Neighborly actions, starting TODAY
Testify to Rescue RI and shut down the Wyatt, support a young neighbor's return to college, yell at another climate-change-funding financial establishment, and more.
Hi, everyone. Here are some things to do with and for our neighbors this week, starting this very day!
TODAY, 3/14, BY 4pm (to sign up)/TOMORROW, 3/15, 4pm (to testify), remotely: Three bills—one to shut down the Wyatt Detention Facility, one to limit its abuses until that happens, and one to prevent the state from opening new contracts with private prisons or ICE—are up for hearings TOMORROW. Here is a guide to signing up and testifying; it includes all the links you need. Here’s a bit more background. You don’t need to know what you’re going to say in order to sign up to testify aloud! If you don’t have a story but are willing to read one other person’s testimony, sign up anyway—and please let me know if you do this so I can match you up with someone who didn’t make the signup deadline.
TODAY, 3/14, BY 4pm (to sign up) and TOMORROW, 3/15, 4pm (to testify), remotely: Two of the bills from the Rescue RI Act—21-S 540 for Green Justice Zones, and 21-S 219 for affordable and sustainable housing—are up in the Senate Judiciary Committee on MONDAY—sign up TODAY to testify (you will need to fill out and send in the form twice, once for each bill). Once again, you do not need to know what to say when you sign up. If you’re able, joining a testifying training tonight or tomorrow will help you to be part of a unified strategy!
If you don’t make the signup deadline, you can still testify in favor of the Rescue RI Act…
3/16 BY 4pm (to sign up) and 3/17, 4pm (to testify), remotely: The third bill for the Rescue RI act, 21-S 468 on food justice/regenerative agriculture, is being heard on WEDNESDAY and you can sign up here on TUESDAY.
3/19, 3pm, 146 Westminster St, Providence: If you missed the demonstration against fossil fuel financer TD Bank (or even if you didn’t), and are doing crowds these days, there’s another demonstration against another fossil fuel funder, Chase Bank, this coming Friday. Mask up and bring a sign! The FANG Collective, who’s organizing these, has also offered to help people switch their accounts away from these banks—get in touch or ask questions about the upcoming demo on their Facebook page.
Throughout this month, you can also annoy all the banks funding the dangerous and destructive Line 3 pipeline with this calendar jam—a relatively fun and easy prompt for the chaotic among us. And it’s good to donate periodically to FANG’s bail fund for people resisting, or simply caught by, state violence in RI and MA.
Anytime this week, remotely: Our neighbor Damany is 21 years old, has survived COVID and still doesn’t have a stable living situation. He’d also like to return to college. Can you help him out?
Anytime this week: If this includes you, you probably already know, but RI has opened vaccine eligibility to people age 16 and up with one or more of these conditions. Check for appointments here, here and here, and here if you live in Providence. K-12 teachers & daycare providers should try CVS or Walgreen’s too.
I like these snails, and feel like one of them most days. Let’s keep clinging to the rocks and making our mark.
With love,
Kate