the important voter protection elements of that earlier bill.  According to the Brennan Center for Justice, this bill is "the most consequential voting rights and anti-corruption bill passed in more than half a century.".

The Freedom to Vote Act will:

Call 888-885-1748: Ask your Senators to support robust national standards for federal elections in the Freedom to Vote Act to ensure that we can safely and freely cast our ballots!

We have a responsibility to participate in politics out of a commitment to the common good, but in states across the country the freedom right to vote is under attack. Voters are calling on Congress to protect our right to vote by passing the Freedom to Vote Act. Will you add your voice?

Call 888-885-1748 today.

Wisconsin Clergy of different faiths speak out on the right to vote, the vital need to end voter suppression, and the importance of passing the *For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.  This video is a project of the Wisconsin Interfaith Voter Engagement Campaign. Please share widely! 

*The video was created prior to the introduction of the Freedom to Vote Act, which contains the vast majority of the most critical provisions that were in the For the People Act.  Please urge Senators Baldwin and Johnson to vote for the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act!

Over the last six months, Wisconsin Faith Voices for Justice, the Wisconsin Council of Churches, WISDOM, and MICAH have been organizing a faith-based movement for racial justice - Taking a Faithful Stance for Racial Equity.  We are working to grow this movement to combat the forces of white supremacy, racism, and hate that have taken a hold in so many spheres of our society. See below for more information and the link to register for our upcoming monthly meeting on November 2 at 6:30.

Most recently, we have seen this play out in the backlash against teaching in our public schools with a racial equity lens. Around the country, the forces of white supremacy and racism are confronting school boards, demanding they prevent teaching the true history of racism, slavery, sexism, and violence against marginalized communities that is part of the founding of our country.  

As people of faith, we believe it is the responsibility of each person to do their part to address the systemic inequities and injustices in our society, and to create a world where every human being can live a life of dignity and respect.  Our children need to be prepared to take on their share of this task when they grow up. Yet, without knowing the true history of how our nation came to be, they cannot understand the underlying causes of the issues we face. It is vital for our children to understand our true history so that they will be equipped to meet the challenges they will confront as adults.

We believe our children, and we adults, CAN handle the truth!

Please help us lift up the true history of racial justice, and injustice, in Wisconsin, by participating in  #TeachTheTruthWisconsin - a Week of Action for Racial Equity, October 10-16.

How your congregation/organization can participate:
Select a site in your town or city that symbolizes or reflects history that teachers would be unable to teach truthfully or have to omit if SB 411 and its companion bills become law. It could be identified by a historic marker, statue, archive, burial ground, or museum. There are also countless historic sites that are unmarked — such as a freeway that destroyed a neighborhood, a site of black resiliency, or a university building built by enslaved labor. 

Research the history of the site and create a poster using the provided template that relates that history. Then pick a date in the second week of October – let us know the date so we can put it on a calendar of events for the week to publicize.  On that date, bring your poster to the site and take a selfie holding up the poster. Give a brief talk or invite a teacher or historian to give a brief lecture, telling the history of the site and why it is important to know that history. You can invite people to come and hear your talk and make an event out of it. Or you can simply record yourself or have someone record you giving the talk. 

Record the event and send us the file. We will post the video on the Taking a Faithful Stance for Racial Equity Facebook page. Please share your event on your social media and use the hashtag #TeachTheTruthWisconsin. 

Click here to find events across Wisconsin.  Find ideas for your own event, or find an event to support near you!

 

Questions?  Please contact
Rabbi Bonnie Margulis at wifaithvoices4justice@gmail.com,
Eugene Crisler’El at    eugenecrislerel@gmail.com;
or Rev. Breanna Illéné at illene@wichurches.org. 
 

Co-sponsors:
First Unitarian Society of Madison
Interfaith Peace Working Group
Wisconsin Council of Churches
Wisconsin Faith Voices for Justice
Wisconsin Network for Peace, Justice, and Sustainability
WISDOM
MICAH
MOSES
 

The next "Taking a Faithful Stance for Racial Equity" Zoom call will be on Tuesday, November 2 at 6:30 pm.  We had over 130 people on our last call, and heard reports about activities to counter anti-equity forces in school districts around the state.  Our organizing efforts are already bearing fruit!

Please register for November 2 here, and please invite your friends to do the same.

If you have not already done so, we invite you to take the Equity Pledge.  It will put you on a list so that you will get updates on the movement and coming events.  Again, invite your friends to do the same.

People of Faith Should Support President Biden’s
Build Back Better Plan
 

Congress has returned from recess to address a packed agenda, including the ambitious $3.5 trillion Build Back Better plan.  This plan, if passed in its entirety, will be life-altering for so many in our country, and will lay a strong foundation to enable us to meet the many challenges we face as a nation. As people of faith, we should applaud and support this plan, as it stands to bring a life of dignity, security, and prosperity to so many who currently struggle.

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted and made impossible to ignore the deep inequities that exist in our country.  This is a rare moment of clarity and presents an opportunity to make some inroads on the issues we care about.

We’ve lost so much over the last year and a half - health, loved ones, peace of mind, jobs, homes, and community. The virus and unjust policies have hit Black, Brown, Asian, and Native people, immigrants, and low-wage workers the hardest. We cannot go back to business as usual, but must seize this moment to make true, lasting, systemic changes.  Thus, the Build Back Better Plan was created.

Some of the key provisions in the plan include some of the many priorities that Wisconsin Faith Voices for Justice has promoted for years, including, among other things:

•    a path to citizenship for millions of our immigrant neighbors
•    serious solutions on climate change 
•    living wages for working people -- especially women, immigrants and people of color- unjustly trapped in poverty for years despite working full time; 
•    paid family and sick leave for working families at a time when schools and health are more unstable than ever; 
•    universal early-childhood education 
•    tax increases that ensure that the few wealthiest and largest corporations pay their fair share so we can fund these crucial investments in our future.

All these elements are crucial to building a just and equitable society where all can thrive.  This is a pivotal moment in American history. We will not have another chance like this for years, maybe even decades. We must come together across race, region, and faith to demand the full measure of solutions to address these critical needs.  

Let us not allow this opportunity to slip through our fingers but let us push our leaders to build toward a future of safety and security for all.

Wisconsin Faith Voices for Justice held a virtual Town Hall on Sept. 23, 2021, featuring Wisconsin Lt. Governor Mandela Barnes, Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway, Rev. Karla Garcia - pastor of SS Morris Community AME Church, and Caroline Tu Farley of the Farley Center for Peace, Justice, and Sustainability.  

Watch and learn about the work of Wisconsin Faith Voices for Justice on worker rights, immigrant rights, voting rights, racial justice, and interfaith cooperation and understanding.