​Dear Friends:
 
Our elections are the foundation blocks of our democracy. Free and fair access is imperative.  We have only four months until the next general election, November 3, 2020, and assuring that everyone legally entitled to vote can vote is essential.
 
Black Church PAC has created the contemporary “Freedom Summer” program to reproduce the courageous voter registration drives of the early Civil Rights Era.  While this drive is targeted to more Southern states than to our northern and western ones, every state has pockets of voter suppression. No one is immune.
 
Monday, July 6 at noon California time, there will be a webinar on Freedom Summer voter registration drives.  You are invited to participate if you are Black clergy and laity or if you serve a diverse population in areas where voter suppression or obstacles may occur.
 
To register for this critical voter registration and enhancement webinar, please click here  
 
Other steps you can take, no matter where you reside, is to prepare for long lines and delays at the polls. While in California all voters will be receiving “vote by mail” ballots, things still can go wrong, and support for those standing in line will be needed,
 
Bring cases of water, some food, folding chairs.  Enlist your youth to hold line spots for voters needing bathroom breaks. Have masks available for anyone without one. Think about entertainment (socially distanced, of course).  There will be spots in every state, even California, where things will not go smoothly.  We need to anticipate those problems, be prepared to help voters vote. 
 
Thank you!

Join Faith Leaders In Demanding Congress Support the Equality Act

As people of faith, we urge Congress to support the Equality Act. Our faith traditions teach us that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, straight, cisgender, and queer people are all created with sacred dignity and worth. We are taught to respect and love others as ourselves in our words, deeds, and laws. Now is the time to update our federal laws to respect and uphold the sacred dignity and worth of all people. In doing so, we will live up to our nation’s values of freedom, equality, and opportunity for all.

In our country today, LGBTQ people—our neighbors, family, friends, and fellow congregants, and for some signatories, we ourselves— are at risk of being fired from a job, refused a place to live, refused service in a place of business, told to leave a bathroom, or refused critical medical care because of who they are or who they love. Discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or, gender identity is unjust and immoral. We call on Congress to remedy this injustice by passing the Equality Act. This legislation ensures equal protection for all people on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.
​fpl.actionkit.com/sign/equality-act-congress
As people of faith, we believe it is possible to both protect LGBTQ people from unjust discrimination and uphold the freedom of religion. That freedom is one of our nation’s most fundamental values, which is why it is protected in the Constitution and remains protected under the Equality Act. As people of faith, we rely on this freedom every day to hold the beliefs we choose and to practice our faiths free from discrimination. It does not give us the right to harm or discriminate against others or impose our religious beliefs on others. We value the freedom of religion and the freedom from discrimination, and we urge Congress to protect both by passing the Equality Act.

We believe equality is a right. Our nation’s laws must uphold our values of loving and caring for our LGBTQ neighbors as ourselves. As people of faith, we have an obligation to be part of healing the world. We will not cease in pursuing our commitment to these values until Congress has passed legislation protecting all people from discrimination and fully funds enforcement of these protections. We lament the ways in which religion has been used throughout our nation’s history to justify discrimination, including on the basis of race. We refuse to be complicit in attempts to use religion to marginalize LGBTQ communities.

We call on Congress to pass the Equality Act today.

Click here to Join Faith Leaders In Demanding Congress Support the Equality Act

Dear Friends,
 
Our nation faces one of its most grave crises. We are watching the chief executive amass unprecedented power, defying the rule of law. Nothing in our history has prepared us for this challenge to our Constitution, to our statutes, to our interactions among the branches of government.  We are fighting for the soul of democracy.  No one can stay idle in the face of this challenge.
 
I was born in the early wave of the post war “baby boom”. I grew up with “Holocaust Consciousness” followed quickly by awareness of post-war threats to our own democracy in the wave of anti-communist fervor from many in Congress and society. Then came a growing awareness of the evils of Jim Crow segregation.  To say I was a scared little kid would be an understatement.  I remember my parents watching the Army-McCarthy hearings, not understanding much other than the danger to innocent people, Hearing my parents and their friends talk about those threats to democracy and equality, to justice and fairness was pretty overwhelming.  
 
I have dreaded the day I’d have to find my courage to stand up against something as evil and scary as fascism had been in Europe. Would I have what it takes to resist? To be as brave as Miep Gies who hid the Frank family? To defy authority in the name of democracy and of my faith in Jesus’ teachings on justice for all people?  
 
In 2003, just before the start of US bombing of Iraq, I participated in an 8-state convening against hate crimes that even then were on the rise. The last night we saw a film about German pastor and theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and his anti-fascist resistance during the Third Reich.  In the discussion that followed, the group leader said, “Be prepared from here on, to lay down your life for what you believe.” When asked what that meant, he said, “Devote your life to standing for justice. And, if needed, to lay down your life for that purpose.”  
 
It was incredibly sobering and frightening to hear this. Would we need to do this? In America?
 
