• Reparations Now!
    There is no racial reconciliation without reparations. Nearly 4 million African slaves were worth some $3.5 billion, making them the largest single financial asset in the entire U.S. economy, worth more than all manufacturing and railroads combined. Our ancestors built this country on unpaid labor. This corporation of the United States of America is still functioning on structural racism. We have solutions! We have developed a comprehensive blueprint for reparations. We are also ready to learn more from our community as to how we can close financial gaps and abolish the disenfranchisement of African Americans in WI permanently. This blueprint is a healing process that will address the spiritual, mental, emotional, physical, educational, cultural and financial well- being of a diaspora of africans who have never had the opportunity to properly heal in Wisconsin. Please join us in fighting for reparations. Sign & share the petition!
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  • We Stand With Rev. Warnock and For Moral Leadership In Our Politics
    We know all too well that it’s not enough for our political leaders to identify as people of faith if they actively fight against economic and racial justice. Many congressional leaders have done that over the years. Instead, we need to see faith in action. Faith without works is dead! We stand by leaders like Senators Warnock and Ossoff, who have committed to infuse new moral leadership into our national politics. As Warnock said in an MSNBC interview after his election, “I was [inspired] by the ways in which [Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.] used his faith to bring people together to solve big problems in the public square.” We the undersigned stand with Rev. Warnock and other political leaders who, grounded in justice and love for all, are committed to doing the same. (photo source: Jon Ossoff [@ossoff] Twitter)
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    Created by Groundswell Movement
  • I pledge to help get out the vote!
    Some states are already casting ballots. We are calling on you--people of faith and moral conscience--to pledge to register voters in your home state and help with efforts to get out the vote! You can check this website (https://www.vote.org/voter-registration-deadlines/) to see the registration deadlines in your state. Volunteer efforts to phone bank, organize, and register voters are critical in the final few weeks before the general election. If we work together, we can change the course of history and save the soul of this nation from extremism. If allowed to persist it will continue to tear this nation apart. Thank you for being a part of this movement and for pledging to help get out the vote! -Groundswell Team
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  • I Pledge To Register Two Voters In Florida!
    We are calling on people of faith and moral conscience to pledge today to register two voters in Florida, for each formerly incarcerated person the governor is attempting to disenfranchise. By signing below, we’ll send you an email with step-by-step instructions on how you can register people to vote in Florida. Thank you for pledging to stand up for all Floridians and to protect the vote in this critical election! So much as at stake and we need every vote possible to advance true justice and equality for all. Will you take the pledge?
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  • Sign to Support Moral Witness Wednesday in Washington, D.C.
    We know God hears the cries of God’s people who are suffering increasingly under the vengeful leadership and harmful policies of our current administration. Policies that ignore the cries of poor and sick people, children, immigrants and refugees, women, and, even yet, the cries of the lands torn open and polluted. We, as a nation, have lost our way. In such moments, God’s call to action is made known through the voice of the prophets: “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up your voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression.” (Isaiah 58:1) As President Trump and his administration let the nation suffer, we must lead with a unified proactive and creative response that is not confined by “Right” or “Left”, Democrat or Republican, but is rooted in the clear moral Center of right and wrong. It is time to warn the nation and call this administration to repent of their sins. Friends, it is time for us to go together to the palace gates with a clarion call: --Stop the weaponization of judicial appointments! Attend to the 14th Amendment, the bedrock of equal protection under the law. Uphold the constitution. --Stop mandating a census question designed to ensure millions are uncounted! Attend to the 140 million poor and low wealth. --Stop the abuse of executive power to pollute our communities with pipelines and privatizing public resources! Attend to our water and air. --Stop the assault on the Affordable Care Act and on health care for women and children in poverty! Attend to the health of your people. --Stop the brutal treatment of the stranger at the southern border! Stop warehousing children in detention camps! End child detention. Attend to compassionate and humane immigration policies that affirm the divinity within all human beings. Instead of covenantal leadership for justice, compassion, healing and the empowerment of all, these sinful acts of the current administration pursue subjugation: subjugation of racial, religious, ethnic, and gender minorities; of women; of children; of the suffocating middle class, workers, family farmers, the poor, and people who fall sick; of immigrants and refugees; of the free press; of the Constitution; even of Earth, our common home. This hate-filled subjugation violates the Covenant. It must not stand. Just after Ramadan, Shavuot and Pentecost, hundreds of faith leaders will journey to DC. Of those hundreds, some may hear the call upon their spirits to engage in nonviolent moral action. Some may be called there as witnesses. But all are needed to bear witness together in this moment. The Scriptures do not call us to ideological purity tests or to precisely worded positions on each aspect of sensitive topics. Instead, Jeremiah calls to us at the heart of our deepest religious convictions and the fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution: love, justice and equal protection under the law. We cannot be divided. We cannot be complacent. We must act so that people are called to a moral awakening. In the wake of the new post- Mueller report reality, we must deliver a moral report. June 12th becomes a bridge between the sacred festivals of the Abrahamic communities. The Ruach HaKodesh, the Holy Interbreathing that gives life to ALL traditions, all communities, all life-forms, is speaking through us. We must journey toward freedom and awaken this country once more. It is time. June 12th. Signees: Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II Moral Monday Architect President and Senior Lecturer of Repairers of the Breach Co-Chair of the Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival Rev. Traci D. Blackmon Associate General Minister United Church of Christ Rabbi Mordechai Liebling Director of Social Justice Organizing Program, Reconstructionist Rabbinical College Imam Al-Hajj Talib 'Abdur-Rashid Ameer/President The Muslim Alliance in North America Mother Dr. Ruby Sales Director and Founder of Spirithouse Project Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis Director, Kairos Center Co-Chair of the Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival Rabbi Dr. Arthur Ocean Waskow Director, The Shalom Center Minister Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove Director, School for Conversion Bishop W. Darin Moore, AME Zion Presiding Bishop Mid-Atlantic Episcopal District Rev. Dr. John C. Dorhauer General Minister and President Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray, President of the Unitarian Universalist Association Pastor Michael McBride National Director, FIA’s LIVE FREE Campaign Lead Pastor, The Way Church Rev. William H. Lamar IV Pastor, Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church Washington, DC Rev. Dr. Jacqueline J. Lewis Senior Minister, Middle Collegiate Church New York, NY Aisha Hauser, MSW Director of Lifelong Learning, East Shore Unitarian Church Bellevue, WA Rev. Dr. Christopher L. Zacharias Pastor, John Wesley AME Zion Church Washington, DC Rabbi Elyse Wechterman Executive Director of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association Sahar Alsahlani Executive Council Member, Religions for Peace, USA The Rev. Jimmie R. Hawkins Director of the Presbyterian Office of Public Witness Rabbi Justus Baird Dean, Auburn Seminary * By signing this petition, you agree to receive emails and updates from Repairers of the Breach.
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  • Fight Against Environmental and Social Injustice
    We all have a fundamental right to clean water, air, a healthy environment, and a livable climate. These rights also require the public resources needed to monitor, penalize, and reverse the polluting impacts of fossil fuel industries. We are committed to ending environmental injustice, including climate injustice, and the policies that stem from it. Fight against environmental and social injustice. Sign our petition now to fight against all instances of environmental injustice across our nation. We’ve seen the far-reaching and devastating impact of ecological injustice on low-income communities and communities of color everywhere from a proposed pipeline that could devastate a historically Black community in Virginia to a county in Alabama with untreated wastewater that may have affected the health of thousands. Last week, Reverend William J. Barber II and former Vice President Al Gore embarked on a tour of the South to hear from and stand with communities in Virginia and Alabama that are being impacted by ecological injustice wrought by political and corporate greed. Throughout the tour, they heard stories from impacted people that make it clear: These acts of injustice are beyond scandal – they are sin. As a nation, we must recognize how poverty, racism, and ecological concerns are interconnected, and that we cannot address one without addressing the others. We must stand up against these immoral policies creating systems in which corporate greed allows for the destruction of poor communities. Sign our petition to support our fight against environmental and social injustice. *By signing this petition, you are agreeing to receive emails from both Repairers of the Breach and The Climate Reality Project.