We at the Council of Churches have tried to live by that principle: lay down your life for what you believe.  Some of you know that we have been under siege from vandalism and threats for doing exactly that. Some of our denominational affiliates have been contacted by extremists demanding they drop out of the Council, always by those who detest our stands for equality and for justice. No one has dropped out, and the retaliation, while minor, has resulted in vandalism, stalking, threats. 
 
And yet we have stayed the course. Did we have any real alternative?
 
Now we call on all of you to do whatever you can for love of our fellow human beings, for the preservation of democracy, for the protection of the rule of law.
 
Remember the “Faithful Five Minutes” of calls to your elected officials every day. Bolster the strong, chastise the weak. Speak up and out for justice and our Constitution. 
 
Rally when you are able. Join diverse coalitions of immigrant rights groups, labor, racial justice groups, civil rights groups, and diverse faiths then go to your representatives’ and senators’ offices, both federal and state level.  Fight for the rule of law. Stand against oppression.  Keep abreast of current events. Speak out where needed. Your voice is powerful. 
 
We are struggling to keep the soul of our nation intact. This is the greatest threat we have faced since the Civil War.  Today as I write, it is the 154thanniversary of the Confederate surrender, the Army of Virginia, to the forces of the Union Army at Appomattox. It saved the nation.  Can we do this again, this time we hope without the bloodshed?  
 
Only our actions through law can prevent another civil war, another rise of dictatorial power, another threat to democracy and our constitution.
 
I may be retired, but I will never stop working against injustice and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves.

Please do whatever you can, however you can, for as long as you can.  Our nation’s survival is on the line.
 
Thank you. Blessings on all you do.
 
Elizabeth Sholes
Director Emerita Public Policy

“Hello Brother”.
 
Words of greeting.
 
“Hello Brother”.
 
Words of peace.
 
“Hello Brother” were words from a young Muslim man who stepped up trying desperately to deflect the gunman entering a Christchurch, NZ mosque Friday March 15th. The words, meant to stop the shooter, were the last words the Muslim man spoke. He was killed. Forty-eight more lost their lives before the rampage through two mosques ended.
 
In this latest of horrors, the rampant self-justification from the shooter’s own words shows he thought Muslims deserved to die.  As the shooter in Pittsburgh, PA earlier shot down Jews for the same demented reason and Dylan Root shot nine Black AME Christians in Charleston, SC. They deserved to die for simply being who they are. Sikhs slaughtered in WI, Unitarians in TN. These are the victims of both religious hate and racial hate, but many more acts of violence have taken down people just trying to live their lives. We are losing count.
 
This isn’t a “Muslim problem”. This isn’t a “Jewish problem”. This isn’t a “Black problem”.
 
It’s a white Christian problem. 
 
Before anyone says, “not all white Christians”, let us consider, in our hearts, if we have done all we can to make sure we didn’t turn a blind eye, stay silent instead of speak. Have we earnestly done all we can do to stop the new global wave of white, Christian terrorism, for that is what this all is, from spreading unchallenged?  We have to search our hearts and our lives to see if we can do more.
 
I, for one, am tired of showing up after the fact. I hate candle light vigils and don’t attend them. I’m sick of press conferences decrying bloodshed and loss of valuable lives. I’m anguished by the sense of impotence at failing to prevent another senseless massacre.  I’m frightened that there will be more.
 
Forty nine dead in New Zealand.  Eleven in Pittsburgh.  Nine in Charleston.
 
When will it end? 
 
We are in the grip of an administration that demonizes “the other” be it immigrants, Muslims, people of color.  We have unleashed waves of hate and resentment from white people who think equality means a loss to them.  Males who see female equality as a threat.  If you have to enforce your superiority with violence, are you really superior at all?
 
We can’t dismiss this thinking that we would never do this kind of thing to anyone. It flourishes if we tolerate it, if we don’t actively stop it.  Silence is tacit assent. 
 
We have to stand up, speak out, act affirmatively not passively in the name of our country’s promise and our faith’s direction.  This isn’t on Muslim, Jews, Sikhs, Unitarians. It isn’t on Black people, Brown people, immigrants, indigenous people. 
 
It’s on us: white, middle class, mainstream Christians.  We are the only people who can speak out and uphold these truths of nation and faith.  We can stay silent no more.
 
Hello brother. Hello sister.  Hello everyone. End the silence. End the violence. It’s on us.

From our friends at staywoke.org:

We just released a Report revealing how Police Unions and Associations prevent California lawmakers from addressing police violence.
Read the Report here.
 
Here are some of the major findings:

• Police unions and associations have given $5.5 million to candidates for California’s state legislature since 2011.
• Police unions and associations have helped fund the campaigns of 118 of the 120 current California state legislators.
• California legislators in either party who do not support police reform bills receive substantially more money from police unions and associations than those who support reform – especially Democrats who do not support police reform bills.
• Once they help elect California’s state legislators, police association lobbyists spend substantial amounts of time and money to convince them to oppose police reform – spending nine times as much as the NRA to lobby California state legislators.