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  • Cover Healthcare Costs for Coal Ash Affected Communities
    WHY: People in the broader public, who do not partake in the private profit of Duke Energy--and its pressure to weaken NC DEQ regulations--should not have to pay with their health and even, sometimes, their lives. WHAT: Clean and affordable, in-home drinking water is a must. Breathable, healthy air is a must. Homes and homeplaces that did (and should) have monetary value in everyday working families must be protected for the vital (and sometimes sole) investments that they are. Having one's health is also a must--life free from the cancers and lung, heart, brain, skin, and reproductive disorders to which exposure to coal ash toxins are linked. WHEN: Pay for healthcare coverage costs in a tiered model, triaging first to most-expensive healthcare (brain tumor, rare neurological conditions, strokes and temporary or permanent paralysis, birth defects). Begin in 2020, and continue paying in 2 year increments for healthcare costs incurred by coal ash communities' residents through 2036 when coal ash is fully excavated from ponds; and in steady rates for 30 years following. Duke Energy and NC DEQ must cover all related costs where residents' homes and businesses test positive for heavy metals, radon, and other coal ash associated dangers. This must occur regardless of other health conditions--since these are usually worsened by exposure to industrial toxins, and should not be abused as a loophole to get out of accountability. Toxic exposures take many different forms in health symptoms--the effects depend on the resident's initial health proclivities and what mix of coal ash metals and carcinogens and radioactive materials they were exposed to, at what times of their life (e.g., childhood, in utero, while pregnant, during adolescent puberty, while a resident, an employee, or a schoolchild). Use the precautionary principle--taking action before it is too late to prevent the massive loss of human potential to morbidity, mortality, and other irreplaceable resources where the true costs of coal ash are reflected and magnified. BENEFITS: Health is the foundation of everything in one's life--from caring for one's family to keeping a job, from remaining physically mobile and mentally sound, to staying out of debt as incurred from medical care costs. Healthcare coverage costs are rarely factored in to the upfront costs of US coal production and coal ash waste storage, but they are burdensome, unjust, and must be addressed. Health harms of coal production and coal ash waste storage are dispersed throughout targeted local communities that bear the brunt of coal production harms. Coal-affected communities with steam stations and waste sites in NC are--as they are nationally in what are called "sacrifice zones"--disproportionately lower- and middle-income, split across county/town lines. Within those income and zoning categories, coal and coal waste affected communities often egregiously over-represent people of color in relation to the existing demographics of each region, and among a mix of Black, Brown, and White residents' distribution in affected neighborhoods. Full coal ash excavation must take place in NC, moving coal ash waste in unlined and seeping ponds and pits instead to lined, un-leaking and well-maintained, above-ground and onsite landfills. The cost and the timeline are not an issue that should delay or minimize plans for full excavation once and for all in NC--which must catch up to SC and VA where excavation is occurring to measurable benefit to local health, water, air, and economies. What matters are the prosperity and vibrancy of local rural communities, the stability of housing, and direct support for human health in NC "environmental justice communities of concern". IN SUM: Cover healthcare costs of coal ash affected NC communities now--and budget healthcare coverage into the projected "cleanup costs" Duke Energy and NC DEQ are considering. Account for the real costs of coal and lax safety laws to human lives in NC workplaces, rural economies, close-knit communities, and everyday families. Thank you, bless you! It will feel so good to do the right thing! FURTHER INFORMATION: 1. US Commission on Civil Rights on Healthcare Costs for Coal Ash Affected Communities: FULL TRANSCRIPT: (see highlights) https://bit.ly/2DKEqLe FURTHER INFO: http://itisinyou.org/ejhealth 2. Cancer Clusters--Impossible to Prove but We Still Must Act: NEWSWEEK - www.newsweek.com/2016/07/29/geographic-cancer-clusters-industrial-polluters-481423.html ON SCIENCE: www.facingsouth.org/2016/05/nc-produces-flawed-study-to-dismiss-cancer-cluster.html 3. Camp Lejeune Act--A Model for Covering Health Costs from Toxic Water, "Janey Esminger Act 2012": PROTECTING MARINES: www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/article24734458.html AND www.newsobserver.com/news/business/health-care/article10114484.html NEED FOR BIPARTISAN ACCOUNTABILITY: www.rollcall.com/news/Obama-Administration-Moves-to-Deny-Justice-for-Camp-Lejeune-Veterans-234417-1.html
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  • DEQ: Excavate Belews Creek Coal Ash
    Numerous community members around the Belews Creek area have been advocating for the excavation of all of North Carolina's coal ash over the last several years. After decades of devastating illnesses, these leaders have raised their voices to push for change in their community and to be a model for the world. The Belews Creek community seeks to transition to renewable energy and showcase solutions related to climate change. Numerous moving stories have been shared worldwide. https://theliliesproject.org/hear-our-stories/ Duke Energy has proposed three solutions, which DEQ must consider. DEQ is currently collecting comments to help determine how Belews Creek will be closed. One solution is to cap the coal ash in place. A second "hybrid solution" removes the coal ash from the shallow areas, 140 acres of the 280 acre coal ash basin, and placing it on top of the deeper coal ash, which is sitting in the groundwater. The third option is to excavate the coal ash and move it to a lined landfill across Pine Hall Road on Duke's property. Excavation of the coal ash basin at Belews Creek is the only way to stop polluting our groundwater, lakes, and rivers. Recent monitoring shows Duke Energy is polluting the groundwater surrounding Belews Creek with toxic and radioactive materials. Capping in place or the proposed "hybrid solution" does not stop the heavy metals from continuing to contaminate the groundwater. The cap material does not prevent inundation from heavy storms. The coal ash currently sits within the groundwater and are feed continuously because local streams are buried beneath the pond. Drains from under the pond discharge throughout the community. By excavating to a lined landfill, these problems will be eliminated. By keeping the coal ash in an unlined capped site, Duke has an increased cost of monitoring the site for the next thirty years over the lined landfill option. The hybrid solution also increases the risk of dam failure of the coal ash basin, which would flood Walnut Cove, Pine Hall and all the way down the Dan River to Stoneville over thirty miles away. For more information visit https://theliliesproject.org/final-closure-plans
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  • It is just to investigate allegations against Brett Kavanaugh before final vote
    Without a proper investigation, the Senate Judiciary Commiteeman and the full Senate can not possibly render a just and informed opinion on the standing of Kavanaugh as a lifetime appointment to the highest court in the land. Evidence could include witnesses accounts, medical records, and other sources that we can not possibly know of at this time. The Supreme Court renders decisions that impact every aspect of the day to day lives of all Americans. It is unfair to rush an appointment through without deference to collecting the facts that will allow a reasoned vote for or against a person being considered for such a position of power for decades to come. The American people deserve to know that any SCOTUS justice has the highest legal and moral integrity in serving the country in such an impactful way.
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    Created by Laura Michaels
  • Tell Congress to Stop Violence Against Children and Families
    Dear Senate Leader McConnell, Speaker Ryan, Senate Minority Leader Schumer and Minority Leader Pelosi, We are religious and moral leaders of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival. This summer, the Campaign launched the most expansive wave of nonviolent civil disobedience in the 21st century. In more than 40 states and Washington, D.C., thousands of people participated in this season of moral resistance, calling attention to the ongoing War on the Poor. This war, fueled by policies passed and endorsed from the state house to the congress to the White House, is especially violent towards our children. To address this pressing moral failure, we invite you to convene a hearing in September to focus on the policy violence against our children. We refuse to let our faith be used as a justification for policies that harm the most vulnerable in our society. We cannot tear families apart, nor can we jail them together. Children must be released to their families and families must be allowed to proceed through the asylum process outside of a jail cell. We must preserve foundational programs to children’s health and well-being such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). And all children deserve a quality public education free from fear of being pushed out and locked up. Anything less is a modern day form of violence and abuse against children. Our Campaign is made up of mothers in Flint whose children still cannot drink or bathe in clean water; fathers who fear police violence against their young boys; undocumented parents whose children have been taken away from them; indigenous communities whose next generations live and play in contaminated lands; youth who have lived in homes where their heat was turned off during the winter; low-wage workers who have skipped meals to feed their children; homeless teenagers abused by the juvenile justice system; veterans sent off to war that perpetuates violence against school children in countries halfway around the world, while their own families struggle to make ends meet; parents who have lost custody of their children because they could not afford to pay their water bills. These are not just isolated communities and individual stories, according to our research, there are 140 million poor and low-income individuals in this country; 43% of all American children live below the minimum income level necessary to meet basic family needs. There are nearly 14 million families who cannot afford water and at least 4 million families with children who are exposed to high levels of lead. LGBTQ youth represent up to 40% of the homeless youth population. At the US/Mexico border, there