 
It will take all of us to convince legislators to stand up to the police associations and pass bills that address police violence and accountability.
Here’s how you can make a difference today:
 
Go here to find your California state legislators, then call them and tell them to support four important bills: 

• AB 931, a bill that would make police deadly force a last resort; 
• AB 3131, which would restrict police militarization and; 
• SB 1421, which would make records of police misconduct public.
• SB 1186, which would create limits on the acquisition of police surveillance technologies

 
And if you’re interested in joining a group of researchers, students and activists working on projects to address police violence in California, reply to this email.
 
StayWoke.
 
-Samuel Sinyangwe

Dear Friends,
 
Well, before we could pin down a decent analysis of the House of Representatives Tax Cut plan, they passed it.  They passed the bill this morning 227 to 205. 
 
It seeks a tax cut of $1.4 trillion – yes trillion – over 10 years, cuts the corporate tax rate from 35% to 20% though without eliminating corporate deductions at all. 
 
However, it does eliminate deductions for ordinary people including the SALT deduction on State and Local Taxes.  High-tax states on both coasts would be harmed in paying into the federal system than the states receive back, and adding to that burden by removing the SALT deduction. 
 
This additional tax burden was sufficiently onerous that 8 New York and New Jersey Republican House members voted against it, but still the bill passed.
 
The Senate Tax plan
 
When House and Senate bills are at odds, they go to Conference Committee for reconciliation.  That will become important, because if the Senate plan passes – it has not yet been up for a vote – it has some very dangerous provisions that, if passed and incorporated into the final bill, will do Americans enormous harm.
 
“To Promote the General Welfare…”
 
Our nation has too often lost sight of our obligations to one another. In a world of hyper-individualism and personal accumulation, we are not committed sufficiently to the care of those whom the society has abandoned, kicked to the curb, or cannot help.  Now that indifference has moved upward on the economic scale, and the plan erodes many of the social programs we depend upon.
 
Under budget reconciliation, cuts in one place have to be paid for elsewhere. Tax cuts to the 1% will come out of social spending.  While technically Social Security, Medicare, etc. are protected, that protection is not absolute.  Still other programs are totally vulnerable to cuts. It’s a disaster waiting to happen.
 

• Permanent repeal of the Affordable Care Act individual mandate. This is accompanied by loss of subsidies (if you’re not required to have it, the Senate decided you don’t need subsidies, right?)This will leave 13 million people uninsured, an increase of about $2000 for those who remain insured and are older. Raising middle and lower income health insurance rates will help billionaires get major tax cuts.

 

• Since tax cuts for the rich will create an annual $1.5 trillion deficit, the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go law that requires deficits be paid for will seek other sources of “payment”. These will include deductions for student loans, medical expenses not covered by insurance, larger families. It will also include the part of Medicare that is not protected from PAYGO – about $25 billion per year.

 

• $300 billion will be cut from Medicaid – Medi-Cal in California. The poorest of the poor, whose health is already not good, will subsidize tax cuts for corporations and the very wealthy. This impacts seniors in nursing homes, homeless people already living on the margins, and low-wage workers whose incomes are too fragile to pay market rate coverage rates.

 

• There are new work requirements for some plans – ridiculous in the face of the infirm, those on disability, and especially seniors in nursing homes. Many recipients already work – but they’d be scrutinized and stripped of dignity by assumptions of fraud.

But what about tax cuts for the middle class?
 
In 2021 this Senate bill will raise taxes for households earning $10-30,000, and by 2027 that will include households of $30-75,000. The rationale offered by Senator Orrin Hatch and Senator Mike Crapo is that if you are not required to pay for health insurance, you can afford this tax hike.  The sheer absurdity of stating that these two things are benefits boggles the mind.  But with health subsidies and those credits gone, the actual tax hike is significant. 
 
We must act against these policies that do so much harm – and do so NOW. This is a “Faithful Five Minutes” to do daily until we defeat these bills.
 
Please call your Senators at 202-224-3121.  If you prefer to write or email, go to:  http://www.churchimpact.org/take-action.html
 
Even if your senators are opposing these cuts, tell your brief story of how this would do you or someone you know real harm.  Legislators on our side still need your voice to share with those who are on the fence.

Keep calling or emailing your Representative – they need to hear your opposition to any kind of joint resolution on the House and Senate bills.
 
Tell friends and family in other states to do the same. 
 
Our rallying point is: 
 
Tax and health justice for the Common Good and for the General Welfare!
 
NONE of these cuts is acceptable, and we as people of faith call on our elected federal officials to vote against the Senate bill and any such provisions that may arise in a joint bill.
 
We defeated the elimination of the Affordable Care Act that is hidden within this tax bill.  We can and must defeat this Senate plan now!.. All we have worked for and accomplished is at risk – raise your voice now for justice!
 
Thank you!