are 550 children who are still not reunited with their families. In states across the country, children are being starved and abandoned by pervasive policy decisions that cut vital programs. And around the world, women and children account for 68% of the rising civilian deaths from our wars. The Talmud reminds us “By the breath of children God sustains the world” (Talmud Bavli, Shabbat 119b). “Suffer the little children to come unto me,” Jesus said, warning elsewhere that “if anyone causes one of these little ones who trust me to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.” Like the prophets before him, Jesus insisted that children matter because they bear the image of God. For far too long, cynical political operatives have exploited our faith communities’ concern for children by claiming to be “pro-life” while supporting policies that harm children. From the border to the dining room table, children are being harmed by policies that put them last, placing boulders in their path. The violence perpetrated against children in these times is a moral emergency. We implore Congress to convene a hearing about this violence against our children. Somebody has been hurting our children and it has gone on far too long and we won’t be silent anymore. Sincerely, Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II Co-Chair, Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis Co-Chair, Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival Rev. Traci D Blackmon Executive Minister, Justice & Local Church Ministries The United Church of Christ Colin Christopher Director, Office for Interfaith & Community Alliances Islamic Society of North America Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray President, Unitarian Universalist Association Imam Khalid Griggs Imam, Community Mosque of Winston-Salem Vice President, ICNA Civic Engagement and Social Justice Islamic Circle of North America Rev. Jimmie Hawkins Director, Presbyterian Church (USA) Office of Public Witness Rev. Teresa Hord Owens General Minister and President, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) Bishop W. Darin Moore Chair of the National Council of Churches President of the Board of Bishops of the AME Zion Church Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner Director, Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism Rabbi Elyse Wechterman Executive Director, Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association Rev. Dr. Sharon Watkins National Council of Churches, Truth and Racial Justice Initiative Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove Red Letter Christians Rev. Dr. Anika T. Whitfield Arkansas, Tri-Chair Rev. Eddie Anderson Kait Ziegler California, Tri-Chairs Dr. Chanda Jackson-Short Delaware, Tri-Chair David Borger Germann Iowa, Tri-Chair Rabbi Alana Suskin Maryland, Tri-Chair Krystal Rose Michigan, Tri-Chair Borja Gutiérrez Rev. Ann Keeler Evans Nijmie Zakkiyyah Dzurinko Pennsylvania, Tri-Chairs Rev. Charles H. Rhodes Kerry Taylor South Carolina, Tri-Chairs Martin Hurley Tennessee, Tri-Chair Sherilyn Samuel Texas, Tri-Chair
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  • Tell Ford to stand by the Clean Car Standards
    In 2011, Ford Motor Company was part of a historic breakthrough in cooperation on climate solutions when the company supported the Clean Car Standards, which would raise fuel efficiency standards to an average of 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025. This represents a 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, in addition to reductions in air pollution. With 24 million Americans—including more than six million children—suffering from asthma, these standards safeguard the health of vulnerable communities. Under the current Administration, Ford began lobbying for a review of the standards, asking for “additional flexibility” in meeting the standards. It is unconscionable for the company to renege on their commitment to cleaner cars now, after the American taxpayers loaned Ford billions of dollars to invest in advanced vehicle manufacturing in 2009. As people of faith, committed to environmental and climate justice, we call on Ford Motor Company to stand by the Clean Car Standards.
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  • Safe Passage Program for District 89 (Maywood, Melrose Park and Broadview)
    A group of dedicated parents, youth and community residents with the Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership (CSPL) are working cooperatively with the leadership of Maywood, Melrose Park, & Broadview School District 89 to create a Safe Passage Pilot Program that would place trained parents and community residents outside of Irving and Stevenson Middle Schools and their surrounding neighborhoods. We have heard from many parents, students and residents that our youth often face dangers because of the risk of violence, inattentive drivers, bullying, and even ill intentioned strangers. We also believe that a Safe Passage program will create a stronger sense of community and encourage people to walk and be more active. We need to show the community leaders in Maywood, Melrose Park and Broadview that the community supports investing resources into a Safe Passage program. This initiative requires the active support of governmental, school district, community and faith-based organizations. Support the parents and youth leaders of CSPL today by signing the petition and sharing it on your social media page!
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    Created by Anika Jones